I remember one of my professors, Dr. Miravalle, talking about how he can easily tell the different temperaments of each of his students (for a review of the temperaments, check out https://www.catholicmatch.com/blog/temperaments/). I can't remember his hilarious examples (maybe someone can help me out?), but I thought I'd try my own hand. Don't take any offense... I write these all in fun, and at my own expense as well! Here you go:
Listening to Music:
Sanguine: DANCE PARTY!!!!!!!!! oMg I luV thiS soNg!!!!!
Melancholic: This song speaks to me... I will retreat deeply within myself and ponder the broad scope of my problems caused by my own humanity.
Choleric: This song is [fill in a descriptive word here]. I have judged it, and no one had better disagree with me, because I am RIGHT.
Phlegmatic: Whatever you guys think!
Actions at a Party:
Sanguine: *dances on tables*
Melancholic: *on his/her third trip to hide in the bathroom*
Choleric: *putting on the coffee, taking out the trash and restocking the drinks... why hasn't the hostess done this yet? And why is nobody helping me??*
Phlegmatic: *whatever his/her friends are doing*
At Work:
Sanguine: *pops head out of cubicle* I'm lonelyyyyyyyyyy!
Melancholic: Leave me alone, I'm doing fine.
Choleric: I am furiously doing my work, and yours too! Perfectly! Efficiently!
Phlegmatic: Hey so-and-so, what do you think about [insert minute, unimportant decision here]?
At Prayer:
Sanguine: So God, today I went on a bike ride, and I saw this three-legged bunny rabbit, so I called up my BFF and I told her that... *blabs on*
Melancholic: God, this is what I think, but no one cares. *Insert deep feelings here*
Choleric: God, you HAVE to do this RIGHT NOW! Seriously, what are You thinking?!?!
Phlegmatic: God, I can't decide if I should pray a rosary or read Scripture or journal... what do You think? *starts one, then switches to the next, then gets sidetracked and starts daydreaming, then realizes what he/she is doing and feels bad, and apologizes profusely, and feels guilty the rest of the day*
Theme Song:
Sanguine: Party Rock Anthem!
Melancholic: Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head
Choleric: I'll Make a Man out of You
Phlegmatic: Don't Worry, Be Happy
Write your own and share... I'd love to hear more!
Showing posts with label Temperaments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Temperaments. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 4, 2012
Thursday, November 29, 2012
To Be, or Not To Be (Yourself).
So I found this on the interwebs today:
Gotta love a good Papa Benny quote! But I started thinking... gosh, that's a lot to ask! It's like saying, be happy... but not so much that you're obnoxious! Do your homework... but don't mess up! I'd like an order of french fries... but only the long ones, no little stubby ones please!
And so I wonder, how the heck am I supposed to do that without sticking my fingers in the hot grease and getting burned, hmm? (It's a metaphor, just go with it.)
At any rate, even though I was slightly confused about how to apply this to my life, I was highly inspired. Then I remembered of one of my favorite quotes from St. Paul:
This happens to be one of my life goals - as a youth minister, of course, but also as a Catholic woman trying to participate daily in the New Evangelization.
It has boggled my mind before... how am I supposed to be "all things to all"? Certainly, I don't want to become a teenager. I like being a young adult! I'm a whole lot more confident, a whole lot less angsty, and God has done a lot of work with me since I was in my teens. I don't actually want to be a teen.
And in terms of the temperaments, I really don't want to be choleric, either. I admire their leadership and their drive, but I also know they are prone to walk all over people if they're not careful. Yeah, that's just not me...
Likewise, I don't want to be a man. I don't feel like I have to elaborate on this... I like being a woman perfectly fine, thank you, and the very idea of not being feminine is just weird.
So what does "all things to all" really mean, then?
Because I really want the lost to get found, kinda like this...
...and I think that St. Paul is on to something (I mean, it's in the Bible, so he must be).
As I mulled over this, I went back to the Pope Benedict quote in the meme above, particularly the last line: "Enter into dialogue with everyone, but remain yourselves."
Ohhhhhhhh.
The classic Catholic "both-and." Which happens to be related to Aristotle's "golden mean," I think. Basically, don't go to one extreme or the other. That's how heresies start... e.g., Jesus is BOTH God AND man. If you get rid of one or the other: oops. Heresy!
So anyway, youth ministry as an example. We love teens where they're at, walk with them, step inside their world, try to bring the Gospel to them through inculturation, etc., but we don't act like them or go back to being a teenager ourselves. We are a much better witness if we don't pretend to be someone else... but we can't stay in our own little worlds, either. If I avoided teens like the plague, I'd be an awful youth minister.
Both-and. Golden mean.
In Blessed Mother Teresa's case, she and her sisters embraced the poverty of those around them. They kept being amazing, authentic Catholic religious (they didn't venture into Hinduism to "relate"), but they weren't afraid to walk side by side with those around them. Both-and. Not snubbing people, but not compromising their faith either: golden mean.
Both balanced and radical. Bam.
(Has anyone else noticed that if you say "bam," after a statement, it just gives it that extra oomph?)
So basically, I'm allowed to be a phlegmatic, feminine youth minister and young adult. And you are also allowed to be who God created you to be (gosh, it took me a lot of words to get to this simple conclusion, didn't it?).
Yet we also have to "enter into dialogue with everyone" and be "all things to all." I still don't have this all figured out. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to see all of us learn how to live this tension, win the world for Christ, and become saints!
Bam.
Gotta love a good Papa Benny quote! But I started thinking... gosh, that's a lot to ask! It's like saying, be happy... but not so much that you're obnoxious! Do your homework... but don't mess up! I'd like an order of french fries... but only the long ones, no little stubby ones please!
And so I wonder, how the heck am I supposed to do that without sticking my fingers in the hot grease and getting burned, hmm? (It's a metaphor, just go with it.)
At any rate, even though I was slightly confused about how to apply this to my life, I was highly inspired. Then I remembered of one of my favorite quotes from St. Paul:
"Although I am free in regard to all, I have made myself a slave to all so as to win over as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew to win over Jews; to those under the law I became like one under the law—though I myself am not under the law—to win over those under the law. To those outside the law I became like one outside the law—though I am not outside God’s law but within the law of Christ—to win over those outside the law. To the weak I became weak, to win over the weak. I have become all things to all, to save at least some. All this I do for the sake of the gospel, so that I too may have a share in it" -1 Corinthians 9:19-23
This happens to be one of my life goals - as a youth minister, of course, but also as a Catholic woman trying to participate daily in the New Evangelization.
It has boggled my mind before... how am I supposed to be "all things to all"? Certainly, I don't want to become a teenager. I like being a young adult! I'm a whole lot more confident, a whole lot less angsty, and God has done a lot of work with me since I was in my teens. I don't actually want to be a teen.
And in terms of the temperaments, I really don't want to be choleric, either. I admire their leadership and their drive, but I also know they are prone to walk all over people if they're not careful. Yeah, that's just not me...
Likewise, I don't want to be a man. I don't feel like I have to elaborate on this... I like being a woman perfectly fine, thank you, and the very idea of not being feminine is just weird.
So what does "all things to all" really mean, then?
Because I really want the lost to get found, kinda like this...
...and I think that St. Paul is on to something (I mean, it's in the Bible, so he must be).
As I mulled over this, I went back to the Pope Benedict quote in the meme above, particularly the last line: "Enter into dialogue with everyone, but remain yourselves."
Ohhhhhhhh.
The classic Catholic "both-and." Which happens to be related to Aristotle's "golden mean," I think. Basically, don't go to one extreme or the other. That's how heresies start... e.g., Jesus is BOTH God AND man. If you get rid of one or the other: oops. Heresy!
So anyway, youth ministry as an example. We love teens where they're at, walk with them, step inside their world, try to bring the Gospel to them through inculturation, etc., but we don't act like them or go back to being a teenager ourselves. We are a much better witness if we don't pretend to be someone else... but we can't stay in our own little worlds, either. If I avoided teens like the plague, I'd be an awful youth minister.
Both-and. Golden mean.
In Blessed Mother Teresa's case, she and her sisters embraced the poverty of those around them. They kept being amazing, authentic Catholic religious (they didn't venture into Hinduism to "relate"), but they weren't afraid to walk side by side with those around them. Both-and. Not snubbing people, but not compromising their faith either: golden mean.
Both balanced and radical. Bam.
(Has anyone else noticed that if you say "bam," after a statement, it just gives it that extra oomph?)
So basically, I'm allowed to be a phlegmatic, feminine youth minister and young adult. And you are also allowed to be who God created you to be (gosh, it took me a lot of words to get to this simple conclusion, didn't it?).
Yet we also have to "enter into dialogue with everyone" and be "all things to all." I still don't have this all figured out. But I'm not gonna lie, I'm pretty excited to see all of us learn how to live this tension, win the world for Christ, and become saints!
Bam.
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
The One in Which I Explain Myself
Hello, blogosphere! I'm joining the party.
This one time, my brother and I had a conversation that went like this:
Mike: What are we going to do tonight?
Me: I don't know.
Mike: We can't do EVERYTHING!
This phrase has become a legendary joke in my family, but there's some truth in it. Yes, I'll submit that I can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and most recently, Instagram. But I refuse to Google+, Foursquare or Snapchat. I can't do EVERYTHING.
Even so, I've decided to blog. I've dabbled in it before, in a group effort to protect our country's religious freedom (you can check out our work at theamericanremnant.com). I've never written my own personal blog, but here we go!
Soooooo, let's talk about my strange, potentially-cheesy-because-it's-alliterated title. To me, "phlegmatic" sounds like I've got a disease, like I'm coughing up phlegm. The medical revelations I have from my nursing major friend are definitely a topic for another time. But actually, phlegmatic is one of the four classical temperaments. I refer you to this handy resource, which explains the bizzare names (it turns out phlegmatic does have something to do with phlegm after all!), and I encourage you to discover your own temperament: http://www.catholicmatch.com/blog/temperaments/
At any rate, I am phlegmatic: the chillaxed one. The "go-with-the-flow" type. When I say "I don't care, you decide," I (almost always) mean it. I tend to procrastinate, but on the plus side, I'm easy-going and good at keeping the peace. That's my temperament - "an individual’s tendency to react in a certain way throughout their life, forming an identifiable pattern," as the previously cited website states. Apparently I'm also about 10% sanguine (i.e., the happy people person), but that means I'm still 90% easy-going slowpoke.
On the other hand, I'm in good company: Blessed Pope John XXIII was also a phlegmatic! In his Journal of a Soul, he wrote: “Above all I am grateful to the Lord for the temperament he has given me, which preserves me from anxieties and tiresome perplexities… I have noticed that this disposition, in great things and in small, gives me, unworthy as I am, a strength of daring simplicity…”
Hmm... the Vatican II catalyst was a phlegmatic. I'm liking this!
Perhaps this also helps me to reconcile the fact that, although I'm phlegmatic, I'm intensely passionate about Catholicism, particularly about pro-life issues. I also have a dream of helping to reform youth ministry to make it more effective... partly due to pride, I've recently learned (ouch), but partly due to being captivated by the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a friend told me recently, wherever God is moving, that's where I want to be!
I guess it all boils down to this: as long as we get to hang out together, I don't care what we do or where we go out to eat. But I will fight 'til the death to protect religious freedom, the dignity of every human person, and for all people to know Jesus Christ.
**Edit: I would love to hear about your temperament/secondary temperament, if you've discovered it, and what kinds of realizations you've come to about yourself through this process!
This one time, my brother and I had a conversation that went like this:
Mike: What are we going to do tonight?
Me: I don't know.
Mike: We can't do EVERYTHING!
This phrase has become a legendary joke in my family, but there's some truth in it. Yes, I'll submit that I can be found on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and most recently, Instagram. But I refuse to Google+, Foursquare or Snapchat. I can't do EVERYTHING.
Even so, I've decided to blog. I've dabbled in it before, in a group effort to protect our country's religious freedom (you can check out our work at theamericanremnant.com). I've never written my own personal blog, but here we go!
Soooooo, let's talk about my strange, potentially-cheesy-because-it's-alliterated title. To me, "phlegmatic" sounds like I've got a disease, like I'm coughing up phlegm. The medical revelations I have from my nursing major friend are definitely a topic for another time. But actually, phlegmatic is one of the four classical temperaments. I refer you to this handy resource, which explains the bizzare names (it turns out phlegmatic does have something to do with phlegm after all!), and I encourage you to discover your own temperament: http://www.catholicmatch.com/blog/temperaments/
At any rate, I am phlegmatic: the chillaxed one. The "go-with-the-flow" type. When I say "I don't care, you decide," I (almost always) mean it. I tend to procrastinate, but on the plus side, I'm easy-going and good at keeping the peace. That's my temperament - "an individual’s tendency to react in a certain way throughout their life, forming an identifiable pattern," as the previously cited website states. Apparently I'm also about 10% sanguine (i.e., the happy people person), but that means I'm still 90% easy-going slowpoke.
On the other hand, I'm in good company: Blessed Pope John XXIII was also a phlegmatic! In his Journal of a Soul, he wrote: “Above all I am grateful to the Lord for the temperament he has given me, which preserves me from anxieties and tiresome perplexities… I have noticed that this disposition, in great things and in small, gives me, unworthy as I am, a strength of daring simplicity…”
Hmm... the Vatican II catalyst was a phlegmatic. I'm liking this!
Perhaps this also helps me to reconcile the fact that, although I'm phlegmatic, I'm intensely passionate about Catholicism, particularly about pro-life issues. I also have a dream of helping to reform youth ministry to make it more effective... partly due to pride, I've recently learned (ouch), but partly due to being captivated by the movement of the Holy Spirit in the Church. As a friend told me recently, wherever God is moving, that's where I want to be!
I guess it all boils down to this: as long as we get to hang out together, I don't care what we do or where we go out to eat. But I will fight 'til the death to protect religious freedom, the dignity of every human person, and for all people to know Jesus Christ.
**Edit: I would love to hear about your temperament/secondary temperament, if you've discovered it, and what kinds of realizations you've come to about yourself through this process!
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