Do you have a real and true interest in what it means to be human? Are you sensitive and highly relationship oriented? Is conflict especially painful for you? Do others describe you as empathic, inspiring, deep, self-aware, intuitive, reflective, creative, authentic or encouraging? Are you more comfortable being rather than doing? Do you strive, even unintentionally, [...]
Tyler approached me after my Myers Briggs presentation in his high school classroom. A tall young African-American man with long limbs and a wide smile, he'd asked engaging questions and made validating eye contact with me during my speech. There were a couple of other head- nodders and eye-contact holders in the class (Thank God for them!) but [...]
With their talent for identifying with the other person, for slipping into another's skin, Idealists find that building close, loving relationships is the most natural thing in the world… And yet such emotional sensitivity (some would say hypersensitivity) can take its toll, and Idealists have been known to become upset when these affective ties begin [...]
Seven years ago, I found myself sitting in the waiting area of the music school my son attended for guitar lessons. The school's owner had come out and greeted me with a kind gentle voice and then left. Within the quiet following his departure, I listened to musical notes drifting in from nearby classrooms. I smelled candles burning, their fragrance mixing [...]
