Seeing yourself
Just having a quick think about my 'self image'... who do I say that I am?What is it that defines the way that I currently see myself? Am I a creature of habit? or perhaps primarily motivated by concern for others? or maybe I just seek to belong... or convervesly to be unique and free to act independantly and creatively... or maybe it's not really a question for me to answer, maybe I'm just who God says I am? (if that's not a circular enough definition... given that the degree to which I understand who he says that I am seems to be filtered by how I communicate with him?).
To semi-quote the newest Doctor Who (mostly because it was back at Christmas, and I can't remember all the speech...) "I'm not sure what kind of Doctor I am yet, am I a nice Doctor, a funny one, am I ginger?!"... but either way, I don't think I 'define myself' via other people's view of me...
But nonetheless here's an interesting little site, that you might want to submit your thoughts to - presuming that you actually think you know me! A little site where you try and pick a number of words that reflect your view of someone's personality:
http://kevan.org/johari?name=RichB
Also, perhaps even more interesting is personality flaws that you might notice:
http://kevan.org/nohari?name=RichB
(Of course, there's also a strong possibility that this could get heavily thrown by 'blogspam'... but hey, it might be fun either way....)
posted by RichB @ Monday, March 13, 2006
11 Comments:
Haha.. that's fun. I was going to do the negative one, but I didn't think I know you well enough.
It's quite a fun exercise ... any thoughts on its accuracy yet?
My criteria on choosing the negative ones was mostly based on how amusing I thought they were. Imagining Rich as chaotic and overdramatic brought a certain humour to me! Alas Rich, you're far too cool to really fit many of those negative ones.
I bet also that something like 'ingenious' is something you'd never choose to describe yourself with, as humility sort of prevents it. SO I guess that's down to us, to try and highlight the things you'd never really want to propogate about yourself, which are none the less, true.
Draaama, Draaama, Draaama...
Well... on one hand most people seem to think I'm: dependable and reflective, witty, able, caring and trustworthy.
But possibly also: (trying to ignore for a moment some of the more random selections!) lethargic and withdrawn, insecure, cynical and passive.
Which to me says "that's pretty accurate"... the group-think seemed to have eliminated many of the slightly odd ones that turned up
(Timid, Jen?! You should see how I ride my bike! Anna on the other hand has clearly has seen my cycling, so thinks I'm silly! ;-D)
Strange thing is though, if I stick those 'negatives' through a thesaurus I get:
laid back and cool, modest, analytical and patient. Not sure whether that's a good thing though...
oooo dat harsh!... my 'socks in trousers' cycling style is a daring fashion statement! ;-)
Thesauruswise, I just looked up each 'negative' and found a 'positive' that pretty much means the same thing!
At least - I'm of the opinion that many of our 'personality flaws' are mearly the flip-side of our 'personality features', and can't really be ever eradicated totally. Just have to put in the work to allow them to have less of an effect on life...
I suppose that "self-image" is who you think you are, so by extension "Rich-image" is whoever anyone else thinks you are. I personally am of the opinion that at any time only God ever has a perfect and complete image of who I am. As each of us has different blind spots, the best way to find out who you are is to ask a lot of people, and compare the answers ... Oh, I see you're ahead of me on that.
When you find yourself will you come looking for me?
Ooo... hello Tweedie...
Certainly I think you're right - if I understand your point that is! - that when all is said and done, what's really important is the degree to which we're reflecting him to the world around us.
Of course, that reflection is always filtered through the unique shades and colours that he's built up in us, but - when we let him - God still loves gets busy on our characters with a bit of spit & polish, so that we shine all the more ;-)
Jen: Positive sides of 'impatience' are probably 'eagerness', 'excellence' and 'expectancy'.
(This episode was brought to you by the letter 'E' and the number '28')
I couldn't do the negative one.. it felt too mean!
Ah the great questions of life - Who am I? who is God? who do I think I am? who does God think I am?
And then the tough ones - Who do people think I am, do they like me and scariest of all - what if they find out who I really am ;-)
Of course, most of us are too chicken to ask the question! Probably safest just to say "unique"!
True, true... and I'm hoping God will give me some insight on it, when I actually take the time to listen to what he's trying to say to me!!
As for 'Who do people think I am' - that always has an interesting and ever changing answer, hopefully it's something near to "who I actually am" - because that implies that I'm being as honest and open as I like to be! However, to quote 'The Matrix' "people generally accept the reality with which they're presented".
'do they like me' - everyone wants to be loved, and everyone wants it on their own terms, but what everyone needs is more about acceptance of the flaws for the sake of the pearl...
And finally 'what if they find out who I really am' - if they find out who I really am, I hope they'll let me in on the secret! And perhaps that's real community! ;-)
Well I think you're great Rich, even though I've just called you lethargic and chaotic. I am quite convinced that this is a fairly good profile of our Rich-image.
I am also very convinced that I shall not do one of these things... it'd be like getting slated by the in-laws. (shudder)... not that I have any in-laws of course.
Mike... has anyone ever told you that - sometimes - you can be slightly odd?!
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