Your personality + His Spirit, part 3 out of 5: Sanguine

"There is no charge for awesomeness." - Po the Panda

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I do believe that sanguines make the world go round. Without these crazy, lovable people spicing up everything around them with their constant energy, enthusiasm, and openness, life would be rather dull indeed. My favorite character that has the sanguine temperament is Po the Panda from Kung Fu Panda (I'm pretty sure that Jack Black himself is pretty sanguine as well). Po is energized by people and fun; he dislikes anything that doesn't provide enjoyment. He also shows a common side effect for sanguines: hysterical comic timing :)
For this temperament, I asked one of the craziness and most exciting people that I know to answer some questions. She is one of the visual art teachers at the fine arts school that I attend and her fervor for God and life in general is hard to beat. She has some great insight into the sanguine's strengths and weaknesses, so I hope you enjoy reading these responses from a woman I greatly admire, A.M. :)



1. What do you think is one of your greatest strengths as a sanguine? How have you been able to work for The Lord with this strength?
I believe one of my greatest strengths is exhortation. Because I am outgoing, I don't find it difficult to meet strangers and look for ways to encourage them. Currently I work in my church information booth.  I get huge opportunity to meet new people, give them direction and often times encourage them.

2. How did you learn to focus on a task and get it finished?
 Passion is one thing the sanguine personality depends on when finishing a task. If the task is boring and holds no interest it's easy to lose focus and start something else. When I understand my passion and the importance of getting the job done,boring or not, I"m closer to the finish line. A verse I lean on is doing my work unto the Lord and not unto man. It's so easy to get distracted.

3. What is one of the most uncomfortable things for you to do in social situations (examples might be talking to people one-on-one, speaking in front of an audience, etc.)?
Small talk is incredibly difficult for me. In the past I would get huge social anxiety. The thought of a baby shower or small business party would send me running. It is something I still work on but my attitude and God's vision for me has put me more at ease. I can talk to a huge group or one on one, but dead silence really ate me up.

4. What do you believe is one of the biggest downfalls of a sanguine?
Sanguines are not only playful and silly but sometimes experience super highs and lows. Not thinking before one speaks can be very dangerous. That can change the mood in a second. The biggest downfall would be trying to absorb all the attention in the room before asking, "Is this the best time for me to be vying for attention?"

5. Have you seen this weakness have a negative effect in a sanguine's life (either your own life or someone else's)? What happened?
Yes, I have embarrassed myself by being loud and not paying attention to what was going on around me- basically thinking of myself and my own needs. Those who are not Sanguine can become irate with that behavior. Pretty much got told off and put down and it was by another Christian. The result was hurt feelings but a new sensitivity to others. Had to learn it more than once. Glad I have a great redeemer!

6. Is there a specific Bible verse that addresses this weakness? If so, what is it?
Well I have to be honest, any verse that warns about pride would help with this weakness. The Psalms and Proverbs are full of verses that address pride. Pride goeth before a fall. I don't think the poor sanguine is always aware that pride is the weakness but rather they think it's a character flaw.

7. How has God's word and His work in your life changed the way that you address your weaknesses as a sanguine?
Well I have learned to not blurt what I think and to slow down and listen for a better word from the Lord. Before I really understood freedom in the Lord, I could be sarcastic and think that was not harmful. Yet, it was just a another prideful behavior- just having fun at someone else expense. The Lord allowed me the gift of being transparent and freedom to be myself without fear. I would beat myself up and really feel guilty about my outrageousness until I realized, even my weakness could bring him glory. I think about Peter in the Bible and so many others who were probably sanguine. God's word, music and prayer are the prescription that continue to give me success in behavior.

A poem: To Obsess, to Love

I decided to take a detour from my current blog series (I will do this every other post so there won't just be a bunch of personality posts in a row on this blog).

Anyway, I wrote a poem today based on 1 Corinthians 13 and I wanted to share it here...

To Obsess, to Love

 To obsess is to let your emotions fly,

To fulfill your loneliness by

Chasing, scheming, pushing on

Until your time and life are gone

To obsess is to chase your own desires

And feed your own burning fires

With someone else’s dreams and life,

Leaving both of you empty with pain and strife

To obsess is to let butterflies come quickly,

To let your soul melt into something hard and sickly

From looking too hard to find character worthwhile

Beyond his shallow, meaningless smile

But to love is to care

To put someone first, to always be there,

To conquer conflict, climb mountains together

 To bear your affection forever

To love is to see true joy on his face

To stop treating relationships like a competition or race

To wait for him to come to you

Without the intention to blindly pursue,

But to love you for the One who lives in your heart

That’s when true love truly starts 

Your Personality + His Spirit, part 2 out of 5: CHOLERIC

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"I never made a mistake in my life. I thought I did once, but I was wrong."
~Lucy Van Pelt

I love cholerics; no one else can really match the fervor and determination of someone with this personality.They have the ability to stand strong, carry on, and move mountains in the process. If you want an example of a choleric person, just think about any famous leader, and they were probably a choleric. Lucy Van Pelt is also a perfect example of a choleric; she is bossy and determined to have her way, which is definitely the natural inclination of this temperament. But, if this inclination is used in the correct way, God can do incredible things with these strong people.

I know several amazing people who are cholerics, one of them being my aunt, K.D. (I am only using initials when I refer to people on this blog since it is on the Internet for the world to see). She is a Godly woman who is currently raising three incredible kids and volunteering full-time in ministry. My aunt is also one of the sweetest people (in fact, I originally thought she was a phlegmatic since she is so accepting and friendly, two characteristics that are not natural in a choleric). However, she told me all about how God has worked in her life in incredible ways and allowed her to reach this point in her faith. I am so excited to share some of her input about the choleric temperament with you.

1. What do you think is one of your greatest strengths as a choleric? 

I feel like one of my greatest strengths is determination. When things are hard, when things take longer than I wish they would, when things don't go my way, when there are unforeseen obstacles, when things are out of my comfort zone... if I believe God is asking me to do it I am determined to work through anything and get it done.  

2. How have you been able to work for The Lord with this strength? 

When I serve in His strength, my determination allows me to keep going and tackle projects I would never have dreamed myself capable of doing.  He has brought me from working as a nurse-a very comfortable job for me-to a job way out of my comfort zone.  I now volunteer full time for a ministry handling innumerable details covering a broad spectrum-scheduling, negotiations with different venues, travel arrangements,  TV production, taxes, ministry paperwork, interacting with all sorts of people and personalities...  All of these things I pray to do in a way that will make others notice a difference in me and glorify Him.

3. How have you learned to cultivate your leadership skills to be servant-hearted rather than overbearing or dogmatic? Through the years God has taught me to ask Him to see things in His eternal perspective.  He has taught me that even if people aren't doing something my way, their way isn't necessarily wrong, it's just different.  He has taught me that what He is working on in me isn't necessarily what He is working on in someone else and that I need to be patient. He has taught me that I don't need to be in charge or in control to be a leader, that I can lead through my quiet example of service.

4. What is one of the most uncomfortable things for you to do in social situations (examples might be talking to people one-on-one, speaking in front of an audience, etc.)? 

The most uncomfortable thing for me in social situations is talking with people I don't know.  I am shy and it's hard for me to do that. I have been told by trusted friends that I can come across as intimidating because people think I "have it all together" (SO WRONG!) and that by being quiet I can give the impression that I think I am better than others.  God is teaching me that many times people are just as shy as I am and that to reflect His image I need to gather up my courage and speak to people even when it's uncomfortable to me.  I have learned that asking questions is a good way to get people talking and then all I have to do is listen.

5. What do you believe is one of the biggest downfalls of a choleric? 

Having high expectations of myself and others and being irritated/impatient/angry/disappointed when my expectations aren't met.

6. Have you seen this weakness have a negative effect in a choleric's life (either your own life or someone else's)?  What happened?

In my early days of marriage, I would quickly become irritated with my husband when he didn't do things the way I wanted them done.  I felt like I had figured out the "best" system to accomplish things and it bothered me very much when he didn't take care to put things away like I wanted them or didn't do things in the time frame I thought they should be done. I feel like ultimately my irritation was rooted in pride.  I was so busy looking at what he (and others) weren't doing the way I wanted them that I didn't leave time to look at myself and realize the MANY ways I needed to change.

7. Is there a specific Bible verse that addresses this weakness? If so, what is it? 

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interest of others. (Philippians 2:3-4, NLT2)

8. How has God's word and His work in your life changed the way that you address your weaknesses as a choleric?

God has used some books that have really helped me.  A Woman After God's Own Heart by Elizabeth George, Lies Women Believe by Nancy Leigh DeMoss and Spirit Controlled Temperament by Tim LaHaye were all books that helped me realize that I needed to change and I was not going to get anywhere trying to change those around me. These books were full of Biblical truths and I looked up each verse as I read and continually prayed and asked the Holy Spirit to give me insights to the way I needed to change. I feel like now I am so much more aware of my own shortcomings and much more patient with others. I am still a work in progress.

Your Personality + His Spirit, part 1 out of 5: Intro

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 The ancient Greeks originally thought that the Four Temperaments were four fluids in each person's body! The dominating fluid would determine a person's appearance AND personality. This is a picture of the four temperaments. Go to http://www.historyofphrenology.org.uk/temperament.htm   for more information on the history of this belief. 

I love personality tests. It's kinda weird, but I find it so captivating to analyze why other people act the way they do based on their personalities. There is one personality test that I have found particularly interesting called the "Four Temperaments Test". In case you aren't familiar with this certain analysis of people's personalities, let me fill you in quickly.

There are four different temperaments in this test (obviously).

Here they are:

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1. Choleric- this personality type is the LEADER. They are domineering, persevering, and passionate. Unfortunately, sometimes they can be a little too passionate with their cause, sometimes hurting others in the process by running over them with their fervor.

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2. Sanguine- One way of describing this personality type is the "party animal". They are sociable, LOUD, and fun to be around, always enjoying making new friends and going to group gatherings. But, they also dislike any place that isn't fun, so if they start a new activity or hobby, their excitement for it dies quickly and they usually abandon it. This makes it difficult for sanguines to get to appointments on time or to finish tasks.

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3. Phlegmatic- Pooh Bear is a phlegmatic. Phlegmatic people are happy-go-lucky, easygoing, and accepting of everyone. They are also very peaceful and relaxed, not getting their feathers ruffled over much. Their weakness however, is laziness, since they lack motivation and enthusiasm.

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4. Melancholy- These people are the deep, passionate thinkers who are independent, existing solely in their own worlds, being able to pay attention to small details because of their analytical nature. But, they are also the type of people who tend to get lost in themselves, usually buried in pessimism and discouragement. Melancholies lean towards depression and selfishness.

So, there they are: the four temperaments. In case you were wondering, I am a melancholy. I can pick out small details in life and write whole blog posts about them for crying out loud! And I am powered enough by my own thoughts to just sit here for about thirty minutes and write silently, alone in my room. And I just wrote three entire sentences about MYSELF, I guess this is a fourth one too.

Hopefully, you get the point now. But, now what? Well, there are four more posts about these personality tests. Yup, you guessed it; I'm going to be talking about each of these personality types. I am also going to be discussing how God's spirit can really change us, even beyond the bounds of our personalities. Because, as sinners, we will all fall towards the negative aspects of our personality types. The cholerics will bulldoze over everyone around them. The sanguines fall into trouble because of their endless pursuits for fun and pleasure. The phlegmatics will never do well in anything or follow through with anything because of their apathy and indifference to life. The melancholies will crush their own spirits with negativity and INTENSE self-centeredness. Sounds terrible, doesn't it?
But 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!"

That's the great news; God can work through us to increase the strengths in each and every one of our personalities and use our weaknesses to change us and glorify Him.

These four temperaments are not perfect cookie-cutter descriptions of everyone, but since all of us are sinners, it can be assumed that all of us have chronic weaknesses, and they probably have something to do with each of our personalities. So, I hope that the next few posts will help you not only start to understand your fellow human beings, but understand YOURSELF better. If you're a melancholy, you're probably looking forward to the latter part of this statement. If you're a choleric, you're excited about the former part of the statement, since it will give you information about why everyone else has such a difficult time doing the RIGHT thing :) If you're a sanguine, you probably got this far into the blog because of the entertaining pictures you got to look at and now that there's this patch of writing with no interesting pictures to accompany it, you are starting to zone out. If you're a phlegmatic, congratulations for getting past the first paragraph! Only a few more sentences, okay? You can do it!

So, now, in case you are dying to know which temperament you are, here is a website with which to test yourself.
http://personality-testing.info/tests/4T.php
I'm sorry about the random survey thing at the end of the quiz. Since I'm having fun discussing these personalities, I am going to predict what you are probably going to do with the random survey thing, based on your personality. 
If you are a choleric, it will annoy you A LOT that you have to answer a survey before you get to have your results, so you will probably just pick a random answer so you can FINISH THE TEST.
 If you are a sanguine, the question for the survey will sidetrack you and you'll start thinking about potato chips (or whatever the question was about) instead of your survey results.
If you are a phlegmatic, you probably won't even finish the test itself. Even if you do finish it, the random survey will throw you off and you probably will assume that it takes to much time to fill out one stupid question and just give up the entire endeavor.
If you are a melancholy, you will read through all of the questions for the survey and answer carefully, then spend the next five minutes wondering why in the world they asked you that question and how the website will put your answer to use (that's what I did... just saying)

Anyway, this has been fun, and I hope you enjoy my next few posts as I find verses and applications for each personality type, tell you a few of my favorite cartoon characters and famous people that possess each specific temperament, and interview four Godly women that I really look up to (one for each temperament) and ask them how their personality applies to their faith.

Hope you enjoy!