We each love to learn about ourselves. But we pretend that we don’t want to know. It is the same maneuver we use to view a group picture that includes us. While oohing and aahing over all the other group members, we are secretly gazing at ourselves.

Most of the labels used by counselors are unknown by clients. The Changemaker Test, which is meant as a vehicle for self-discovery, includes the labels used in NLP (neurolinguistic programming), birth order, family roles, emotional energies, and MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator). Also included are the labels for the Big Five Test, enneagram, and transactional analysis

Changemaker is committed to the basic belief that each person has the opportunity for self-discovery and the potential for self-healing. As individuals, we sometimes choose paths that may be harmful to us. To get off that path and onto a new road takes exploration and experimentation.

The Changemaker Test offers education for self-discovery as Changemaker believes that the change within a person involves the courage to see (insight) and the courage to act (action).

The Changemaker Test will teach anyone 10 labels about themselves. Therefore, by using the labels to change themselves, the changemaker is the person who decides to learn and make the change happen.

Does a personality label mean that a person will always act according to that personality trait? No! A label is only a personality indicator. For the Changemaker Test, in choosing your labels, go with your first choice. Don’t try to figure out the “best” answer. There aren’t any best answers. As we stated before, each label has positive and negative aspects.

On the road of self-discovery, remember to look for guidance among persons that are on their individual path of growth. If someone wants to tell you who to be, that person is not growing but is trying to avoid growth by “changing” you. Some people call this codependency.

Yet we all are probably codependent at one time or another. It happens sometimes that another person gets more of our attention that we are giving to ourselves. But the codependent uses concern to gain power over others in the classic position of “top-dog”. Shared power is the only ingredient in relationships that determines how healthy the union is.

Reciprocity shows respect and dignity in relationships. Emily Dickinson wrote in one of her poems—“the soul selects her own society-then shuts the door”. The power in a relationship is divided or debated from that first glance. The people that we meet and with whom we instantly feel comfortable are those with whom we share the power.

Unfortunately what many call “excitement” is the game of control. The Course in Miracles suggests that our main feelings are love and fear. If we aren’t offering love, we are trapped in our fear.

When You Find the Buddha in the Middle of the Road-Kill Him is the wise title of a good book by Sidney Kopp. No one knows what is better for anyone but that person.

We each have our own answers. Even those trained in counseling techniques can only see what is revealed. Tendencies may be seen and certainly personality indicators will be there. But the work of change is a person’s individual choice.

The test for evaluating our motives when we want to deceive ourselves about our “loving” motives is that when we come in the spirit of love, there will be no resistance. If tension exists in an exchange, there is a power struggle.

The resistance proves that we are coming in a spirit of fear. If we are in a tug of war with someone, we can let go of our end of the rope. With the freed energy from letting go, we can then join the “enemy” to find a solution to the problem.

At the heart of a loving home is peace. Peace comes from “losing” battles and winning the war. “O Lord, let there be peace and let it start with me.”

The Changemaker Test is free on one of my other blogs:  “Finding Your Passion“.

Photo credit.

Rainbow Bridge by Sajiv Vijay

The field of therapy is the study of personality. To understand you and others better, invaluable tools to use are personality tests. The more we know about the labels for our personality, the better we can see these same traits in others. The Change maker Test Package offered on this site can be used for any number of different people. Because we each are unique, no one will have the exact same traits.

Does a personality label mean that a person will always act according to that personality trait? No! A label is only a personality indicator. For the Change maker Test, as in most personality tests, in choosing your labels, go with your first choice. Don’t try to figure out the best answers. There aren’t any best answers. As we stated before, each label has positive and negative aspects. How we use our personality labels is our choice. How you feel about anything is your choice. No one can make you feel anything you don’t choose to feel.

On your road to self-discovery, remember to look for guidance among persons that are on their individual path of growth. If someone wants to tell you who to be, that person is not growing but is trying to avoid growth by “changing” you. Some people call this codependency.

About personality labels

Personality Traits Linked to Artistic Taste

The Changemaker Test and Answers

For this page, I am going to summarize his main categories for an easy reference about each. Be sure to check his website for a more total explanation of each.

Conscious and the Unconscious: Sigmund Freud

(1) Biological: mating, assertive, social, and nurturing complexes.

(2) Social unconscious: our language, social taboos, cultural habits, etc.

(3) Personal unconscious: defense mechanisms, personal habits, etc.

(4) Most important to remember about consciousness is that is personal for each of us and therefore unique.

Stages: Three transitional stages: infancy, adolescence and senescence.

(1) Fetal and infancy stages—develop our temperaments

(found in hormones and neurotransmitters)

(2) Child stage—develop our personality (founded in habits)

(3) Adolescence—develop character (based on conscious

Decision-making)

Temperament: Jung—Eysenck—Big Five

(1) Established genetically: emotional stability and extraversion/introversion

(2) Conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness

(3) Psychoticism (Eysenck), activity (Buss and Plomin),

impulsivity (Buss and Plomin).

Learning:

(1) Environmental—many theorists

(2) Social—vicarious learning and imitation (probably the most significant for personality development

(3) Verbal—from words

Emotions:

(1) Pain and pleasure—distress and delight

(2) Anxiety—anticipation of fear

(3) Fear—imminent harm

(4) Guilt—related to shame. Guilt may be when we contravene our own self-definition which may also be regret.

(5) Sadness—world isn’t as it should be. Grief is the extreme sadness and depression is the unrealistic sadness that lingers

(6) Anger—same situation but we have energized ourselves to change the situation. Aggression is when we use our anger and hostility is unrealistic anger.

Motivation:

(1) Biological motivations—mostly instinctual and instinct

(2) Social motivations—needs for acceptance, approval,

and attention

(3) Personal motivation–habits, defense mechanisms,

and our styles

(4) Higher motivations competence and altruistic

(5) All motivations can be summed by as actualization

As defined by Rogers, Jung, and Horney

Neurosis: If we experience childhood traumas without necessary parental buffers of positive regard, we have an on-going apprehension about life and no longer trust life. So we develop defense mechanisms. We defend our sensitive egos by denial, repression, distortion, and rationalization.

These defense mechanisms help us when we are young, but if maintained during adulthood, they cause us to avoid becoming who we really are.

Coping strategies:

(1) Dependent style—inferiority and weakness in the inferiority complex

(2) Aggressive style—the superiority complex

(3) Perfectionist style—anal retentive or hoarding

(4) Schizoid style—avoiding or withdrawing

(5) Infantile style—avoid responsibility

Therapy:

(1) Emphasis on sell-awareness

(2) Encourage conscious, higher motivations

(3) Use caring dialog and provide support with the

goal of eventual autonomy

(4) Use of drugs that help

Because Dr. Boeree is visual (NLP), he has designed a graph of all this ultimate theory that I won’t attempt to repeat or explain. You can see it at his website here.

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