I watched the Presidential speech about health care reform last night and I wanted to take a moment to talk about what President Obama got right. This isn’t about politics, health care reform, or policy… this is about more than that.

1. Character Counts.

President Obama talked briefly about a letter he received from Ted Kennedy, a letter that was to be opened after Kennedy’s death. Obama noted that Kennedy was concerned about the “character of our country.” And he was right. Characters–who we are–is more important than anything else. Our character, as a nation yes, but more importantly as individuals, is the key to everything.

In studying all of the spiritual laws, we learn that who we are will determine how we act. And our actions will always point to our character. They are intertwined in ways we hardly understand any more. But we must be mindful of both. Jesus said that what comes out of a person’s mouth will show you what’s in a person’s heart. Our actions speak to our character. And each day, we become more and more responsible for our actions and their impact. Our actions become habits, and our habits become our character.

Throughout your day, how mindful are you of your character? Do you shape your character by being vigilant about your words and actions?

2. Fear Is Out.

President Obama said that the time of fear is gone. As human beings we have the choice: fear or love. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume shows us that there are no other options in this world. We either live in fear, or we live in love. And we get to choose which one. All that is love is not fear, and all that is fear is not love. There is no gray area.

And, yes, you do know the difference. Your heart, mind, and soul tell you what is love and what is not love. And it starts with the intention in your heart and spreads to the tone of your words and actions. During these times, the conversation seems to have gotten louder and more polarized. Neither of which comes from a place of love.

3. Respect Is Necessary.

In order to move yourself forward in life, you have to be able to see that the world does not revolve around you. You revolve around you, and you have to take care of yourself. In fact, you are responsible for yourself: your thoughts, your words, your actions, and the ultimately the life you have created for yourself: the good and the challenging. You are not responsible for anyone else’s words or actions. But you are responsible for your reaction to them.

I’ve talked about the importance of acting instead of reacting, and I want to re-emphasize that point here. You can spend your life reacting to everything that is going on around you, to things you seemingly have no control over (even though you have more control than you think)… or you can spend time charting your course, acting, and making course corrections when obstacles come into your path.

While President Obama was specifically talking about health care reform, his speech was really about something bigger, something more important, and something that we haven’t been talking about in America lately. Ultimately, his speech was a wake-up call to us all to ensure that we start accepting responsibility for ourselves. We cannot be ruled a mob mentality, and we cannot allow ourselves–as individuals–to be dragged into a state of fear. It’s time to take a big deep cleansing breath and approach our lives with renewed purpose, always mindful that our words and actions can cause deep changes within our character.