I love learning about personalities and individual's differences. We all have different strengths and weaknesses and have to interact with other people who have different combinations. As you probably know, this can cause all sorts of reactions when two people try to relate to eachother. Sometimes the resulting interactions are positive, and other times negative. Some people live easily with eachother, and some people are always getting on eachother's nerves!
I believe that God has knitted us together from before we were even born, and has given us each and completely unique combination of gifts, so that we can go into the world and do good things which He has designed us to do. Some people are put together with the ideal temperament, personality, abilities etc to be a tradesman. Others, to be a nurse, a teacher, a lawyer, etc.
One huge reason why I love personality studies etc, is because I know it can help people find what they are good at, and therefore, what area of work they should get into... and then they are more likely to enjoy their lives! No one person is the same as the next, and we should never put ourselves into a labelled box, but having a general idea is better than having no idea, don't you think! As I said earlier, we have been DESIGNED with a certain purpose in mind. I personally think that you NEED TO KNOW who you are, in order to live out God's will for your life. If you don't spend time figuring out who you were made to be, then you will spend your life being who you THINK YOU ARE. There's a difference. For example, I could think that I am an awesome bank manager, and do everything I can to live out this belief. As long as everyone else thinks i'm cool and I am earning money etc who cares right?! Wrong! The reality is that my personality, how my brain works, what I enjoy, etc, don't line up with that! I am being fake, for whatever reason... maybe to fit in or please others?
(btw, I once worked in a bank and didn't enjoy it! But I did get to wear a suit to impress other people! Sounds lame to me now, but I actually wanted to wear a suit back then so that other people would be impressed. How embarrassing!)
If I had known about my strengths and weaknesses and giftings, then I wouldn't have struggled away for months in that bank! Don't get me wrong, God can use all things for good, and I did learn a few things, but sometimes you just don't need to do everything the hard way!
One one the most life changing times of my life was at Ministry Training College, when I discovered The Myers-Briggs personality test. It gave me such a clear picture of who I am. As I said, it's just a guide, but a scarily accurate one at that! Sometimes I fit the box, sometimes a bit less, but it has been incredibly helpful to me in the last 5 years when dealing with other people and myself. I highly recommend this tool, to help you learn about yourself, because if you don't continually learn about yourself, how can you love others as youself? And how can you live an authentic life if you are pretending to be something you aren't? If you know you you are, then you can start to accept that, then you are free to love others.
There's heaps of different sites to try out, but these are a couple of good ones :)
hwww.personalitypage.com
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myers-Briggs_Type_Indicator
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Saturday, January 22, 2011
New Years Revolutions
Well, another year has been and gone, with all the ups and downs that i've come to expect from life. My biggest high of the year was when I bought my first home. I had been working and saving for a number of years, feeling like I would never gather enough money to get a deposit. It was made more difficult with banks requiring higher and higher deposits due to the global financial situation. But, literally overnight, I had put in an offer and had it accepted! It was so exciting!
The place needed a lot of work. So I replaced the carpet, curtains, flooring, splashed a bit of paint around and did some landscaping. The crowing glory has to be my hardwood deck out the back, replacing the wasteland area the had been there for 30 years. Working in the trades has allowed me to get free plants, and cheaper timber etc, which has really helped on a tight budget. I'm really proud of myself, buying and renovating a home all by myself. The next plan is to build a garden shed!
But that's not what I wanted to talk about. My New Years resolution, (or Revolution) as I like to call them, was an original idea. To get fit. Basically, I had had enough of being called fatty, even though it was mostly in a joking way, and decided to do something about it. I joined the gym.
I have a top-class facility only 2mins drive or 7mins cycle from my place. I have been going for three weeks now, at least 4-5 times per week. It's not the first time I have been to a gym. I used to play a lot of competitive sport and have been through at least a dozen memberships over the years. I used most of them ;). So this is nothing new for me in that sense. I guess what feels new is my attitude. I would say that this time I have some real determination and discipline that hasn't always been there. It's encouraging to know that I have grown in this area.
My first discouragement came after two weeks when I weighed myself, only to see that I was EXACTLY the same weight. 10 hard workouts down and I hadn't shed even one fraction of a KG! It was at this point that my trainer said, "You don't just lose weight instantly, you have to do the ground work and build muscle (which actually adds weight) before you start to lose it. He also said that weight isn't too important, your body shape, and how you feel is what's important.
Anyway... I guess what i'm trying to say is this: In the whole area of change, the most important thing is to keep doing the right thing, the results will take care of themselves. Keep focussed on the goal, put in the work and the rest will happen. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged because things don't happen the way you want them to. It's the longer term that's more important.
So keep doing the hard work, even when it feels like there is no evidence of change or growth or anyone else even noticing a thing. Try not to measure your change by readings that the world tells you to, measure your change on your goals and visions for your life. God puts things in our hearts, and how we line up with those is more important than how we line up to other's expectations or standards.
New Year's RESOLUTIONS don't always work, but New Year's REVOLUTIONS means a new way of life,
The place needed a lot of work. So I replaced the carpet, curtains, flooring, splashed a bit of paint around and did some landscaping. The crowing glory has to be my hardwood deck out the back, replacing the wasteland area the had been there for 30 years. Working in the trades has allowed me to get free plants, and cheaper timber etc, which has really helped on a tight budget. I'm really proud of myself, buying and renovating a home all by myself. The next plan is to build a garden shed!
But that's not what I wanted to talk about. My New Years resolution, (or Revolution) as I like to call them, was an original idea. To get fit. Basically, I had had enough of being called fatty, even though it was mostly in a joking way, and decided to do something about it. I joined the gym.
I have a top-class facility only 2mins drive or 7mins cycle from my place. I have been going for three weeks now, at least 4-5 times per week. It's not the first time I have been to a gym. I used to play a lot of competitive sport and have been through at least a dozen memberships over the years. I used most of them ;). So this is nothing new for me in that sense. I guess what feels new is my attitude. I would say that this time I have some real determination and discipline that hasn't always been there. It's encouraging to know that I have grown in this area.
My first discouragement came after two weeks when I weighed myself, only to see that I was EXACTLY the same weight. 10 hard workouts down and I hadn't shed even one fraction of a KG! It was at this point that my trainer said, "You don't just lose weight instantly, you have to do the ground work and build muscle (which actually adds weight) before you start to lose it. He also said that weight isn't too important, your body shape, and how you feel is what's important.
Anyway... I guess what i'm trying to say is this: In the whole area of change, the most important thing is to keep doing the right thing, the results will take care of themselves. Keep focussed on the goal, put in the work and the rest will happen. Don't allow yourself to get discouraged because things don't happen the way you want them to. It's the longer term that's more important.
So keep doing the hard work, even when it feels like there is no evidence of change or growth or anyone else even noticing a thing. Try not to measure your change by readings that the world tells you to, measure your change on your goals and visions for your life. God puts things in our hearts, and how we line up with those is more important than how we line up to other's expectations or standards.
New Year's RESOLUTIONS don't always work, but New Year's REVOLUTIONS means a new way of life,
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