I tend to think of my characters more as tokens I shuffle around or puzzle pieces that have to click into place to make the plot advance, rather than actual people. If this is the root of my problem I'm not sure how to fix it. I've been trying to capture more of that human element in my writing, but with little success.
What I've done recently is I've written a series of flash-fiction shorts about my character. After I got home from work I sat down for half an hour to an hour and knocked out around five hundred words of story about her. I don't have much of a plot in mind and I don't know where the story will lead - I'm just pantsing it.
Originally I had this grand plan about how this would allow me to put my character in interesting situations to see how she deals with them. It'd allow me to figure out her personality and her motivations.
It didn't work out like that.
It still works out though, only in a less dramatic fashion. Rather than putting Alene through the wringer in various agonizing ways, I'm just spending some time with her. I'm still getting to grips with who she is though, and I'm getting a feeling for how she sees the world.
Overall, I feel like it's working out very well for me.
I don't know how much time you have or want to give yourself for it, but if you do have the time, I'd recommend doing it. I've been at it for about three weeks now and have 15 shorts done (Werewolf On A Train - Wattpad - you can see them there for an idea of what they're about - they're pretty crap though, but may serve as an example of what I'm doing).
I also wrote a slightly longer post about it on my blog recently: Let’s Spend Some Time Together | s v r t n s s e
Also, writing these flash-fiction pieces helps me fill out her back story as well. Even though she's not experiencing any life changing events, I'm building up a collection of little details to add to her memories.