What's your personality type?

In my book Born Mad, you'll read about the personality test I took and how I felt about the results. Here's an excerpt:


During my second visit with my therapist, she asked me to go home and take a brief online personality test. Having never taken one before, I had no idea what to expect and I was both kind of interested and amused by the idea. After logging on to www.similarminds.com, I spent the next fifteen minutes taking what they claim to be the “most detailed personality assessment on the Internet.” With over 100 questions, ranging from true/false and multiple choice to a rating system that involved answering with “sometimes,” “never,” “always,” etc., the test was interesting and easy to complete. At the end, the results popped up in seconds. My results on February 10, 2009, were as follows (the higher the percentage, the more dominant the trait):

Type 1. Perfectionism.................... 78%

Type 2. Helpfulness...................... 47%

Type 3. Image Focus...................... 30%

Type 4. Hypersensitivity............... 57%

Type 5. Detachment....................... 42%

Type 6. Anxiety............................... 54%

Type 7. Adventurousness............. 27%

Type 8. Aggressiveness................. 37%

Type 9. Calmness........................... 31%

After two years of counseling, listening to every self-help CD I could find and saying affirmations and prayers everynight before going to bed, I wondered if any of these things were helping. So I decided to take the personality test again. Can the results change? Can you change a trait you don't like? Can you be a perfectionist most of your life and then not be a perfectionist later on? Here are my results of the 2nd personality test on September 16, 2010:

Type 1. Perfectionism.................... 70%

Type 2. Helpfulness...................... 45%

Type 3. Image Focus...................... 21%

Type 4. Hypersensitivity............... 44%

Type 5. Detachment....................... 64%

Type 6. Anxiety............................... 32%

Type 7. Adventurousness............. 41%

Type 8. Aggressiveness................. 24%

Type 9. Calmness........................... 57%


Wow, I was surprised. My scores in perfectionism, hypersensitivity, and anxiety were lower. YES! Thank God I went down in those categories because I wasn't happy being falling into the "extreme" in those areas. What categories did I go up in? Detachment- that's a good thing for someone who never knew how to detach from anything including other people's problems. Calmness-yes, that's good for someone with instantaneous anger issues. Kudo's to me on that one. Adventurousness- that's good too. I'm finding these days that I like having life experiences better than critizing others for doing something that in my BAD days (before anti-depressants) I wouldn't have thought about doing.

What does all of this prove? That therapy, hard work, the willingness to change and admitting to your faults can and does improve upon your quality of life, your attitude and your perceptions of your life experiences. Keep working, don't stop and if you haven't begun yet, keep an open-mind. It could be the best thing you've ever done.

Attitude

While cleaning out some files the other day, I found a small piece of paper with the following written on it:



Attitude by Charles Swindoll


The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you... we are in charge of our attitudes.


I love this piece and had no idea who the man was/is who wrote it so I decided to Google Charles Swindoll to see if he was someone of importance. And yes, he is. Charles R. Swindoll is a Christian pastor, author and educator. He founded the Insight for Living radio program and the Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas. He's written numerous books including: The Mystery of Gods Will, Getting Through the Tough Stuff, Bedside Blessings and The Ultimate Book of Illustrations and Quotes.

In the future, I might have to read one, two or several of those. For more information on Charles Swindoll, his books or Insight for Living, go to www.insight.org or www.christianbooks.com.

Peace Within

I received the following poem as an email and was asked to pass it on to eight other women, which I did. However, I liked it so much and thought it appropriate for all of us on earth and all situations, I thought I would share it with all of you. Enjoy!



May today there be peace within.

May you trust that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

May you not forget the infinite possiblities that are born of faith in yourself and others.

May you use the gifts that you have received and pass on the love that has been given to you.

May you be content with yourself just the way you are.

Let this knowledge settle into your bones and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.

Unknown Author.

How many of us are really and truly content with who we are? Happy to you even though you might be overweight or stressed out or don't have enough time for your hobbies or reading a good book? Are you really, really content and peaceful with who you are? I wasn't...for a long time. I hated myself for being not smart enough, not skinny enough, not good enough. In Born Mad, you'll read how disliking myself led to thoughts of suicide and almost destroying every relationship in my life. But there was a happy ending for me. And there is for you and your loved ones as well.  
 
......Robyn Wheeler is the author of Born Mad, an in-depth view of her struggle with chronic anger, frustration and thoughts of suicide and her eventual diagnosis of Dysthymia.