This is 2020, Living in a Pandemic – Raw

While I hope that I share meaningful information on this site regularly, the last couple of weeks have knocked me off my axis. For today, what I need is to get some of what is in my head out onto “paper,” maybe some of you are experiencing the same feelings I am.

Today I felt raw. For me, it feels like my world has tilted off of its axis. As someone who is quickly approaching the half-century mark, I’ve no recollection of the world being quite so upside down as it’s felt in the last few years. We are more divided as a nation. We are completely absorbed by self. We are full-time, no-holds-barred consumers. We’ve lost our tribes.

Thinking back in history, to tribal living, I think of how different tribes worked together, trading resources to ensure survival. If one tribe had buffalo and another had an abundance of corn, the two chiefs worked together to share because the tribal leaders understood they could both be stronger working together.

We’ve lost that. People are hoarding toilet paper, cans of soup, and dry cereal. There have been literal fights over paper products. People are scared and yet, not scared enough to take necessary precautions because they think if they get sick it won’t be too bad. They aren’t considering those walking beside them. The aggressive energy is stifling. People fighting to have more, to be right, no matter what the cost.

As someone who is a planner and a little OCD by nature, I am painfully aware of the lesson that I’m to learn right now – I cannot control everything. I can’t plan for every event. I can’t even plan for next week right now. It’s not a comfortable lesson but I’m trying to purposefully sit with the lesson and embrace it. It’s not easy.

I want to bring a sense of consciousness into all that I do. For the foreseeable future, I want to progress with intention while also doing no harm to others. I want to forget about selfies and use social media to spread a message of grace. How can I use my skills and blessings to make a contribution to the greater good?

The Cult of Personality

Have you ever taken a personality test? There are a few out there but I recently looked at Myers-Briggs and Enneagrams and I found it fascinated to see the similarities in the results across the board. When I say this, the results we very similar. It certainly shows that through multiple tests, a person’s personality traits come through consistently. Both Myers-Briggs and Enneagrams held true to things I recognize in myself.

Myers Briggs Personality Test

Myers-Briggs is called a “self-report inventory designed to identify a person’s personality type, strengths, and preferences.” It is widely used and has four different scales:

Scales

Extraversion (E ) – Introversion (I)

Originally explored by Carl Jung and used to identify or compare how people interact with the world around them. Extraverts (outward turning) are more social, love spending time with others. Introverts (inward-turning) are more reserved and prefer 1:1 interactions that are deep and enjoy spending time alone.

Sensing (S) – Intuition (N)

Compares how people collect information. Are you more logical or more abstract?

Thinking (T) – Feeling (F)

Focuses on how decisions are made and like Sensing / Intuition, focuses on the differences between a logical and abstract thinker.

Judging (J) – Perceiving (P)

Looks at how you view the outside world. Do you make choices and they are your final answer or are you more flexible?

Classes

There are four different, I’d call them “classes” of personality types: Analysts, Diplomats, Sentinals, and Explores and there are four different types within each class – so, based on the score of your test, you can align with 16 different personality types.

I’m an ISFJ-A or an Assertive Defender, which is one of the Sentinals class. Sentinals are grounded, embrace teamwork, and are firm believers in the Golden Rule. Sentinals are traditional, meticulous, and do not want drama in their lives. Defenders have an eye for detail and are very thorough. Assertive Defenders typically are quick to admit and accept their failings and find it easy to let go of things they have no control over. The opinions of others really don’t matter to Assertive Defenders and are task masters that are more decisive.

You can take a free test and learn what your Myers-Briggs type is here https://www.16personalities.com/.

Enneagram of Personality Test

The Enneagram of Personality test and types do not have a really clear history and the possible origins seem to be disputed but the Enneagram Institute defines it as a

“modern synthesis of a number of ancient wisdom traditions.”

The Enneagram test scored me as a Type 1, or The Reformer. Reformers are perfectionists, responsible, and fixated on improvement. Reformers are “idealists who strive to make order out of the chaos,” which sounds so like an Assertive Defender who doesn’t like drama. The Reformer wants to be good and again, live by the Golden Rule.

Both an ISFJ-A (Assertive Defender) and The Reformer tend to hold their emotions in and focus more on logic and are people of action (AKA task masters).

You can take a free test and learn what your Enneagram type is here https://www.eclecticenergies.com/enneagram/test.

So what do you think of these personality tests? Do they reveal true aspects of a person’s personality or are they just mystical mumbo jumbo? If you take the test, feel free to comment below and share what you thought!