Personality, Hippocrates, and the Help of a Spirit Animal
The owl can catch fleas at night but cannot see a mountain during the day. This is because different things have different natures. ~Kari Hohne
“Nothing Bad Happens in Life: Nature’s Way of Success”
What makes you . . . YOU? The $64,000 question-right?
We are fascinated with personalities.
There are plenty of ways to analyze yourself and humans have been doing it for centuries. For example, Hippocrates, a Greek physician who lived 2400 years ago, was one of the first to leave a record of the study of personality.
Hippocrates is often called the Father of medicine. Practitioners of medicine around the world take the Hippocratic Oath named for him. The message behind the oath: Do no harm.
Hippocrates developed the science of Humorism and incorporated the idea into his medical practice, in which he named four distinct temperaments. He theorized temperaments were related to bodily fluids and directly affected personality traits and behaviors.
Before, during and after Hippocrates’ time, the study of the occult, necromancy, archetypes of tarot, myths, and astrological signs often used characteristics to explain human natures. Many bear a strong resemblance to today’s “mainstream” scientific personality classifications (whether personality psychologists admit it or not).
Goes to show personality has been a subject in question for millennia.
Today, we have plenty of tests to assist in identifying our characteristics like; DISC, Myers-Briggs, Enneagram, The Big-Five Personality Test to name just a few. A google search for: free personality test delivered 13.6 million responses.
While researching, I couldn’t resist taking one to identify my spirit animal because . . . “by uncovering this, I could reveal powerful insights into me, my personality, skills or situations.” How badly I wanted an owl, but all I got was a crummy old crow.
Why do we want to know so badly?
As humans, we love to be uniquely us. Who we are. Identify the traits, the qualities at our very core that no one else has. Not exactly anyway. That’s why we take the tests.
We can then proudly say, “Look at me, my personality type says I’m like this and it’s true. It’s exactly like me.”
Humans thrive on affirmation. We seek out support and justification for our innate character. It feels good to understand the minutiae of our individuality. It gives us credibility and substantiates our character.
They do help us identify our skills and match them to the world around us. There’s much to be said for understanding ourselves. After all, what else do we have?
Our stuff isn’t us, our activities aren’t us, our family and friends aren’t us either. These things might be a reflection of our personality, yet they are not the personality itself.
Our personality is the only true thing we possess. It’s our nature. It’s our inherent object of which we are inseparable. It is 100% authenticity.
Where does our personality come from?
There are as many theories as there are personality psychologists studying the subject. Some believe our personality relies mainly on genetic sources, our DNA. Others believe it to be more heavily reliant on social programming during the early years of life. Nature versus nurture debate.
I’m not an expert. My take is that no one knows for sure. I think it’s a complex mix of nature and nurture. Our innate tendency deep within our gene pool, in addition to the social programming of our childhood and environment, as well as experiences that build one upon another. In other words, innumerable factors.
“A Devil, a born Devil on whose nature, nurture can never stick, on whom my pain, humanly taken, all lost, quite lost…”
William Shakespeare, The Tempest
Personalities do not change much over time.
You aren’t likely to just stop being the way you are.
An article in: www.16personalities.com/articles/is-it-possible-to-change-your-personality-type likens personality change to the lights going off in a room. When it happens, other senses like touch and hearing kick in to help you move around but as soon as the lights work you use your eyes again.
Same with personality. If you’re a type who normally prefers a casual, spontaneous work environment but your job requires a scheduled structure, you may adapt but when you leave the job you will return to the method suited to your personality.
Of course, we mature and our priorities shift. Our personalities evolve with those changes. However, most studies say that personalities become more stable with age and solidify.
What value does this information have?
I have a specific reason for writing on the subject. I recently asked a friend for some advice. She’s not just a friend, she’s my best friend. The thing is she and I are very different in nearly every way imaginable, especially our personalities.
She gave me some very lengthy, detailed advice. Well thought out, I might add. Thing is, almost every bit of it is contrary to my nature. Acting on the advice would be the most unnatural thing in the world to me.
For a few moments, I thought, “Oh no, I am not right. I shouldn’t be the way I am. I need to be more like this or that.”
Until I realized I have to be like me. I really can’t be any other way and be happy at the same time. The advice she gave me matched her personality and the way she might react or behave in a similar situation.
My friend is gorgeous and bold and out spoken and incredible in every way that makes her . . . her. Same as I am and same as you are.
My point is, we have to use what we have. Take every one of those wonderful characteristics and let them be the perfect reflection of ourselves.
Naturally, we do what we like, we do the things we are good at because it’s instinctual. Our behaviors mimic our personality traits.
Across the board, when you decide “I’m an Enneagram Type 9: Peacemaker” or “I’m a Myers-Briggs ESTJ: Supervisor” or I’m a . . .
You will get a list of the positive characteristics you likely possess proportionately. You will also get a list of negative characteristics your personality is known for or those qualities that are inferior, sometimes labeled as weaknesses.
In lies the problem. The very classification as “negative characteristics” creates a sense of, “I shouldn’t be this way.”
“No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
The following is an actual list of the “weaknesses” of my Myers-Briggs personality type according to www.16personalities.com:
Being too idealistic, too altruistic, impractical, dislikes dealing with data, and takes things personally.
Another website discussed my “potential problem areas” which included valuing my own feelings and opinions above others and being eccentric.
What makes a characteristic of your personality negative? The choice is actually in how we make use of the information.
I think we should look at EVERY personality trait as being an asset.
After all, would we want a trial attorney who isn’t extremely argumentative? Would we want a brain surgeon who isn’t excessively meticulous? Would we want a social worker for neglected children who isn’t too altruistic?
A negatively viewed characteristic in certain situations is actually sought after in others.
Think about all of your qualities. Just because someone labels something as superior or inferior doesn’t make it so. Don’t try to fix what’s wrong, make it a priority to capitalize on each and every one of them.
They all work together.
In Summary:
Fascination with personality isn’t likely to cease. Science will continue to study and evaluate personality, and we will continue taking tests and consuming the information.
Making use of the valuable insight is the number one goal, otherwise it’s nothing more than information.
Really think about your specific characteristics and use them to their fullest.
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