Category: Words To Live By

Have you ever done a Myers-Briggs assessment or some other type of personality test? The first time I ever completed one of them was back in my high school days, which seems like eons ago now. While I never put much thought into the four-letter result I received from doing it back then, I am now, but more on that in a minute.

I’m sure there are many who would probably say that personality tests don’t truly depict an individual accurately. For years I was definitely one of them. Answering a brief set of questions that took no more than 15 to 20 minutes and then getting a four-letter result that summarized my entire personality in a nutshell always seemed hard for me to believe in its validity. But that opinion totally shifted tonight when a little boredom drove me to complete several different versions of these tests online with each having their own unique set of questions. Ironically, the four-letter result I received in each case was the same as the one I originally got from that first personality test I took back in high school.

For those who don’t know what I mean by this four-letter result here’s how’s it’s broken down in any of these personality test results:

1^st letter is either E (Extraversion) or I (Introversion)

2^nd letter is either S (Sensing) or N (Intuition)

3^rd letter is either T (Thinking) or F (Feeling)

4^th letter is either J (Judgment) or P (Perception)

The four-letter combination I’ve received each and every time I’ve taken one of these personality tests has consistently been “ENJF”. What I find most fascinating by this is how much I really thought my personality has morphed quite a bit over the past few decades given the amount of things I’ve been through, as well as the spiritual growth I’ve undergone. But after reading the detailed description of an ENJF, I found it hard to refute.

I honestly don’t think it’s a bad thing though that I’ve gotten the same four-letter result time and time again from taking these personality tests. I guess it just stands to reason that maybe we do hold onto to a core set of personality traits our entire life no matter what the major life events we each may go through.

Regardless, I had fun re-taking these tests so I’ve included a few of the links for you to do the same if it possibly interests you. I’ve also included a full detailed description of what an ENFJ is if you want to know a little more about who I am inside, and just so you know, it does fit me to a T. Lastly, I decided it really doesn’t matter to me whether my four-letter personality test result ever changes in this lifetime or not. I think what’s truly important is that I continue to fully embrace who I am more and more everyday.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

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The links to a few personality tests:

http://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

http://www.41q.com

A link to each of the 16 different personality descriptions:

http://www.personalitypage.com/html/portraits.html

The detailed description for an ENFJ:

As an ENFJ, you’re primary mode of living is focused externally, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit into your personal value system. Your secondary mode is internal, where you take things in primarily via your intuition.

ENFJs are people-focused individuals. They live in the world of people possibilities. More so than any other type, they have excellent people skills. They understand and care about people, and have a special talent for bringing out the best in others. ENFJ’s main interest in life is giving love, support, and a good time to other people. They are focused on understanding, supporting, and encouraging others. They make things happen for people, and get their best personal satisfaction from this.

Because ENFJ’s people skills are so extraordinary, they have the ability to make people do exactly what they want them to do. They get under people’s skins and get the reactions that they are seeking. ENFJ’s motives are usually unselfish, but ENFJs who have developed less than ideally have been known to use their power over people to manipulate them.

ENFJ’s are so externally focused that it’s especially important for them to spend time alone. This can be difficult for some ENFJs, because they have the tendency to be hard on themselves and turn to dark thoughts when alone. Consequently, ENFJs might avoid being alone, and fill their lives with activities involving other people. ENFJs tend to define their life’s direction and priorities according to other people’s needs, and may not be aware of their own needs. It’s natural to their personality type that they will tend to place other people’s needs above their own, but they need to stay aware of their own needs so that they don’t sacrifice themselves in their drive to help others.

ENFJ’s tend to be more reserved about exposing themselves than other extraverted types. Although they may have strongly-felt beliefs, they’re likely to refrain from expressing them if doing so would interfere with bringing out the best in others. Because their strongest interest lies in being a catalyst of change in other people, they’re likely to interact with others on their own level, in a chameleon-like manner, rather than as individuals.

Which is not to say that the ENFJ does not have opinions. ENFJs have definite values and opinions, which they’re able to express clearly and succinctly. These beliefs will be expressed as long as they’re not too personal. ENFJ is in many ways expressive and open, but is more focused on being responsive and supportive of others. When faced with a conflict between a strongly held value and serving another person’s need, they are highly likely to value the other person’s needs.

The ENFJ may feel quite lonely even when surrounded by people. This feeling of aloneness may be exacerbated by the tendency to not reveal their true selves.

People love ENFJs. They are fun to be with, and truly understand and love people. They are typically very straightforward and honest. Usually ENFJs exude a lot of self-confidence, and have a great amount of ability to do many different things. They are generally bright, full of potential, energetic and fast-paced. They are usually good at anything, which captures their interest.

ENFJs like for things to be well organized, and will work hard at maintaining structure and resolving ambiguity. They have a tendency to be fussy, especially with their home environments.

In the work place, ENFJs do well in positions where they deal with people. They are naturals for the social committee. Their uncanny ability to understand people and say just what needs to be said to make them happy makes them naturals for counseling. They enjoy being the center of attention, and do very well in situations where they can inspire and lead others, such as teaching.

ENFJs do not like dealing with impersonal reasoning. They don’t understand or appreciate its merit, and will be unhappy in situations where they’re forced to deal with logic and facts without any connection to a human element. Living in the world of people possibilities, they enjoy their plans more than their achievements. They get excited about possibilities for the future, but may become easily bored and restless with the present.

ENFJs have a special gift with people, and are basically happy people when they can use that gift to help others. They get their best satisfaction from serving others. Their genuine interest in Humankind and their exceptional intuitive awareness of people makes them able to draw out even the most reserved individuals.

ENFJs have a strong need for close, intimate relationships, and will put forth a lot of effort in creating and maintaining these relationships. They’re very loyal and trustworthy once involved in a relationship.

An ENFJ who has not developed their Feeling side may have difficulty making good decisions, and may rely heavily on other people in decision-making processes. If they have not developed their Intuition, they may not be able to see possibilities, and will judge things too quickly based on established value systems or social rules, without really understanding the current situation. An ENFJ who has not found their place in the world is likely to be extremely sensitive to criticism, and to have the tendency to worry excessively and feel guilty. They are also likely to be very manipulative and controlling with others.

In general, ENFJs are charming, warm, gracious, creative and diverse individuals with richly developed insights into what makes other people tick. This special ability to see growth potential in others combined with a genuine drive to help people makes the ENFJ a truly valued individual. As giving and caring as the ENFJ is, they need to remember to value their own needs as well as the needs of others.

Do you tweet? If you think I’m asking whether you make bird noises or not then it’s probably safe to say you don’t have a Twitter account. The real reason why I’ve posed this question is actually due to the ongoing dilemma I’m having on whether to use Twitter in ways like so many others are doing these days.

For the sake of those who may not know much about Twitter at all, I think it’s best if I begin with a short explanation of what it is. Simply put, it’s a social networking tool that allows each user to send and read a max of 140-character messages, which are called “tweets”. Each Twitter user can also follow the tweets of other Twitter users as well, which is quite similar to how Facebook operates. The tool was created in March of 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Evan Williams, Biz Stone, and Noah Glass and as of July 2014, it had amassed more than 500 million users with the total number of tweets per day hovering close to a half billion. While I happen to be one of those who have a Twitter account, it’s actually something I hardly use.

Currently, the only thing that’s tweeted from my account on a daily basis is a link to each of my blog postings. I’m also not following anyone else’s tweets at the present time nor is anyone else really following me either. I’ve often asked myself why I continue to keep my Twitter account open knowing this. The only answer I’ve been able to come up with is that I hope to gain more blog visibility. So far after six months of usage it’s apparent I haven’t, which has often led me to thoughts of starting to tweet more like how most others do.

What I mean by that is how the majority of people generally tweet about their everyday life including what they’re doing or where they’re going, or they just tweet their random thoughts and opinions about something. But each time I dwell on whether to start doing this or not, I hesitate because of two very important reasons.

The first deals with knowing the only thing it’s ultimately going to do is feed my ego. Do I really need to feel that important in life by gaining thousands of followers through various tweets about things like what I had for dinner? As I ask this question, I’m reminded of when I watched America’s Got Talent this past summer where judge Howie Mandel consistently told all viewers each show what his twitter account was and how many followers he had. As much as my ego would probably love to have as many followers as he, I’ve worked pretty hard to move in the exact opposite direction spiritually through ego reduction. The fact is all the inspirational spiritual teachers I’ve studied and aspire to be never self-promoted themselves. And truthfully, I think if someone like Jesus or Gandhi ever had a Twitter account back in their day, their tweets would most likely only have been parables or spiritual thoughts for the day.

The other reason why I hesitate to do anything more with Twitter is due to the amount of times I see in the news lately where someone’s tweets have only led them to public outcry and backlash. Take people like Artie Lange, Jason Biggs, and Gilbert Gottfried who each tweeted things that did nothing more than damage their careers and cost them various jobs. Then there are people like Alison Pill, Dean McDermott, and Anthony Weiner who each landed in hot water when they accidentally posted risqué pictures for the public to see when they were only meant for a single person. And of course there are plenty of others who have gone on a rant about something including Alex Baldwin, Mark Cuban, or Lindsay Lohan, where each only gave them more of a negative image. The last thing I would want in life is to create any of this drama by tweeting something that could be deemed unspiritual, negative, or racist.

So I’ve decided for now to play it safe with Twitter by continuing to use it only for the sake of posting the links to each of my daily blog entries. The bottom line is that I truly don’t ever want to end up tweeting anything that could cause more of a negative image upon myself. Neither do I want to ever tweet things that might just end up inflating my ego. And while I may not have large numbers following me on Twitter at this time, that’s almost certainly a good thing if I want to keep cultivating more of what I seek the most of in life, which of course is peace, love, light, and joy…

Peace, love, light and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson

I read an article in USA Today recently whose headline was “85 richest now have as much money as poorest 3.5B”. After reading it, I learned that this gap between the very rich and the very poor was only going to keep widening over time given its current trend. What saddens me the most about hearing this is how those richest could make such a huge impact in reducing much of our world’s poverty if they chose to. But then I thought about why I never tried to make any type of impact on it when I had a tremendous amount of money many years ago and the simple answer was greed and selfishness.

The truth is I had only two concerns in my life when my net worth was over one million dollars: what lavish ways could I spend my money and how was I going to continuing making even more of it. For approximately five years or so I did just that where all of my actions during that time period were grounded in nothing more than that greed and selfishness. Sure there were probably a few times here and there when I donated a small amount of it to a charity or someone else in need, but it never put any type of dent in my bank account nor with the level of poverty on this planet either. Karma eventually came back around though in 2010 to teach me an extremely invaluable spiritual lesson. After losing a bed and breakfast I owned and the $600,000 in cash I had invested into it, I began walking a path with a much greater appreciation for having much less in the financial realm in life. My life is far more humble now than it ever used to be, which has led me to wonder if those 85 richest people in the world know what true humility is.

You see the more money I had in life, the more I got blinded from the good it could do with things such as reducing poverty and the more I also walked away from experiencing humility. While I’m sure many of those 85 richest people experience a little humility by giving at least a million dollars to various charities each year, there’s an interesting fact when it comes to their annual donations. Take for example someone such as Bill Gates. If he were to donate 1 million of his dollars to a charity every single day, it would actually take him 218 years to exhaust all of his money. But ironically, that would never happen either because his money actually makes well over that amount in interest alone each day.

So when I read that one of those richest individuals in the world, such as Russian mining tycoon Vladimir Potanin, has a net worth of $13.9 billion and spent $95,000 of it on a four pound white truffle, it reminds me of my gluttonous past. It reminds me of the days when I would trade in one brand new car with only a few thousand miles on it for another brand new one just because it was a little shinier and a little more extravagant and really just because I could.

The bottom line is that if the world’s richest gave something like 10% of their net worth to all those in poverty, I’m quite positive the impact on the lives it would change in this world for the better would be immeasurable. Unfortunately, greed and selfishness and also the fear of becoming poor (like I once faced) are the things that will most likely continue driving most of the richest people away from using a large portion of their money to help heal our planet.

But I still have hope for my Higher Power that one day I may see a headline on USA Today that’s just the opposite from the one I recently read. Maybe it will say, “85 richest donate one billion each to help the poorest 3.5B”. Regardless of whether that ever happens or not, I choose to remain humble and free of greed and selfishness by ensuring I never let money rule my life again like it once did. And I pray that my Higher Power will continue to guide me on all the ways I can make my own impact on reducing the widening gap between the rich and the poor.

Peace, love, light, and joy,

Andrew Arthur Dawson