WHO AM I???

DISC profiling yeah? This is what we did in work yesterday. It was basically training to see what sort of person you are in your team. There are 4 main categories - Dominance, Influence, steadiness and conscientious. To start there were about 28 questions. Each question had short character descriptions and you had to mark which out of the four you were most like in a team and which one you were least like. From that we got points which we plotted on this grid and that somehow worked out what sort of person we were. My highest two (by far) were i and s which were Influence and steadiness. Which figures - especially the influence. In a group it means that I tend to be motivated by relationships rather than task. I am quite an encouraging person but also require that for myself. I don't like to be kept out of any social activity going on (which would be hard in my office because I'm the one who generally organises them!). Anyway, it was interesting because there was only one Dominance in our office which worked out well because it was our boss! Most people were a mixture of conscientious and steadiness. There were only two influence and I was one of them. I read the description of my two characteristics and it was freakily like me! Which challenged me because we all like to be individuals. God made each one of us unique and special - there is no one else like us - well that's what we preach but yet I fitted into this box perfectly along with many other people who have done this training and worked out to be this type of person as well! I wasn't happy about this to be quite honest! So perhaps my aim in life now on is to fit into none of these characteristics but to make up a brand new one which IS unique to me! However, perhaps there is some comfort in knowing at the times when you feel a complete weirdo freak that other people feel and act the same way as you. Also, one of the supposed character weaknesses of being in the influence category was that you tend to be excitable. Now, when in the world did it become a weakness to be excitable? Are we all meant to walk around like blooming Zombies now? What's that all about?!?!?! I understand that there are negative points to being excitable - but you can say that about many characteristics can't you? I know that being excitable can mean that you might be slightly annoying to others at times and that perhaps you may make rash decisions but on the whole I would say that excitement brings about enthusiasm, motivation, happiness and is a generally positive emotion. It also means that you never really get bored of life! Look I know that this shouldn't be taken too seriously - and I'm not doing that but these are just some points about this that I wanted to get off my chest. Is being excitable a weakness? Discuss!

I am gutted to say that I a never got to see The Polar Express last night after my rantings about it in my last post. I had every intentions of seeing it but then got caught up with chatting to my boss. Now if anyone knows my boss, you will be aware that once you get him started talking - there's just no stopping him! He is a good guy, a really good boss, a really sincere christian example to me and we have a good laugh. He was once the private secretary to the general of The Salvation Army. I know that he gets quite a bit of stick within TSA about this job being a cushy number. The nickname for people in this job is "the general's bag carrier" but I find his stories about it really interesting and i could listen to him going on for hours. He recognises that this job did allow him loads of amazing opportunities but with those amazing opportunities also came some real challenges; having to cope with the almost constant travelling like being in Pakistan for 5 days and then getting home only to fly off somewhere else 36 hours later for a few days - yes I know all you travellers would think this was great but to be doing this for 3 or 4 years (or however many years it was) constantly i don't reckon is great and not good for your whole body clock. It's not like it's a holiday when they get to these destinations is it? They didn't stay in the best hotels all the time. They had to stay in some awful places where the food was dodgey, the sheets were not clean, the toilet was a pot and not eating properly for days on end and anything you did eat there was always the fear it was going to have a negative effect on you - so you'd have to make sure you took enough of the necessary medication for such times and have to carry on regardless - put a smile on your face even though inside your stomach you felt like Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks were having a wrestling match and having to deal with people who had dillusions of grandeur as to how important they were. All of this is not in the least bit my idea of a cushy number! However, they did get to visit some amazing place, staying in some amazing hotels, meet some amazing people and experience some amazing things and he never complains about it - the positive experiences far outweigh the negative and the negative ones were all character building and perhaps many of them you wouldn't want to change. So he says that when (and a big IF!) I become an officer, if I'm ever offered this job I should jump at it. Unfortunately we realized after saying this that really only people who fit into the Conscientious category (like he does) would be suitable for this job because you had to be very organised and quite task and end result orientated. I don't think that this job is suited to someone like me who is an 'i". I don't think they'd want someone too excitable!


I think quite alot about the pros and cons of The Salvation Army being such a big part of my life and the discussions with my boss last night about his job with the General brought about a bit more thinking. I was brought up as an officers child. My parents were (and still are) Salvation Army officers. Now the demands of this job meant that they were pretty much on call all the time, so were out pretty much every evening, we had to spend most christmas days at the army, no particular place felt like home because we had to move around a fair old bit, so you were changing schools and having to make new friends which was a right pain and often you as the offspring didn't leave home to go to university like most in the family rites of passage but the parents left you to go to another appointment. I reckon that there's a number of OK's (affectionate name for officer's kids) who have a massive chip on their shoulder about this and I guess I can understand why because we didn't get a lot choice or say in this lifestyle - it was chosen for us (in many cases before we were even born) and I guess there have been a number of occasions as I've grown up when I have could nurtured the negative feelings about it. But then I actually look back on my life so far and just thank God for the amazing opportunities being an OK has given me. I have lived in some brilliant places. I have met some brilliant people and made some great friends. Because of a special bursary offered to ministers children, I was able to go to a private school which was one of the best schools in Edinburgh and this gave me such a good education. I have had my eyes opened to some real interesting, sad, scarey, funny, amazing experiences all which have helped mould me into the person I am today. Plus I have had THE MOST perfect example of parents anyone could hope for. They have been two of the most brightest stars shining in my life and have been brilliant examples of what being a true christian is about. If i do end up being an officer as well - which is what I'm planning on doing, if I'm half the officer my parents have been, then I'll be doing well. In all walks of life there pros and cons and it's easy to walk around with a chip on your shoulder about the cons. But as christians, God never promised us that life would be easy. He didn't promise that we would never have hard times. He promised that he would be with us always and give us all we needed to get through. He came to give us life in all it's fulness. He told us to celebrate Him (and in Him we celebrate life) all day every day. We're told that the joy of the Lord is our strength. All of this reminds me that life is so much better when we concentrate on the pros rather than the cons. That we acknowledge the cons as character building and learning experiences but that they don't dominate our lives and our relationships. It's something I'm still learning at times but I'm trying hard to live by. A quote I read recently: 'I can complain because the rose bush has thorns or rejoice because the thorn bush has a rose - it's up to me"

laters!
cx