Today, I wanted to shift gears a little bit. I realize I have branded this website around dyslexia (and I sincerely hope I am able to serve that community well as this progresses), but I would be remiss if I didn’t also share my knowledge about mastering your mind in general. The truth is I’ve been gathering that information for much longer than dyslexia specific information. I hope through a combination of it all, it’ll turn into something that really helps us understand ourselves, our children, and how we can connect it all. There are so many ways we can help our kids, and ourselves, to truly thrive. The more you know about yourself the better able you are to show up in the world.
I have gone down the rabbit hole of Jungian personality typing. Again. INFJ right here. My personality type hasn’t changed over the years, but I gain new insights each time I revisit that I wasn’t ready for the last time. With new experience and awareness, you are able to take away different messages. When I really start diving into these topics, I am filled with so much awe and admiration for the depth and layers we all have hidden away. A part of me can’t wait until my kids are old enough to take the tests and I’ll have another level of understanding of them. Along with the Jungian psychology, I’ve been reading/listening to more on Enneagram numbers and studying my astrology birth chart too. I’m trying to integrate what the astrological houses are and how they fit into life. What’s super interesting is how the different modalities all kind of say the same thing about who I am. Which makes it even more fascinating! Have you ever explored these? Do you find it’s all pointing you in the same direction too?
These are the resources I’ve been digging into lately: Personality Hackers Podcast; Accessible Astrology Podcast; CS Joseph Podcast; 16 Personality Types by Dr. A.J. Drenth; The Twelve Houses by Howard Sasportas, Moonology by Yasmin Borland, and The Complete Enneagram by Beatrice Chestnut, PhD. (All great, and if any of those titles strike your fancy, you should check them out.)
The concept of the eight cognitive functions is really fascinating. Here’s a breakdown, as best I can explain it, from what I’ve learned over the last few weeks. We all know that we identify a certain way, like introverted or extroverted. The cognitive functions goes beyond that and says that we have a dominant function, which I’ve heard called the driver or the hero. So it’s the easiest way for you to be and even how you build up energy, which is why it’s so easy to identify with. For me as an INFJ, it’s introverted intuition (Ni). What it means is I look internally for a plan or future experience. I hate being told what to do, because I already know what to do. I’ve thought about so many plans and scenarios, it’s crazy. It’s just whether or not I’m choosing to do said plan or not. Extroverted intuition (Ne) would mean I’m looking outside myself for a plan or future experience. It’d be someone who loves others giving them the plan and them following it. So introverted and extroverted don’t necessarily mean you like to be alone or rather be with people. It’s more about how you find information, internally or externally. What else I learned is that our primary function is balanced by the opposite function. Every human being needs a way to express information as well as gather information. In personality type land these are your Perceiving and Judging functions. As you go down the hierarchy of the functions they oscillate between introverted or extroverted based on the starting point of your primary function. If you start with an introverted function, the next will be extroverted and vice versa. Our Perceiving functions are Sensing and Intuition. These are how we receive information. Our Judging functions are Feeling and Thinking. These are about expressing information. The four sides of your mind explains that we have four personality types within our mind. I haven’t dug into that enough to really understand, but it helps to explain why a person can be one way in certain situations and another way when stressed.
One of the crucial insights I’ve gotten is around my desire for perfection and how critical I am towards myself. I have definitely always been aware of that but learning the science behind it has, in a way, set me free from it. Because I have this awareness, I can choose to operate from a different place. It allows me to acknowledge that part of my brain, but not get stuck in the loop of overthinking. I can train myself to actually take action despite it not being perfect or all figured out.
There’s a book called, What You Think Of Me Is None Of My Business, by Terry Cole-Whittaker, that I’ve not read, but the concept of that is just so freeing. As long as I know I’m coming from a place of integrity, service, and authenticity, it’s not up to me on how it’s received. Some will love it, some will like it, some will dislike it. And everyone is entitled to their opinion. It was like a weight was lifted from my shoulders when that lesson finally sunk in. There is no way to control another’s reaction, so why bother? The energy I used to spend morphing into whoever I thought a person would like the best can be used for more authentic connection.
Have you taken your personality type yet? If so, leave it below. Let’s see what community we are creating! If you haven’t, go do it!!
All the best,
Jen
