Got Personality? Take the Test!
- At January 24, 2012
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Life, Roxanne Writes On
- 4
What do William Shakespeare, Neil Diamond, Annie Dillard, Tom Brokaw, Lisa Kudrow and Jacqueline Kennedy Onasis have in common? They fall into the same Myers-Briggs personality category as ME! It’s true. We’re all Introverted-iNtuitive-Feeling-Perceiving kinds of people. (Although I have to wonder exactly how they got Will to take the test.)
If you’ve never done this test, or haven’t done it for some time, try this version here. It’s called the Jung Typology test. 72 yes/no questions, it doesn’t take much time, and it’s free.
At the end, you’ll get an assessment of your personality that includes:
- Your type formula according to Carl Jung and Isabel Briggs Myers typology along with the strengths of the preferences.
- The description of your personality type.
- The list of occupations most suitable for your personality type.
These kind of things amaze and fascinate me – which isn’t surprising, given my score. But it’s so consistent! There are always questions in these type of surveys that are easy to answer, such as:
a) Do you prefer to act immediately rather than speculate about various options?…. NO. I want to speculate. For as long as possible. Back and forth. There are many things to consider, you know.
b) Do you prefer meeting in small groups to interaction with lots of people?….. YES. The smaller the better. In fact, do dogs count?
c) Is your desk, workbench etc. usually neat and orderly?…. NO. Have you seen my desk? (Seriously. I know it’s here somewhere.)
Then again, there are always questions that I have to read over several times before I even understand them. And then, I’m not sure which way to answer, possibly because of a) above. Like these:
d) Do you easily perceive various ways in which events could develop?… um, I might perceive a few ways, depending on the situation.
e) When considering a situation, do you pay more attention to the current situation and less to a possible sequence of events?… as in what, can I tell the future? Well duh. Can’t everyone?
f) Do you like to keep a check on how things are progressing?… what things? A watched pot? That line that fills in on the download screen? Do I look for grey hairs? Weigh myself repeatedly? What does this mean??
But here’s the thing. I’m as honest as I can be with the easy ones. And with the others, I try. Then I go back and do it over, several times, changing some of the answers I feel uncertain of. And no matter how I changed things, and how many times I did it, how many combinations and permutations, it always comes out the same. The percentages in each category changed somewhat, but I still landed in the INFP camp. I guess, like Popeye, I yam what I yam. (I wonder what category he’s in?)
Less than 10% of the population falls into the Introverted-iNtuitive categories. (Be kind to us. We’re lonely.)
What category are you?
The Wounded Healer
- At January 20, 2012
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Life, Roxanne Writes On
- 2
“Only what is really oneself has the power to heal.” – C.G. Jung
Last spring, my daughter invited an acquaintance over to the house to bake cookies. They lived in the same neighbourhood, shared a few university classes and the impecunious eye of a hopeful gas-saver. By the time they’d taken the last batch from the oven, they’d agreed to car-pool.
But it didn’t last.
The day after their cookie-baking date, the friend discovered she was ill. Really ill.
This week, barely six months after her diagnosis, she died.
My daughter visited her early on, before it became apparent that this was not a get-well-soon kind of illness. They hadn’t passed the superficial stages of early friendship and death is nothing if not intimate. Besides, what do you say to someone who had the same plans as you, but won’t even be here a year from now? Or a month from now? How do you claim one second of the time left for idle conversation?
I don’t know the family, and can’t pretend to know what they have gone through, and will continue to go through. But I think I can imagine.
I think every parent can imagine.
It’s what makes us lie awake at night until all the cars are back, what makes us freak out when a cell phone goes unanswered, what makes our heart-rate skyrocket each time the phone rings at an odd hour and we can’t mentally check off everyone as safe and sound.
We can imagine, because from the moment they come to us, we know fear. We can never, ever be absolutely certain that they are safe and sound. The fear of loss changes a person.
My daughter is in nursing school. In her career, she will see all sorts of people in all sorts of extreme situations. She won’t be able to claim she knows what they’re going through, but she will be able to imagine a tiny fraction of their pain.
And she will be a better healer for it.
The Cold, Hostile Streets
- At January 19, 2012
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In Life, Roxanne Writes On
- 0
On Tuesday, January 24 at around 9:15 am, radio host Joan Cameron will be reading a chapter from my book Great Cat Stories. Appropriately enough at this time of year, the chapter she’s reading is called “The Cold, Hostile Streets.” It’s about the work of a woman named Linda Jean Gubbe, founder of Street Cat Rescue of Saskatoon or, as it’s commonly known, SCAT.
Having spent my childhood in Saskatchewan, I understand a bit about the coldness, if not the hostility, of the streets. I’ve seen my share of cats with frostbitten ears and tails. And the arctic front we’re experiencing in the Fraser Valley this week is a good reminder that, for all my complaining, my loved ones and I – including our four cats and three dogs – are fortunate to be safe and warm. Not everyone is.
Thank you, Linda Jean, for helping the cats.
And thank you, Joan Cameron, for spreading the word.
To tune in, go to Radio 100.9 Canoe FM, on January 24, at 9:15 am. Then go back to SCAT, and hit the Donate button.
You’ll be glad you did.