Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom.

Aristotle

In Part 1, we established the need to access our subconscious mind so that we might gain an understanding of who we are and what we want out of life.  We also learned that we can’t gain direct access to the subconscious (ok, I’m ignoring hypnosis for the moment) and so we have to find an indirect method.  Part 2 of this series is where we actually begin the journey.  So let’s go “kick the tires” and “look under the hood” ...........of our mind!

We are going to practice three methods of discovery: standard testing, free flow, and a unique method that enables us to read our physical body.  Before we begin the actual work of understanding our true selves, let’s define an environment that will facilitate achieving the best results.  Here are some suggestions:

1. As you perform the exercises, work in a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed. You need quality time with yourself that’s not filled with distracting interruptions.  I realize that this is not always easy depending on your situation.  Keep in mind that the quality of the results you achieve are directly related to the quality of the effort you put in.
2. During your self-discovery sessions, begin by getting comfortable and relaxing both your body and your mind. This is where breathing and meditation help tremendously.  If you have knowledge of those techniques, by all means utilize them.  If you don’t, simply close your eyes and slow your breathing.  Then, do your best to clear your mind before starting the exercise.  (We will cover breath work and meditation in other posts, so stay tuned for that, especially if you find it difficult to reach a quiet state).
3. Have a notebook and pen on hand to capture your thoughts. Nothing fancy, a simple single subject spiral bound notebook will do nicely.

Standard Testing

At some point in our lives, most of us have taken a personality assessment of some sort.  These tests involved answering a set of questions (thought up and “validated” by a psychologist somewhere).  Anyone on Facebook has likely seen the “parlor game” version of these tests, where we answer ten questions to find out which super hero we would be, which color represents our personality, or some other such concept.  Needless to say, the online tests are fun, but not necessarily scientifically relevant. The standard testing I’m talking about is the type of personality test that has been around for years and is widely used and accepted.

This first exercise is an online test based on the theory of personality type proposed by Carl Jung and expanded by his colleague Isabel Briggs Myers.  As with most standardized tests, it tends to lump people into a fixed set of categories.  While this is not necessarily a bad thing since it does help us to identify some important characteristics of our personalities, it still does not represent the uniqueness that each one of us brings to the universe.   It is a great starting point though.

Jung believed that people could be characterized by their preferences in three categories – referred to as dichotomies.  Briggs Myers added a fourth preference.  The preferences are:

• (E)xtroverted vs. (I)ntroverted – our general attitude
• (S)ensing (I)ntuition – our method of perception
• (T)hinking vs. (F)eeling – how we judge life situations
• (J)udging (P)erceiving – which is our dominant characteristic?

The test places us into one of sixteen categories, identified by the letters of each preference, which I have enclosed in parentheses above.  The characteristics of each pair are in opposition to each other and are called poles.  Once you take the test, you will discover just how strong each pole in the four preferences within you is.  The test provides an excellent start to our journey of self-discovery!

The Jung Typology Test maybe found online here:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes1.htm

You will see that versions of the results are available for a fee.  However, if you skip the fee based options, you can still take the test and receive full results at no cost (I just verified this by retaking the test).  The test consists of 72 yes and no questions and takes only a few minutes to complete.  After you select the free results, you can right click your mouse, select print, and print the report to your printer (or to your hard drive if you have a print to pdf option).  That will allow you to reread it at your convenience.

In addition to identifying your preferences, there is an explanation of how the preferences interact, how polarized the preferences are in in you, and a list of well-known people that fall into the same category as you.  Once you receive your classification and have read all of the information the site provides on understanding the characteristics and their interactions, spend some quiet time contemplating what has been revealed to you.  Do you agree with the assessment?  Can you see how the preferences identified for you affect your daily life?

It is unlikely that you would be able to classify and control your answers to all 72 questions so the results provide some real insight into your personality.  It is even possible that you are beginning to recognize personality traits that you may have suspected, but didn’t know how to describe. This is yet another advantage of the test – we are learning a descriptive language which allows us to more accurately express who we are.   It is also interesting to note how the various preferences interact.  Don’t be bashful about making notes regarding the things you find interesting about this analysis.

On a side note, I took the test quite a few years ago and was scored as INTJ.  I took it again a couple of years later and again scored as an INTJ.  Both times, I felt it was a realistic appraisal of my personality.  However, in testing the link for this post, I retested and was scored as INFJ!  The big difference in my life between those first tests and the one I just completed was my journey toward holistic, authentic living.  In making this journey, I started learning to tune into my inner self.  This change is clearly reflected in the results of my test, which shows that I have shifted toward Feeling rather than its opposite - Thinking!  I was surprised and excited to see this change.

I hope you had some amazing results as well!

Free Flow Exploration:

OK, the easy part is over and now you are really going to have to work!  The first exploration was actually pretty easy – you simply had to take a test.  As you might have guessed from the title of this discovery, there is no formal structure to it.  Its main goal is to establish your feelings and emotions regarding a wide range of ideas that we encounter throughout our daily lives.  In particular, we want to explore areas that may have been formative during our upbringing.

So, how do we pick the concepts that we want to contemplate?  From our earliest years, we are raised in an environment in which we are being taught right vs. wrong, how to act in various situations, etc.  We learned from our parents, our teachers, our siblings, and our friends.  Our religious upbringing and political orientation have also influenced us.  Since this is a somewhat random evaluation, the key is to select concepts that span the range of life.  Some examples might include:

• Family Values – what was I raised to believe?
• Tastes – what styles do I like in clothing, music, literature, food?
• Religion – do I believe in God? In heaven?  In hell?
• Politics – Which political party do I most align with? What are their fundamental positions?
• Ethnicity – Are there customs and beliefs that I observe based on my ethnic origin?
• Patriotism – how strongly do I relate to the values of my country?

List a concept at the top of a page in your notebook.  Spend some time contemplating it in silence, with no interruptions.  Then begin to jot down what you are feeling – your raw emotions.  Don’t worry about perfect grammar or spelling.  Don’t become obsessed with penmanship.  You don’t even need complete sentences – phrases will be sufficient.  The key here is to capture as much of your emotional content as possible relative to the concept being explored.  Many of the topics you choose will elicit an emotional response, generating a feeling that you can capture.  Later, as you read back over your responses, it will be like reading your emotional biography.  You may not have realized all of these emotions existed within you since they frequently operate below the level of our conscious mind.  As you review them in this concentrated format, you begin to form an image of who you are.

This list can go on forever so I recommend that you select only a few categories at a time, with a focus on the more important (to you) ones.  Remember that time is on your side.  You don’t have to complete this exercise in one sitting!  Take as much time as you need.  Taking the time to understand yourself now is well worth the effort you will invest, so don’t rush it.

Notice that what you end up with is information about how you feel about many topics.  These feelings came from our subconscious and define who we are.  When you begin to combine these results with those from the standard testing, the picture of who you really are begins to come into focus.

There are no time limits for the exercises in Part 2.  The only constraints are those that you place on yourself.  These exercises are critical to a successful self-discovery process and so it is in your best interest to proceed slowly and thoroughly.  The results that you will achieve will be worth your investment in time!

Hopefully, you’re beginning to gain a sense of who you are and are becoming comfortable with exploring the inner workings of your mind.  In Part 3, we are going to take a completely different and novel approach to self-discovery.  Chances are that the many of you have never even heard of the technique that will be presented.  It certainly was an eye opener for me!  I’ll leave you with a little teaser – Did you know that your entire history and personality is written on your face….....

Namaste