Recent obsessions

Today's beautiful things consist of:

1. A generally lovely day overall. Really! It's been nothing but pleasant. Of course the weather is wonderful, but people have been nice and I've made a couple new friends.
2. I went to my first reflection group on my internship, and wouldn't you know, we talked the whole time about worship in the youth context! I couldn't have been more interested. It was a great conversation. And it was so incredibly wonderful that I could take all this stuff I've learned in all my worship classes, and not least from the papers I've graded (and have been grading this week), and actually put it to some practical advice for others. What a delight.
3. Learning more and more about who I am and how I relate to others.

You see, since I got on this self-discovery kick (which I learned, by the way, is characteristic of my personality - to be fascinating with learning about my own identity), so much has become clearer. Especially in my relationship with J. There are so many things that we do and say to one another, been doing it for years, and now I suddenly understand why.

I was blabbing on about my blue aura and trying to get him to take a test, but he was resistant to my spiritual nonsense (did I mention I recently retook Beliefnet's Belief-o-Matic and came out 100% Mahayana Buddhist? See what seminary does to you?). Turns out my blue aura makes me extra mystical, to the annoyance of others. Anyway, he asked me to take a "real" test with results he could understand. So he set before me the Myers-Briggs.

And I turned out to be an ENFJ, borderline ENFP (only 2 questions difference). The Platonic name for these types is Idealist, with subcategories of "Teacher" (J) and "Champion" (P). Essentially, both are inspirational and charismatic, and the former likes to use it to educate and create whole persons (sounds like our College House idea!) and the latter is essentially an activist. The main difference I could see in the questions is that J's are schedulers and P's are not. So I guess Teachers are more organized than Champions. But I think the world would get better even faster with a few more organized activists!

J studied this stuff for one of his classes and he has other classifications they fit also. In addition to being a Teacher/Champion, I'm also most like the Gospel of John, the Tin Man, and Carrie from Sex and the City. Which all sound just about right.

So I'm a person who connects through words. Big shocker, huh? And I talk with my hands, trying to drive the words between me & others. I'm spiritual and base my opinions more strongly on my own experience than data. I lead with my feelings and am super emotional. Yep, pretty much all spot-on. And, there aren't many of me...only 2-3% of people. Maybe that's why so many people think I'm a dork when I talk so much. I'm not trying to dominate, I'm simply trying to make connections! And I found out that I always want to comment on something that a story reminds me of because that is how I connect my heart and story to the other persons'. Makes perfect sense. I do that constantly. J used to say it was a sign I was self-absorbed. But in reality, it's my way of being less self-absorbed because I'm using it as a way to show the other person that I'm like them, so I'm a safe person to share themselves with.

Speaking of J, on the other hand, he's an INTJ, a Rationalist, also known as a MasterMind. No, I'm not making that up. And he's also Gospel of Luke, Straw Man, and Miranda. Yep, that's my boy.

Turns out that Rationals and Idealists make perfect mates. Who'da thought? And MasterMinds and Champions are even more perfectly suited. Wow, we lucked out.

But it's great, because now when he tells me to hush, I realize he's just trying to be efficient in his work (Rationalist trait). And when he needs personal space, or doesn't want my advice, I know it's because he's autonomous and thinks I'm threatening his autonomy. Conversely, I will overemphasize his opinion of me because I pull my self-worth from others' thoughts on me (and their comments especially; remember, I'm deeply attuned to words).

At any rate, things are much more fun around our house now, because we can point out all the little personality quirks that have suddenly become - instead of threatening or fights - habits and mannerisms that make us laugh together. God bless the people who come up with these tests!