ExclusiveIdentifying one’s temperament can highlight personality, strengths, and virtues

Welcome to Epoch Insight with Tiffany. My name is Tiffany Brannan. Each time you meet someone, part of his personality is one of the first things which strikes you. Beyond the physical appearance and mannerisms, the way someone's personality will shine through is very interesting. And so often we get caught up in other superficial aspects that we don't see the basic personality. People have been studying human nature and how it breaks down into personality traits for thousands of years. Hippocrates in ancient Greek times studied this, as did the Greek physician Galen. The study of temperament is indeed an important part of what our personalities are. And there's an article in the Life and Tradition section of the Epoch Times talking about the four different temperaments and how they answer the question of why different people are like they are. The article begins by describing how two very calm and laid-back parents may be surprised when they find that they have a very strong-willed daughter who doesn't seem to take after them. But that understanding personality traits can answer the question, where did this kid come from? Because as we find, the four human natures are not necessarily related to your environment or even something hereditary. One's personality is more than just one's temperament, as the article is quick to point out. But temperament is a big part of personality. There's the old question, nature versus nurture. Temperament is the nature part of that equation. And it's very closely connected to one's soul, because it's your innate sense of a being rather than just who you are in the flesh. And take two people, such as identical twins, or even people with similar personalities who aren't related, and put them in very different circumstances, and you might find that they still run toward the same habits, job trajectories, and life decisions, even with different backgrounds, because they have similar temperaments. This article highlights a couple who have made it their practice in the last several years to study, talk about, and educate others about the four temperaments and how they can be used in parenting and understanding one's self and one's loved ones better. This couple is Art and Lorraine Bennett. Art Bennett is a licensed marriage and family therapist in several states with more than 30 years experience. His wife, Lorraine, is a freelancer who's co-written several books with him. Art, years ago, founded the Alpha Omega Clinics in Virginia and Maryland, which was quite unusual at the time because it was an overtly Catholic mental health clinic. And throughout all their teaching, studying, and writing, they have brought that Christian background into their work, and used it to analyze how, as human beings, we are born with good and evil in our natures as fallen men, but that it is possible to elevate the good and pursue more virtue while squelching and controlling the negative aspects of our personalities, which can be turned into vices and a sin nature. To try to build more of a market, Art started by giving talks at different Catholic parishes, and the temperament one was really popular, he found. People were very interested, so Lorraine joined him as they began talking as a couple. As they were getting more requests nationwide, they started to make this a point of more research and their work. What they learned along the way from their studying and from personal observation with their own adult children and more and more grandchildren, they put into words in three different books. Now you can find out a lot more about the Bennett's and their online presence. They have a website which is simply Art and Lorraine, that's L-A-R-A-I-N-E Bennett, with two N's and two T's, dot com. And there you can read blog posts, find out about all the books they've written, even buy a game that they've developed, and it's based on temperaments. So in this game, which can be played with ideally four people or more, you identify different people's temperaments and then go on a journey with it. But the article really talks about one of their main books, called The Temperament God Gave Your Kids, Motivate, Discipline, and Love Your Children. Now this book cleverly uses well-known characters from the book Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne to give examples of the different temperaments. For instance, for the choleric, we have Rabbit, because Rabbit is a very strong leader, as is the choleric personality, because the choleric is your classic leader. They tend to be determined, forceful, opinionated, very stubborn, and strong-willed, so they tend to take charge. In terms of the melancholic, the donkey Eeyore is given as an example, because melancholics tend to be the most introverted temperament, and they have high ideals, which are wonderful, like truth and beauty and justice, and they really live these things and pay attention to them, which is a great asset. The sanguine personality is associated with Tigger. The sanguine is your classic people person. They're bright and bubbly, effervescent. They're your classic party person, very enthusiastic. They tend to be like butterflies that flit from flower to flower as they go from one activity to another. And finally, the phlegmatic is associated with Winnie the Pooh. This is the person who usually looks to fit in, the calm person. They put a heavy emphasis on cooperation and teamwork. They generally aren't looking for accolades or credit, but just want to do a good job and not create too much attention towards themselves. They're good team players with an emphasis on peace and harmony, which is wonderful and always appreciated. In this book, and in other writings the Bennetts have done, they mention how you can analyze your children's personalities, or your spouses and friends, parents, cousins, whoever it might be, and use those to help relate to that person and encourage him. For instance, they have a son, whom they defined as phlegmatic, and he would always bring paperwork back from school, including the newsletter. And his parents saw that there was an opportunity for him to run for student body president, so they gently asked him whether he thought of running. He said, I don't know, what do you think? They said that he was a popular child, so they thought that he might enjoy that. So they gave him some encouragement, he ran, and he won. But he wouldn't have done that without a little encouragement, because as a phlegmatic person, he wasn't really looking for accolades or to be the center of attention. Now, a melancholic might have needed more than just a little encouragement to do something like that as more of an introverted, shy person. On the other hand, a choleric probably wouldn't need any encouragement to pursue a goal like that, or some other goal. The Bennetts describe how each of the temperaments has its own strengths, and they're big believers on building on those strengths. Lorraine says, our job as parents is to help our children grow in virtue, and there are natural virtues associated with each temperament. Knowing your kid's temperament, knowing you want them to be full human beings who meet the challenges of life, you encourage them to grow, and also maybe sometimes encourage them to tone it down so that they grow and respond with love, and not just react impulsively. I love that idea that goes beyond it, because online you'll see so many things about, take this quiz to find out you're this or that, what character are you, what's that, but they're taken as just, that's what you are, there's no way to improve. But I appreciate that these parents are acknowledging the now sadly forgotten idea that we can improve ourselves. Now, of course, I was very curious to find out what the Bennetts would think my temperament is, so I went to their website, which is temperamentquiz.com, to take a quiz. And there are, I think, 68 different questions, and they usually have one of four potential answers. Definitely true, somewhat true, somewhat false, and definitely false. By taking this, I was told that I'm 87% choleric, and 13% melancholic. As I read the description, I found it to be pretty accurate. In general, I'm very strong-willed, tend to be a leader, but there's also the side that with the melancholic can be more moody and introspective. And it pointed out the virtues about that and the faults, like disregarding what other people think, wanting to just kind of plow ahead and just be so much a leader. And I thought that was very interesting. And it also mentioned, as a good role model, how St. Paul could perhaps be identified as that kind of person. Because at first, he used that strong will for evil and persecuting the church. But later, he used that strong will in building the church and spreading the word of the gospel, and also inspiring others, as he mentored many of the other disciples. Of course, any online quiz isn't completely accurate, and you need to analyze yourself and those who actually know. But I think it could be a very interesting book to read about the temperament God gave your kids, and the other works that they've written, as well as their different blog posts. And you can watch a video they made about the temperaments if you go to BennettTherapy.com. So many people don't reach their full potential because their parents or teachers or mentors don't give them the encouragement to find out how they could be their very best. And that includes not only personality traits, but pursuing different activities and different fields. And I think perhaps looking at your natural temperament could help with that as well. If you're a more quiet, introspective person, you might do better in a more studious field, whereas if you're outgoing, you'd do better selling things or engaging with people and talking. And by analyzing your natural personality trait, as well as the things you love to do or the things that fascinate you, maybe you can find a way that you can pursue those while doing something that's comfortable and in which you can shine because of your temperament, because you'll be more likely to have a happy, contented, successful, and stress-free, or at least less stressful life. In conclusion, Lorraine says, if God gave our children a strength, we wanted them to use it. We tried to be positive about their strengths, but also to encourage them to grow and work hard to overcome their weaknesses. That's one thing temperaments are good for, the notion that these are God-given gifts. You want to be careful about not appreciating them. By looking at our strengths, our weaknesses, our vices, and our virtues, I think we can appreciate all the good things about ourselves and amplify those so that we don't get caught up in the things that are negative about ourselves, because if we feel good about ourselves and how we can help the other people around us, I think we can be more beneficial members of the world and society. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about the four temperaments, how we can identify them, and how we can use them to be the best versions of ourselves. Thank you for spending this time with me talking about the four different temperaments, how to identify them, and how to maximize their strengths. If you enjoyed this video, I hope you'll like it, subscribe to the channel, share it with your friends, and leave a comment letting me know what temperament you are. Thank you for watching!