Hello Again

I can hardly believe the time that has expired since my last thoughts about the freedom that personality type gives you.

You would not necessarily know that 18 months ago after returning from China, I had a quadruple heart by-pass which has caused me to rethink and reflect on many subjects---including psychological type.  This has also caused me to be more mindful of the time it takes to do things.

What has become increasingly clear to me is the splendid opportunity for development suggested by the model of psychological type.  The more we know about our type processes and how to use them, the greater the chance that we can make an informed use of psychological energies that we might otherwise ignore.

Do not misconstrue this statement to suggest that learning skills in another area is necessarily developing that type function.  For example, a Feeling type who learns critical and analytical thinking skills is not NECESSARILY developing his or her Thinking function. Odd assertion but it goes to the heart of psychological type.  Your brain, your mind, your very soul is wrapped around your dominant function and any development of other functions must do so through the nature of that function.

Our first step in growth is accepting the nature of who we are and how we operate in the world.  The next step is an ongoing journey of exploration to identify the resources you have and to practice using those energies in new and productive ways.

Time and Experience

It is hard to believe that a month has slipped by and I've not shared my thoughts about the choices we face...or at least what I see that I face. This prompts some thinking about the nature of time and experience. I would rather explore an experience than worry about time and I know for some, doing things on time is the experience. This hits on the "doing" and "being" issue of the human experience--are we human "doings" or human "beings"? It feels to me that if we get too caught up in the time-line, we might miss the consideration of the choices we have in front of us on a daily basis.

Trust or Fear

It seems that at each turn in life we are faced at a deep level with one chioce: trust life or fear it. When we trust it, we move toward choices with confidence; when we fear it, we defend, recoil, and attack. What are ways we can promote trusting life in ourselves and others?

Shifting

The economic forces pressuring most of the communities I touch is sculpting new forms all around us. Even my own business and way of doing business is changing before my very eyes. What are the forms you are seeing emerge?

Your participation

With most blogs...you get to follow and comment. With this one, I am interested in finding as many contributors as possible. So you can follow and make comments...that is sign up for emails to be notified of a posting or you can contribute main articles or reflections for others to read.

If you want to contribute, let me know so I can send you the "invitation" and you can sign up. This will enable you to post your thoughts for others.

Thanks

An initial reflection

In I'm Not Crazy, I'm Just Not You (by Pearman and Albritton), you are invited to explore individual psychological resouces that you can explore and use to adapt to your personal daily challenges. In the most popular chapter in the book, "The Teacher Within," you are invited to explore how stress affects your perceptions and judgments. Often as stress increases we fail to see the choices around us. One of the underlying themes in the book is that you have abundant choices in how to respond to life events....it is just that you need to learn how to identify and act on those choices.

The evidence is pretty clear that as stress goes up, your flexibility goes down. To reduce stress, you have a couple of strategies to employ: (a) physical activity, (b) intentional relaxation, (c) reframing and taking perspective, (d) and reaching out to connect with others. Hopefully this blog will invite several of these strategies. What are your most effective stress management strategies?