It is my feeling that the very traits and skills that are our greatest strengths are also very often our weaknesses. I think this is because a great deal of our training in life is learning to control ourselves, to stay in the middle. To strike a happy balance- not too much or not too little but just the right amount.
Here is an example-
Someone who is very interested and concerned about other people uses this skill to care for others and help them out. To carry this strength too far would be to help when people don't want it and to be too involved in their problems.
I see other examples of this every day and I will add more examples of this when I have more time.
But, the fact that I know that my strengths can also be my weaknesses can be very useful knowledge. I can always examine my motives and ask myself if I am using this skill to the correct degree.
An example of my own is that I can be a zealous person about certain things but, if I am not careful, I can become over-zealous. I have studied this in the Book of Mormon. There are examples where the word "zealous" is used in a positive light to describe someone or to describe a people. (The people of Ammon, for instance.) But then the word "over-zealous" is also used to describe someone that goes a bit overboard. I have seen me be guilty of this. Sometimes I feel the need to help someone and do things for others. I know I have done some things for people that were very thoughtful and very much appreciated. But there have also been times when I have carried it a bit too far and then it makes the person being served feel uncomfortable.
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