Synchronicity a Go-Go!

Personality Type Theory

I've been interested in personality type theory since I first encountered it as an undergraduate. While the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory (MBTI) is the best-known and most widely-used, it is far from the only model.

Some years ago, I encountered another model that I think is as or possibly more useful than the MBTI.

The Hermann Brain Dominance Profile (HBDP), described in Ned Hermann's The Creative Brain, is similar in many ways to the Myers-Briggs Type Inventory. However, the HBDP is based on right/left brain research and the MBTI is not. The Hermann Brain Dominance Profile divides the brain into four quadrants: two left brain and two right. The upper two are the cerebral regions and the lower two constitute the limbic. Unlike the Myers-Briggs where one has either one trait or the other on each continuum, the HBDP measures how much of a preference one has in each of the four quadrants.

The HBDI "circle" contains four concentric rings. The two outermost indicate a preference for the quadrant. The third indicates use of the quadrant and the fourth (innermost), avoidance.

Hermann labels the upper left quadrant "A." He describes people with preferences in this quadrant as "logical, analytical, mathematical, technical, and scientific." The lower left, "B" quadrant describes people who are "controlled, conservative, organizational, and administrative." The upper right, "D" quadrant is where creativity comes into the picture. People with preferences in this quadrant are "imaginative, synthesizers, artistic, and think non-linearly." The lower right quadrant, "C" describes those who are "social, emotional, spiritual, and talkative."

Hermann contends that the goal is to become "whole-brained" and able to use the characteristics of each of the four quadrants.

The hardcopy of the book is in a landscape format and is chock full of interesting and entertaining illustrations. Personally, I find his "type" theory to be more descriptive and useful than the more widely-used and touted Myers-Briggs. I recommend Hermann's theory and book without reservation.

Art and Seeing

This morning while reading a new entry in my friend, Dan's blog, (second entry for 12/21), I was reminded of a "rule" I learned while studying art. In order to create, you have to learn, first and foremost, to see--not through the filters of experience, prejudice, values, or desire, but what's there, removed of all those filters. Just what's there. Dr. Betty Edward's bestseller, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, makes exactly that point. As an amateur watercolorist and portrait drawer, I found this lesson invaluable. If you're a budding "creatist" of some sort or are merely interested in consuming good material, you'll likely find this lesson to be a useful one. The ability to see, to really see, is what, perhaps, separates the true artist from the wannabe.

Dan has taken an everyday encounter and turned it into art--written art created through the deft employment of words. How a 23-year old has acquired the skill he has truly amazes me. Perhaps he had a writing teacher as excellent as my 10th grade teacher, Mrs. Wubnig, to help him on his way. Perhaps he's simply a born writer (whatever that is). Or, as I suspect, perhaps he's a very old soul in a much younger body. No matter, if you'd like to see an excellent example of how to turn off those filters long enough to see and then turn different ones back on for the formation of art, do yourself a favor and read Dan's entry.

Luck vs. Intention

When I look at my bleak situation, I have to wonder how much of it I've brought on myself and how much is simply a matter of luck--or in my case, the lack thereof--at least of late.

Certainly our intention, as reflected by our attitude, has everything to do with our experience of our circumstances. We always have a choice to look on the negative or positive side of life--to experience the glass as half-empty or half-full. But what makes the difference in the water getting into the glass in the first place?

Living serendipitously and with faith that everthing is as it should be (for whatever reason), we sometimes find exactly what we need in the most unexpected places. For example, let's say I have a choice whether to spend the next half hour seaching the classifieds for potential jobs but can also spend that same time responding to an interesting comment on one of my blogs. Perhaps, I'd rather respond to the comment, even though I don't believe it to be the best use of my time. But perhaps, through that communication, I find that the person's uncle lives in my area and just happens to be looking for someone with my skills. Had I taken the other route and sent out resumes, perhaps (as has been happening for the last year), I wouldn't hear anything back from any of the jobs I applied for.

How do we decide what course of action is most likely to move us toward our goals and our dreams? Is there anyway to know? Or is the best we can hope for to follow our hearts and maintain faith that somehow things will work out?

What do you think?

Who Owns My Brain?

Speaking of blocks, looks like I ran into a doozy. It's been over a month since I last wrote. Life and its exigencies does make slaves of us all, does it not?

Lost a contract I've been working on for awhile, quite suddently. Supposidly, the client ran out of money. I'm pretty sure that was an excuse for some underlying issue he didn't see fit to discuss and attempt to resolve. Be that as it may, the turn of events left me in the financial lurch. Big time! The diversity of my reactions left me feeling as if my brain was split into distinct parts with an overriding consciousness making the observation.

I don't mean right brain/ left brain (brain research), ego, id, superego (Freud), or even parent, adult, child (Transactional Analysis) but something else--something I don't recall learning about in the many books, articles, conversations I've enjoyed over the course of my adult life and career as a human developer/educator.

One part of my brain (or mind, as it were) cried loudy, "oh, no, a huge loss of income, what you gonna do now?" while another was agonizing "what did I screw up this time?" A third wanted to objectively analyze and understand what had happened, a fourth felt angry and wanted to blame my client for being a jerk, and another--the overriding one said, "thank goodness that's over. What a relief!"

I wonder if it's usual to have such varied reactions to a situation--ones we simply don't pay sufficient attention to that we end up aware only of the reaction that's most "comfortable" (not necessarily pleasant or constructive, but usual). It becomes dominant and we simply don't notice the others.

For my part, I was suprised that my predominant response was relief to be free of a situation that was providing income but not a lot else. Usually, it's the "what have I screwed up now?" response that takes precedence. According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs, mine to survive (which was threatened by the abrupt end of income) should have been paramount. But it wasn't. It was there, for sure, but wasn't dominant.

Sadly for you, the reader, I don't have an answer to what this means. I'm just making the observation--one I think extremely interesting and bears more thought and, hopefully, a conclusion that can prove useful for all of us. If you've got an ideas, let me know. If I do, I'll let you know.

Blocks--Everybody's Got Them

It's been awhile since I've updated this blog. The reason, I ran smack dab into my blocks.

Blocks are those things we develop over our lives that get in the way of being our truest, most authentic self. Blocks and sumounting them is similar to negativity vs. positivity (is that actually a word?) but with a different context. Personally, I was doing well focusing on the positive until I ran into my blocks. Then all bets were off.

Mental health is a combination of genes (normally the least important factor) and behaviors that have resulted, almost exclusively, from the way we were parented. People who were positively parented, e.g., received a lot of encouragement, positive attention, admiration, and respect when they were growing up are almost always mentally healthier than those who were negativitly parented, e.g., neglected, criticized, ridiculed, ignored, disrespected, and abused--verbally, physically, and sexually. With few exceptions (genes can come in here), the more positive the parenting, the mentally healthier the person. Few of us were optimally parented. Therefore, blocks that keep us from reaching our potential, develolped.

Blocks can take many forms. A few examples: "why bother trying, I'll only fail," "I'm not smart, good, outgoing (substutute quality) enough to do that," "I can't do that without Mother/Father's help." You get the idea. And we all have blocks of varying kinds and degrees. When we run into our blocks and get stuck by them, we can't manifest our natural gifts, callings, talents, and spirit. We're just stuck.

Not that these internal messages are conscious. If they were, we might have better control over them. Instead, they seep into our subconscious where they hide to exert their insideous influence. It's only after stopping to analyze what's going on, that we discover these little gremlins, knawing away on the quality of our lives.

My own blocks are along self-confidence lines and result in depression. Often, I don't feel like a competent grown-up so stop trying and climb into a little hidey-hole. It's not a pleasant place to be, that's for sure.

This morning, I had this incredible thought, "What might I do and how might I act if I didn't have these blocks? How would I be different?" One answer was, "I'd update my blogs!"

Try asking yourself that question. You might discover a way around or through your own blocks!

Being Negative, Being Positive

I've made a major discovery of late. Our experience of life, even the results we get, are tied, intrinsically, to what we think about. If we focus on the negative then we feel lousy and get lousy results. On the other hand, if we stay focused on the positive, we feel better and get results more in line with ones we want. It's one of the ironies of life that this is how it works, but it does.

Just look at your own life. If this basic truism isn't obvious to you, try a little experiment and see for yourself. Pick something negative and focus on it for say, 10 minutes. It could be a person you've had a falling out with, your bank account, the stain on the carpet you don't know how to get out, anything. Set a timer. When it goes off, start focusing on something positive. It can be something as simple as the softness of your cat's fur as he sleeps on your lap while you're reading this. Do this, also for 10 minutes, and set the timer. When it goes off take a look at how you're feeling now and how you felt then.

The same is true of activities. If your house is dirty and you can't clean because you've got a sprained ankle (my case), then do something productive on the computer. Pay your bills, update your website, clean out your inbox, read a website with inspiring quotes, product reviews, etc. Just keep your focus on what's positive and will move you along in a positive direction.

We can't change what happens in life, but we can choose our focus. When we dwell on the negative, that's what we attract. The opposite is also true.

Here's an example from my own life. At the moment I have a one dollar bill and some change in my wallet and a little over $7 in the bank with nothing coming in anytime soon. When I realized things were so dire, I started to freak. Then I remembered that staying in that negative place was only going to make me feel bad, so I turned my attention to positive activities, like writing this entry!

If you want to feel lousy and get results other than the ones you want, keep focusing on the negatives. If, on the other hand, you prefer success and happiness, then that's where you need to turn your attention.

Simple, right? I know, I know, easier said than done. But with a little practice, it's really not that hard. Just a matter of practice. Honest!

(Talk about synchronicity! Michael McDonald's "Ya Mo B There" just played as I was finishing this up. Those are the kinds of little "road signs" you'll find when you're moving in a positive direction. They're everywhere and happen all the time!)

Education and Perspective

Through the years, I've noticed that the subjects I studied have had a marked impact on the way I look at the world. I believe this is true for most of us. A fine artist looks at a scene, a face and sees a drawing, painting, or sculpture. A financial analyst reads a newspaper article and sees market trends. An architecht walks through a building and notices use of space, light, and functionality. I read, think, discuss, and notice people's development as human beings.

Did I choose the course of study I did because it was synchronistic with my nature or was my nature molded by the information to which I was exposed? What about others?

I often say that being an educator isn't something I do but who I am. My gut tells me that since childhood I've had a fascination with the "big" questions of life, including human nature and behavior. I believe there's an authenticity to my "work," which gives my life meaning and I'm glad of that.

How true, I wonder, is that for most of us? How many of our perspectives--those derived from our education--are a reflection of our true selves and how many have been artificially implanted in us through an education obtained by what Mom and Dad expected, by accident, by choices that are no longer valid? And what does that say about our ability to thrive and manifest the best of ourselves?

What in the World is This Blog About, Anyway?

I spend a lot of time thinking. Maybe a curse, maybe a blessing. Being well-educated, (perhaps too much so), poor, and jobless, creates a perfect opportunity for noodling over the hard stuff. So much to know and so much to understand from so many points of view.

I've been told my observations on the world are unique and interesting. Guess we'll see about that. What I do know is that big questions can yield some big results! Here are a few off the top of my head.

Why do people behave as they do? Can we ever learn to get along? If so, how? What makes the difference in how we act/react? Is behavior change possible? If so, how--what's required? How useful is personality theory and why don't more people know and use it? Since parenting is the most important job anyone can ever have, why isn't it taught in school? How does physiology fit with psychology or what is the mind/body relationship?

How did it all get started? What is God really like and how do we know? Does God--He/She/It--exist at all? How can we know? Why do people believe what they do? Why do they sometimes change their religious beliefs and/or affiliations? How do religious beliefs relate to behavior, or do they? How does religious belief affect relationships and self-image? Why? How?

What makes art good or bad? How can someone judge another's creations? Is talent innate, something one is born with or can it be acquired? What about creativity? Where does persistence fit in or does it? What about luck, self-esteem, attitude, belief system?

These are some of the questions I'll be speculating about in days to come. I've thought about many of these questions and have opinions on them. Some, I'm still scratching my head about.

Won't you join in? I'd love to hear your insights and thoughts on the subjects I explore (the intelligent and polite ones, anyway)!