Allow myself to introduce...myself.

I'm home from worship services today, sick with whatever this bug is that Morgan, Jamie, and I have been fighting for the last few days. On top of some online devotional reading, I chased a rabbit trail from Lisa's blog to Karen's blog to Robin's blog, and decided to try my hand at a personality profile, since I've got little physical energy for anything more and I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment. Here's what I found out about me:



Kiersey calls my personality type the Healer Idealist. Yep, that sounds adequate. Here's what else he had to say about *me*:

Healer Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in striving for their ends, and investigative and attentive in their interpersonal relations. Healer present a seemingly tranquil, and noticiably pleasant face to the world, and though to all appearances they might seem reserved, and even shy, on the inside they are anything but reserved, having a capacity for caring not always found in other types. (Everybody say it with me..."I'm not weird, I'm MISUNDERSTOOD!") They care deeply-indeed, passionately-about a few special persons or a favorite cause, and their fervent aim is to bring peace and integrity to their loved ones and the world. (Ding, ding, ding, ding, DING!)
Healers have a profound sense of idealism derived from a strong personal morality, and they conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place. Indeed, to understand Healers, we must understand their idealism as almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. The Healer is the Prince or Princess of fairytale, the King's Champion or Defender of the Faith, like Sir Galahad or Joan of Arc. Healers are found in only 1 percent of the general population, although, at times, their idealism leaves them feeling even more isolated from the rest of humanity. (Huh...so THAT's why?)
Healers seek unity in their lives, unity of body and mind, emotions and intellect, perhaps because they are likely to have a sense of inner division threaded through their lives, which comes from their often unhappy childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood, which, unfortunately, is discouraged or even punished by many parents. In a practical-minded family, required by their parents to be sociable and industrious in concrete ways, and also given down-to-earth siblings who conform to these parental expectations, Healers come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. (So it wasn't just the feathers and webbed feet?) Other types usually shrug off parental expectations that do not fit them, but not the Healers. Wishing to please their parents and siblings, but not knowing quite how to do it, they try to hide their differences, believing they are bad to be so fanciful, so unlike their more solid brothers and sisters. (Ok, that was profound. No comment...just letting it sink in.) They wonder, some of them for the rest of their lives, whether they are OK. They are quite OK, just different from the rest of their family-swans reared in a family of ducks. Even so, to realize and really believe this is not easy for them. (Ya think???) Deeply committed to the positive and the good, yet taught to believe there is evil in them, Healers can come to develop a certain fascination with the problem of good and evil, sacred and profane. Healers are drawn toward purity, but can become engrossed with the profane, continuously on the lookout for the wickedness that lurks within them. Then, when Healers believe thay have yielded to an impure temptation, they may be given to acts of self-sacrifice in atonement. Others seldom detect this inner turmoil, however, for the struggle between good and evil is within the Healer, who does not feel compelled to make the issue public.

Woah. I need a moment to introspect.

Yep, that's me. To a 'T'. I read this about my type too, and found it amusing (from the Jung type descriptions):

INFP
creative, smart (AND humble...you forgot humble!), idealist, loner, attracted to sad things, disorganized (see previous blog entry!), avoidant, can be overwhelmed by unpleasant feelings, prone to quitting, prone to feelings of loneliness, ambivalent of the rules (don't tell me what I can't do!), solitary, daydreams about people to maintain a sense of closeness, focus on fantasies, acts without planning (or is that plans without acting?), low self confidence, emotionally moody, can feel defective, prone to lateness, likes esoteric things, wounded at the core, feels shame, frequently losing things, prone to sadness, prone to dreaming about a rescuer, disorderly, observer, easily distracted (ooh, look, shiny things!), does not like crowds, can act without thinking, private, can feel uncomfortable around others, familiar with the darkside (Luke, I am your father...), hermit (are you calling me crabby?), more likely to support marijuana legalization (NOT!!!!!!!!!!), can sabotage self, likes the rain, sometimes can't control fearful thoughts, prone to crying, prone to regret, attracted to the counter culture, can be submissive, prone to feeling discouraged, frequently second guesses self, not punctual, not always prepared, can feel victimized, prone to confusion, prone to irresponsibility, can be pessimistic

That list forgot something....hates run-on 'paragraphs' with a passion! Funny thing is, though, Pete would probably utter a hearty "AMEN" to roughly 99% of the descriptions in that list!

True to my 'type', I guess, now I'm wondering what on earth I DO with this knowledge????