I decided to go to GMS, Green Mountain Summer, a Navigators summer training program (STP). Many of my Penn State friends have been there in the past and highly recommend it. Never had I seriously considered it until spring break in Nashville this year, when I learned much about the value of community. My heart strongly desires community, and I look forward to experiencing it and learning how to develop it. GMS will give me such an opportunity.

My roommate had an assignment. He was to take the Keirsey Temperament Sorter, have his roommate (me) do the same, and evaluate how the results reflect how we relate to one another. Hence, as I have done many times in the past, I soon found myself carried away into the world of personality types, through Keirsey and Myers-Briggs/Jung.

Carl Jung proposed that all people can be categorized into 16 personality types. Each type is signified by a sequence of four letters: E/I, S/N, F/T, J/P. E/I refers to a persons Extroverted or Introverted tendency. S/N, Sensing or iNtuition, is the primary method by which an individual acquires information about the world. F/T relates a good deal to decision-making, standing for Feeling and Thinking; does one go through life acting more on thoughts or feelings? Finally, J/P stands for Judging and Perceiving, which refer to, in this context, those who tend to be more structured in life, using schedules and appointments, or those who are whimsical and fanciful, with a bent toward spontaneity, respectively.

One can find multiple tests on the Internet to provide you with your personality type. I recommend taking as many different ones as possible, as no test is perfect and you will thus gain a better perception of your actual type. Lots of information describing the types is available.

I have been typed as INTP: Introverted, iNtuition, Thinking, Perceiving. Though not all people fit well into any specific type, reading about the INTP seems to fit me incredibly well, much better than I would have expected for such a simple thing. So, if you are curious about me, read about INTP!

Check out the following links:

• Keirsey Temperament Sorter
  
     This is the first site that I looked at upon the request of my roommate.


• Myers-Briggs Test For Programmers
  (Not remotely specific to programmers)
  
     This is a site I found last night that I think is very useful. The test is not long and the results are given in a very straightforward, easy to interpret, manner. It also includes the supposed distribution of personality types across the United States’ population, and links to not-so-detailed Wikipedia articles on each type, plus very detailed “Details” links for each type, the INTP one of which fits me very well.


• TypeLogic
  
     Contains a lot of good resources about each type.


• INTP.org
  
     All about INTPs, though it certainly has content for anybody.


• An INTP Profile
  
     Sheds even more light on my life as an INTP. Very accurate, though not perfect, for me.

I have recently begun to write down a significant amount of my thoughts in a small spiral-bound notebook, at the encouragement of a friend who has done so for quite some time. It really is very freeing, in a sense, to know that I can go back and read what I have previously written, and perhaps expand upon thoughts from days gone by.

Keeping a journal is something I have never seriously tried in hard, written form before, partially due to the inconvenience of carrying around the average notebook, which to me is hardly a good place for notes! Although I would prefer a still smaller one from the one I have, this notebook can fit into my jacket pocket and takes up little space in my backpack; it’s convenience is much less of an issue. Keeping a journal certainly seems to have value.

The Salvation Army is an excellent organization dedicated to serving those among us who are in need. Around Christmastime, they send out many people around the country to stand in front of stores collecting donations. I passed by two of these people this evening on my way into Walmart. Perhaps I should have donated a bit, though I did not, but I was reminded of the importance of helping those less fortuen than ourselves, and of the times I have been involved in doing so. As a member of my curch youth group back home, I have participated in several mission trips to help impoverished people.

On one of these trips, we ent to Atlanta, Georgia, where we sorted food and served a meal to the homeless of that area. I found that the men who came were stereotypical homeless people, many drug or alcohol addicted who go out and beg for money during the day. What I found is that these people are not bad people, but they are hungry and willing to do what it takes to keep living. They were so very grateful for the food we served to them

It really blessed me to gain an understanding of how everybody needs help in some way, and we should all be willing to help them. And so, I am glad that well-meaning people spend so much time gathering money for the Salvation Army, because they are striving to help make this world a better place.

Imagine a world with no doors. Imagine a world where each door opened for you. Imagine a world where every man always held the door for whoever followed him, male or female. Imagine the respect that would develop among us, as each person tries to treat each other better than himself, instead of always trying to get ahead. What would it be like if the world was about people, not money? Today, I got a small glimpse of such a world.

As I was entering a building, I noticed a fellow student entering the door adjacent to mine. As he reached for the door, he noticed a girl coming towards that door with the intent of exiting. Many people I have seen quickly open the door and rush through, trying to avoid being in the way. This fellow, however, reached for the door and pulled it open, stepping aside for her to walk through. After she was gone, he passed through the door and went on his way.

I was struck by the magnificence of this event as I walked through my door. Did these people know each other? They didn’t appear to. What inspired such an act of kindness? This simple act changed the course of the universe, if only for a moment. One girl felt important because of one guy who opened a door for her. One guy was willing to be patient and set aside any other plans for a short time in order to give something special to a stranger. Not only was the act incredibly easy to do, but it was also very relaxed and shoved any stress aside. It was perfect in every way.

And so I wonder: Why are we not all so generous? Why do we think that rushing ahead will gain us anything, or that patiently giving will harm our lives? Such an event made me happy just watching it unfold. How much more will I find joy in life if I give of myself!

How do you greet people? I usually say, “Hey! How are you?”, half wanting a response half just saying it out of habit. For a while I was greeting everybody with “Howdy!”, and of course there are lots of times where I just nod, or am totally oblivious to the fact that I should be noticing somebody at all. When I saw a link to Tom Chiarella’s article How to Use the First Name, I was intrigued. The article is rather interesting, especially the story on the second page and the six suggestions following it. The first suggestion is:

Use a person’s name the same way you would a good piece of punctuation—to accelerate expression, to pause in the middle of a thought, to reconnect to the subject of the conversation. Its position in the sentence matters.

Using names well gives them and their owners more meaning, and helps you connect with your partner in conversation. For example, when I met my friend as I was walking to turn in my exam today, I didn’t notice her, but she greeted me by name. It made me feel loved, wanted. Little butterflies of joy fluttered in my heart. A smile started to creep up on my downtrodden face, and I realized, I should really start using names more!