I am well into my cross Canada tour, London, Montreal, Ottawa, Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver, waking up each morning wondering what city I am currently in, and checking on the time for my next flight. Each evening is punctuatued with a new group of health care professionals and observing the fun they have with their Insights Discovery profiles. Laughter ripples through the room as the envelopes containing the profiles are torn open and eyes are cast on the opening paragraphes of the profile. “You called my mother!” Yes I have had a number of participants say that to me as they see the story of self described.
I am in the process of crossing the country delivering a wonderful program call Insights Discovery to health professionals who work in the field of rheumatology. These individuals have demanding jobs supporting a patient population with Rheumatoid Arthritis and associated diseases, a population where the illness and the treatment is complex and difficult. My role is to facilitate and coach the Colour of Communication Program we have developed with our sponsor and which is designed to support participants professionally and personally. It is a program I enjoy offering as it gives individuals the opportunity to see themselves as the unique person they are and to understand how to connect more deeply with others, including their co-workers, and more specifically their patients.
Of course as I teach, I witness many roadSIGNS. I have the pleasure of observing participants interact with the material and the fun that this creates as individuals read their Insights Discovery profiles and drill down into the truth of who they are. In my view people get so caught up in the busyness of their days; they don’t claim time to pause and understand themselves. Have you noticed how sometimes you simply find yourself spinning your wheels, caught up in doing and failing to assess what it is within you that is driving you?
Insights Discovery is certainly not the whole answer. It is however, a piece of the puzzle, a source of feedback which allows you to look in the mirror and take a good long look at yourself.
In this program I teach the four colour energies of personality, what Carl Jung referred to as our personality preferences. What is a preference? Take a moment and write your name on a piece of paper. Now switch hands, and with your non-dominant hand write your name again. What is the difference? You’ll notice that when you write as you normally do, it is natural, easy and free flowing. By comparison, writing with the non-dominant hand requires concentration and effort. In a very simple way this describes personality preference as well. There are preferences which are easy and natural for us and there are preferences that require energy and concentration.
What are the color energy preferences of personality? Red, yellow, green and blue. A red energy preference has the following characteristics: competitive, demanding, determined, strong-willed and purposeful. It is what I refer to as a ‘fast energy’ and the hallmark descriptor is be brief, be bright, be gone. It is an extraverted energy and it is founded in logic. Yellow is the sister energy in extraversion. The difference is it is a feeling preference and is driven more by values that by logic. The characteristics of yellow energy include: sociable, dynamic, demonstrative, enthusiastic, and persuasive. Those having a yellow energy preference are the ultimate networker and fun-lover.
Green and blue energies come from the introverted side of the house, and as such appear as quieter energies, more reflective. I always remind extraverts that for the introvert, the party is going on inside even if there is no outward expression of this.
Green energy is expressed as caring, encouraging, sharing, patient and relaxed. I often describe them as the integrity of the team, home or organization as they remind us of the promises we have made and hold us to them. Finally we have the blue energy, again driven by logic, only in this case wanting all the details. Blue is described as cautious, precise, deliberate, questioning and formal. It is very process oriented. You want your accountant or your IT consultant to have plenty of this energy.
All of us have all four color energies within us, most of us have a preference for two or more in our daily lives. When I teach this material I remind participants that no one is just red, yellow, green or blue; each of us is a color combination and it is this combination that makes each of us unique.
On this journey of life, tools such as Insights Discovery offer a valuable opportunity for self assessment and knowledge – they are a door opener to a deeper conversation you may want to have with yourself, an opportunity to become more consciously aware of who you are. This may be your SIGN to dip into one of the many opportunities that exist for self-assessment and dive in!
Until next time….
Betty