Sunday, December 13, 2009

Birthday party: analyze that ^^v

Assalamualaikum and good evening,

I suspected that if Allah hadn't decreed me to be a doctor, I would have made a good linguist. But I digress.

There are many schools of thought when it comes to categorizing people based on their general behaviour. I think (without any research) that most of them tend to divide people to four groups. Keirsey system divides people to Guardians, Rationalists, Artists, and Idealists.

The Four Temperaments (which have roots from the teachings of Hippocrates regarding humorism) on the other hand divides people to:

Sanguine: people person, short attention span, confident, loves to entertain, lively, livewire, fun-loving,spontaneous, extrovert
Choleric: Go-getter, charismatic, leader type, energetic, ambitious, irritable
Phlegmatic: laidback, compassionate, peacemaker, witty, observant, lazy, shy
Melancholic: Introvert, ponderer, thinker, fastidious, reflective, sentimental, depressed

The characteristics are not set in stone. Most people will have a combination of 2 or 3 types, but every body will have a dominating character type.

I attended a friend's birthday party today. Parties are a good way of seeing myriad of people interactions. When the party involves a large gathering of people, say more than 20 people, soon you will see during the course of that party, the formation of little islands of congregation. Subconsciously some people who have good chemistry will band together and mingle around.

There will those who'll be the centre of attentions, some who listened with rapt attention, some who are present physically but let their minds wander, some who observed other people, etc etc.

No prize guessing which type I am eh? hehe. I am a melancholist through and through. But previously I thought my breakdown was this: 70% melancholic, 20% sanguine, and 10% phlegmatic.

But after an evening at a friend's party, I reflected, and realized that maybe it's more like: 70% melancholic, 15% phlegmatic, 10% sanguine, and 5% choleric.

I have always marvelled at my own way of perceiving things. Thinking too much and in a convoluted complicated kind of way comes to me naturally, like breathing or eating.

When guys go to watch movies they do just that; watch movies. But I will find myself thinking about who is the director of that movie and how does this one stack up to his previous films, what was the main actor's previous movies, what would be the best lines from that movie that I would store in my brain and quote relentlessly, etc etc.

And when my friends are enjoying themselves at a friend's birthday party, I was categorizing the guests according to 4 temperaments. hehe. Scary...

And then another unique reflection comes to mind... "I am afraid that in this personality of data-amassing, number-crunching, and hard analyzing..there is no place for a soul-mate (read:women) to understand me"

Lho? koq mikirnya gitu sih? (huh? why do you have that way of thinking)

haha.

Just random thoughts in a grey evening.

Wassalam...

p/s: Happy birthday Nani! May ur adventures ahead are filled with vibrant colours of joy! ^^v

Friday, December 11, 2009

Leading a simple fulfilling life

Assalamualaikum & evening people..

People who know me say: I think too much, I complicate matters, I worry too much.

Guilty on all charges. (^^)

But allow me to be optimistic. Indulge me.

I like to think that I have improved by leaps and bounds over these past few years. Alhamdulillah.

The key to be happy in life is to be grateful.

We human beings are always led astray by our inherent greed & envy. These 2 characters are considered in Christen-dom as part of the 7 deadly sins. With good reason.

If we can cast away our greed & envy towards other people, we will feel better.

Be grateful with what you have, & never think less of yourself. Never think that you are useless and replaceable. For in the grand scheme of things, each & everyone of us is important in this world, and have our own roles to play; our own niche to fill. To each of us; his/her own unique place in this world.

Count your blessings people! And never give up hope! (^^)

"The world is a lovely place and worth fighting for. I believe with the 2nd part"
-Morgan Freeman; Seven-

Wassalam.