TYPE

Hi There !

So, how is it with you?

Is the glass half empty or half full?

Anticipating a party, do you hope it will last forever,

or have you planned the earliest exit possible, and that

a good three days before the party even starts?

Allowing for both, what tips your scale: facts or feelings?

Do you pay your bills the day they arrive,

or just get around to it whenever? 



Not only are there "different strokes for different folks,"

there are all sorts of different folks - all types of us:

     competitive       imaginative        logical

     bold                 emotional           procrastinating

     quick                caring                out going

     sensitive           practical             reserved

                    boxes and bushels more.



As things play out in life, we are a mixture 

of various personality types 

with one configuration being predominant. 

"Typing" people is science and art teaming up.

Their shared enterprise helps us understand, embrace and excel

at being the type we are.

It enables us to extend the favor to all the other types of people

we encounter along the street of everyday living.

Typing is a mixture of science and art that is neither 

rigid measurement (science) nor full expression (art).

Like all good science and art it says a little of a lot more.

It is not an exact science nor finished art.

It is a most helpful indicator when under the direction 

of wisdom and good, old fashioned common sense.



While we all are "one of a kind," we all are also contoured

with a distinctive and discernible personality type.

Type is not so much who we are.

It is more how we are, how we function.

Type is our operating system.

It is how we engage living, our own and that of other types of people,

and all of creation.

God's Spirit flows through us, through our particular personality type.

It is critical that we are open to both the flow and the flow contoured

by our personality.

Both are gifts of God.



Two of the best "typologies" of person that I know are:

                         

            THE MYERS-BRIGGS PERSONALITY PROFILE 


It registers

               how we are centered

                                      introvert/extrovert 

               how we catch on

                                      sensate/intuitive

               how we decide

                                      thinker/feeler

               how we expedite

                                      judger/persever

There are sixteen combinations possible.

Our particular configuration is our personality type.



                 

              THE ENNEAGRAM


It describes nine distinct personality types:


                  The Reformer

                  The Helper

                  The Achiever

                  The Individualist

                  The Investigator

                  The Loyalist

                  The Enthusiast

                  The Challenger

                  The Peacemaker 




For more information and details about these two indicators please see 

the Addendum to this posting.



It is not only alright to have a particular personality type, 

it is essential to understand it, to treasure it, to live it,

and that robustly.

Otherwise we get all blocked up, twisted out of shape, 

crisscrossed, compromised, confused and confusing.

A left handed pitcher really needs to throw with his left arm.

If you are trying to broadcast on the AM frequency 

and use FM technology, it's all static.

It often takes clarity and courage to be the type you are.

Some are more preferred and popular than others

in particular settings.

Some are neither.

I know!!

In terms of the Myers-Briggs Profile I am an INFJ -

an introvert, intuitive, feeler, get it done yesterday judger.

Not only that, but the extreme of each.

In the USA exactly 1% of the population are INFJ.

It's lonely out here!!!

I'm not easy to know deeply or figure out easily.

However and forever, I wouldn't trade my type for anything.

It's how I'm wired by God and the Life/Love Who is God 

flows quite fully and freely through those wires.

As a sample of type, here's the thumbnail description of being wired 

as an INFJ from the online offering of The Myers and Briggs Foundation:

             Vision and meaning oriented.
             Quietly intense.
             Insightful.
             Creative.
             Sensitive. 
             Seeks harmony, growth.    
             Serious.
             Loves language, symbols.
             Persevering.
             Inspiring.

It's a marvelous way to engage existence.

And every bit as much is your wonderful type.




All the best to us all as we more and more understand and live out 

our way of being a person,

our wonderful personality type. 


                  For God's sake, be true to type.

                  For your sake, be true to type.

                  For others' sake, be true to type.

                  For creation's sake, be true to type. 



Thanks for letting this little old INFJ  try to share and encourage.

Holding each and every type of us in

God's Dear Love,

     John Frank

        ***** 



  ADDENDUM


Online: The Myers and Briggs Foundation

Print: Please Understand Me -Character and Temperament Types,

         David Keirsey, Marilyn Bates, Prometheus, 1984

                                      *****


Online: The Enneagram Institute

Print: The Wisdom of the Enneagram: The Complete Guide

         to Psychological and Spiritual Growth for the 

         Nine Personality Types, 

         Don Richards and Russ Hudson, Bantum, 1996

                                         *****


From the heart here is a welcome to those joining us in the last week.

Thank you for blessing us with your presence.

For a bit of orientation, please do take a touch of time and spirit with

              - What's Going On Here?

              - Consider Your Souse

                      both a located in the right column, online posting


                                    "frankly speaking"

                                spirituality for the street

-is posted each Friday at

               johnfrankshares.blogspot.com

 and can be bookmarked for ready access

-is available for automatic email delivery each Saturday

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 right column online posting

-past postings are available at

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