Know Your Personality Type And, To Thine Own Self Be True

I had my reservations about sharing. I doubted whether or not anyone would care about this. Perhaps it was not such a big deal after all what my personality type or strong preference turned out to be.

With the test though, I had a first hand encounter with my own self. The real me! The beautiful person on the inside and the not so beautiful person cloaked inside this flesh. I could take it being in my own world, in the solitary confines of my bedroom or any quiet place for that matter, but certainly not the crowd and the ‘madness’ and loudness that the world often brings. I often do not feel like I fit in or I belong! I tend to feel like the outcast at other times, even the one others tend to pick on as the ‘scapegoat.’

Some weeks ago too, my eldest daughter went so far as to refer to me as having obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) traits! Really? To have that said about me was a real shocker and an eye opener. It was time to do some self-introspection. Could that be really true?

But doing the test MBTI again, everything is making sense. It’s a scary process, but one that I love since I am getting to really know me and why I often think and behave the way that I do. It’s a lot about discovering self, and finding creative and authentic ways to be true to thine own self. To love me unconditionally first before I can love others. One is capable of loving another by the same proportion that is equal to how much he/she love himself or herself.

It is just like Viktor E. Frankl says, “Love is the only way to grasp another human being in the innermost core of his personality.” 

My objective in sharing however is not to give you a lesson in the MBTI and all the 16 different types there are because there are lots of Websites that will do that for you. My sharing is to bring a greater awareness and to have a better appreciation first for yourself and then for others. If only we understood ourselves and each other better, no doubt society and the world at large would be a better place to live in. So briefly what is the MBTI?

Definition of MBTI

The Meyers-Briggs Testing Instrument is a personality test used thousands of times worldwide by counselors, coaches, psychologists and management consultants to help individuals and organizations understand themselves better. The MBTI places persons into 16 ‘Types,’ based on the different combination of 4 pairs of letters.

The four pairs of letters from which the 16 personality types originate from are as follows. Don’t get stuck on the single-word name that goes with each type, the brief explanation is more important.

• I/E: Introvert/Extravert: Where do you get your energy? From people and activity or from solitude? Introverts focus internally for their energy and inspiration. Extraverts focus outward. 75% of the public are E
• N/S: iNtuitive/Sensing: How do you gather information? Sensing people look at things happening in the present; intuitives project to the future. 75% of the general public are S
• F/T: Feeling/Thinking: How do you make decisions? Feelers rely on their values and subjective view; thinkers use logic and objective analysis. The general public is split 50/50
• P/J: Perceiving/Judging: How do you like things to be? Perceivers like to keep options open; judgers like things to be planned out. The general public is split 50/50

Image from Wikipedia