Relationships
Have you ever felt lost, frustrated, and alone in a relationship? Millions of people around the world feel these sentiments everyday. Imagine finding someone who understands your thought process and uniqueness, someone who knows what makes you tick and successfully avoids pushing those buttons.
Picture finding that partner who cannot wait to share every moment of their day (or not) with you because they feel excited and you’re the first person they want to tell. Sounds pretty amazing, right? Well it can be possible. Most people in successful relationships use effective communication to tackle conflict and keep the relationship running smoothly. Understanding your partner is extremely important in order to have a healthy and happy relationship.
So how can you achieve this difference? Carl Jung studied personality and crafted different “typologies” according to the different temperaments. During the 1940’s a mother and daughter began working on what is called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. As a result there are 16 different personality types and whereas no one is 100%, these different types help educate and identify ways we process and synthesize information.
For example, if you are the type of person who values concrete information, focuses on the present moment, and doesn’t base decisions on emotions, you will most likely have a difficult time being in a relationship with someone who has the “save the world” attitude and loves to think about what could happen in the future on a regular basis. The classic phrase, “opposites attract” is true – but to what extent do you want to spend most of your free time with a person whom you clash with on a regular basis? Right… now it doesn’t sound so appealing…. In the beginning of that relationship it was exciting and new, now it’s stressful and antagonizing.
What will also be addressed is the difference between “mature and unhealthy” personality types. Just because someone is a certain type and matches with your type does not indicate a healthy adult; in other words you should not be in a relationship with them until they work on their personal issues. There are a lot of adults in children’s bodies because they never grew up. Sometimes it’s hard to identify early-on in relationships but once do, you’ll probably want to seriously evaluate whether it’s worth losing your sanity. Trust me, it’s not worth it.
Relationships can be very painful and the aftermath of a breakup is usually never easy or fun. If you continue in the dysfunction you both will feed off of each other and it will deteriorate more and more over time.
Under times of stress and conflict we tend to protect ourselves, therefore it’s normal for people to dip into the “medium/moderate” zone of their personality. Cultural, religious, socio-economic differences affect personality types and the way they look from person to person. Experiencing and addressing trauma, mental illness, and emotional problems/behaviors are also important factors that can be very disruptive to a relationship (of any kind).
Understanding who we are and where we fit within our own personality spectrum is key to having a better relationship. This site focuses on stronger self-awareness, connecting with others, and why finding a personality that compliments yours makes a world of difference.
Here are additional pages to explain the dichotomies: