Shona Neff

Once upon a time, a phlegmatic/sanguine and a choleric/melancholy planned a “Girls’ Day Out.”  Well, actually it was just last weekend and the phlegmatic/sanguine was me, and the choleric/melancholy was my friend, CM. Oh my, what a hilarious study of our two personality blends. I wish you all could have been “flies on the wall”, because it was quite entertaining. But I’ll do my best to fill you in on all the laughs.

The Planning

Getting a phlegmatic and choleric to take time for a social event can be daunting. Phlegmatics are procrastinators who are terrible about making plans – it is so much easier to stay home and just “be”. Combine that with a mission-minded choleric who wears several professional hats and is always marching along the path of practicality, and a day of girly fun rarely materializes between the two. Well, finally after 5 years of threatening (has it really been THAT long?…maybe just a year), CM and I got intentional and our day of shopping actually happened. (more…)

After letting it sit around naked for a couple of days, I finally got around to decorating my poor bare tree. At least the factory attached lights kept it from total embarrassment. As I pulled out the decorations for the “fun” tree this year…the set of ornaments that includes ALL the goofy ornaments my two “twenty-something” boys picked in a yearly ritual when they were young…the parade of personalities that emerged from the boxes kept me entertained.

Sanguine

So, what spirited sanguine could resist THIS jolly, rotund man dressed in bright red sledding down a slope full of frozen fun! I must confess that my sanguine side fell in love with this crazy ornament when I was shopping for an ornament exchange last Christmas. I loved it so much I stole the sledding Santa during the exchange and came home with him. Shhh…don’t tell.

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I hope you enjoy my first EVER vlog (video blog). I’ve been wanting to present “stuffy” personalities for a long time, but it seemed to me that just writing such a post would not do the subject justice. SO . . . when I recently learned the steps of making a vlog, I knew the time was right for this long awaited topic.

As with most things there is room for improvement, and since I haven’t mastered the art of editing (actually, I have NO clue how to edit and I don’t really want to learn right now) there is ONE place I ask you to watch for so you are not confused. After I describe the SANGUINE stuffy, I move to the CHOLERIC. I accidentally use the term “sanguine” in two places when I meant to say “choleric”. Just be on the lookout and that won’t trip you up. And, I promise that after a long enough time of procrastinating (a personality trait in phlegmatic people like me) I will learn how to fix such boo-boos.

Enjoy!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=ua9P3FXWLDM

©2012 Shona Neff

Okay, I admit it: I hate to exercise. But, it usually is a regular part of my life . . . mainly for health reasons. I certainly don’t pursue breathless escapade and stinging sweat gushing in my eyes because I like it. For me, it’s a personality thing.

As a phlegmatic, I’d rather just be blessed with hot body DNA than have to work out in the hopes one will miraculously appear. Too bad sitting at the computer, reading, playing on my iPhone, and just getting out of bed aren’t cardio enough. Slow and easy is the perfect exercise regiment for a phlegmatic type like me. Maybe you can relate.

After taking a three month break, I am trying to get back into an exercise routine and, after being highly recommended by my friend Sara, I’m am trying the TurboFire® program. I hate it! Oh, not because it isn’t good, but because it is SO not me. There is not one phlegmatic thing on that DVD. (more…)

I’m not sure if my “wisdom” in this area comes more from age, observation, and experience, or my study of personalities. Either way, both contributed to the musing I’m recording in black and white today. If you are having a fragile day emotionally, you may not want to go any further because this post is not full of fun revelations. Don’t get me wrong . . .  they are good, but most of the time, self-improvement is not easy on the ego for those who choose to engage it. But, if you are up for a challenge, I encourage you to read on.

The one assumption that I believe that all four personalities can live by is this:

Don’t assume everyone is interested in what you have to say. (more…)

Christmas is only a week away. First and foremost, it is the time to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. However, the man in the red suit is on a lot of people’s minds, too. Just who is this festive fellow beneath the silvery beard, wisps of Fabio-rivaling hair, and luxurious suit? Is it possible to get inside the famous personality?

The well-known song, Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, gives some insight into this elusive character:

Jolly Old Saint Nicholas, Lean your ear this way, Don’t you tell a single soul, What I’m going to say

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In part one of my Costa Rica adventure, I shared some of the things I learned about my travel personality. Today, I will highlight a few more discoveries as I traipsed around the Central American country.

Perseverance

Phlegmatic personalities may not do things with the flair of a sanguine or the intensity of the choleric, but we tend to finish what we start. Part of our tour included racing along a zip line. My thinking: if you travel to Costa Rica, you may as well be able to say you zip-lined through the rain forest canopy. Well, I can now say it! I didn’t like it, but I did it. It was slow and steady (which is the typical phlegmatic way) and not very pretty.

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Effective communication is an art. Bad communication is a disaster. How can we avoid this type of disaster? Tapping into our personality tool box will help us develop some easy and effective strategies for talking to each personality type.

Sanguine – Talking to the Talker

Sanguine personalities LOVE to talk. That can be a good thing because if they are so busy talking that you cannot get a word in, it’s easy to avoid disaster. The more you listen, the happier the sanguine is. They love to tell stories while basking in the spotlight. If you are able to sit back and let them talk they will love you. (more…)

Here is the last entry of my Bible musings. I’m so glad that Amos ended on an encouraging note. The Personality post will begin next week. Blessings, Shona.

Repair, Raise Up, and Rebuild

I am never disappointed when I study the Old Testament prophets. Sobered . . . yes. Disappointed . . . never! Amos takes us to some hard places, but the last few verses of his book leave us with hope.

“On that day I will raise up the booth of David that is fallen, and repair its breaches, and raise up its ruins, and rebuild it as in the days of old” (Amos 9:11 NRSV).

Reading all the judgment contained in Amos take us places we’d rather avoid, but God works even in the midst of our darkest days. I know the verse I am about to share is every Christian’s backup quote when friends or family in distress, but, truly, there is power behind the words of Romans 8:28:

“We know that all things work together for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

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Run To and Fro

God is speaking, once again, to Amos through the vision of the fruit. So far, Amos’ intervention has prevented God from administering the punishment Israel deserved. However, Israel remains, like the basket of fruit in Amos 8:1, ripe for judgment.

Verses 9 and 10 describe the pain Israel will sow after reaping ungodly attitudes and actions. But what stands out to me in this section of Scripture is the shortage that will accompany Israel’s mourning:

“The time is surely coming, says the Lord God, when I will send a famine on the land; not a famine of bread, or a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. They shall wander from sea to sea, and from north to east; they shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the Lord, but they shall not find it” (Amos 8:11-12 NRSV).

With Christian bookstores still in existence, churches on every corner, and all the spiritual resources on the Internet, it’s hard to imagine God’s Word not being readily available. I’m always running into the statistic that the Bible is the number one selling book of all time. Who knows, maybe there will not be a physical shortage of biblical material, but rather of spiritual inspiration for understanding. I don’t know, but either way, I cannot imagine a famine of God Word.

Talk of such a shortage makes me wonder what we, as Christians, have to pass down as far as knowledge. What kind of spiritual legacy do we share with others? I can only share my own experiences. In my little circle of life, I’ve seen Christians who possess little interest in the deeper things of God. I’ve seen other with a voracious appetite to grow. I’ve been around non-Christians with favorable views of Jesus, but not so much of Christians.

In Amos’ day, it seems that very few emulated God, and Amos warned of the judgment they were sowing. And part of that judgment included a famine of God’s Word.

Are we headed in that direction? A time is coming when God’s message will not be as readily available as it is today. People will run to and fro, but will not find it. That is an unmistakable signal for us to take full advantage of Christian resources while we have them. There will come a time when the main influence in a lost world is the contents of our hearts and minds.

Let’s devour God’s Word and hide it in our hearts and minds. Encouraging and equipping others multiplies godly lives. There is powerful living in God’s Word.

Word for Today: People will run to and fro, let them find God’s knowledge and wisdom in you.