Quite a Character

Neal - You make it clear that we need SELF-compassion, too, when we fall short in using our character strengths. Thanks for this.

Whether we exercise our strenghts or not is to a large extend controlled by our free will. Exercising choice can be a source of anxiety, and I beleive it is here that self-compassion is important. "How would my choice be judged by others? Is this the best choice? What will I miss or lose by making this choice?"
Since exercising a strength also is a question of place and circumstance, sometimes the best thing to do is not to use it. I agree that the dilemma occurs when the circumstances are right and we still hesitate to use a strength.

"First, we can be cognizant of our tendency to under-recognize situational factors and try to be more balanced. We can do a better job of looking for factors in the situation that might have pressured the person to misbehave and considering the validity of those factors."

Ha! I need to do the opposite, especially when you consider how many bad behavers think that those behaviors ARE stable personality traits and think that they're also universal. I tend to be entirely too forgetful for the usual model of forgiveness to serve me well.