True Blue Melancholic

The month of November ang topic namin sa Youth Service was about the four basic temperaments: Sanguine, Choleric, Melancholic and Phlegmatic. Na-encounter ko na ito before pero hindi nagretain sa'kin. I didnt even know what temperament I have. We did a test, and I found out that I belong to the melancholy type. Kuya Adong, our teacher, told us melancholic to stand up and he said the 3 words that best describes us: introvert, pessimistic and thinker. He added an kami yung tipo ng tao na suspicious, skeptical and mahirap maconvinced. I was stunned. Ni hindi ko nga alam kung ano yang melancholy na 'yan, and what he said was true. That's me! Para akong nagpahula na totoo ang hula.

I am a melancholic because I checked the most number of melancholic traits: analytical, planner, scheduled, detailed, bashful, unpopular, hard to please, too sensitive, depressed, skeptical, suspicious and critical.

Kuya Adong shared that it is important for us to understand other people pero in order to do that, we have to understand ourselves first.

Sabi ni Ricky Lee sa book niya kapag kinikilala mo ang sarili mo, it is one way of opening your creative eyes and windows. I agree. Personally, I feel liberated kapag mas nakikilala ko ang sarili ko.

Saktong-sakto naman, hindi ko alam bakit naisip ni Nanay na pahiramin ako ng book na nabili niya - Spirit Controlled Woman. It is mainly about the four temperaments and how one can balance the strengths and weaknesses of the temperament she has.

At ito pa. We had the Myer Briggs type indicator test in our team building at ang resulta- I am an introver who is a thinker, deep, namimili ng kaibigan at nagseset ng boundaries.

What are the odds that in a month, I encountered 2 tests and a book showing me who I am?

As I was reading the book Nanay lend me, it was as if the writer was writing about me. Flashbacks are coming to my mind, of me when I was little and growing up and all this time.

I enjoy this self-discovery. It answers a lot for me. I feel normal. Because really, sometimes, I feel like I'm a weirdo. Hehe. Totoo. My ate thinks so too.

Ate seems to be choleric because she's bossy and Rap took the test too and he's phlegmatic. I read to them aloud that the book says melancholic children are "the model children, who need very little correction." We were just laughing about it but I know we all know it's true. =)

This explains why I have this heart for anything artistic. This explains why my interests involve thinking, like reading, writing and planning.

This also explains why I am naturally negative and emo. I have been working on being positive and grateful, but when I took the test, melancholic pa din. Naturally negative and emo kasi, I have to put and effort to be positive and happy, but it's very easy for me to be negative and depressed. Sabi nga, real beauty is effortless. Effort na effort kang magpaganda pero it only takes a frown para pumangit ka. Kasi, naturally, pangit ka talaga. =)

If I can choose my temperament, I like to be a phlegmatic: cool, calm and collected. Swabeng-swabe. Pero alang-ala eh, I am a true blue melancholic.

The good thing though is that, melancholics are said to be the most gifted of all the temperaments. Pero dahil nga sa kanyang self-centeredness, critical spirit and gloom, she suffers more than any others and limits her potential.

The author Beverly LaHaye says she finds it interesting that in the Bible, God sought more melancholy people to serve Him than any others. What temperaments were Moses, Elijah, Samuel, John the Baptist, John, Paul and Thomas? They were all melancholics. =)