On some level, we need answers. They are the guardrails for our next steps. But as we demand conclusiveness, we avoid faith, which eventually opens us to colorful possibilities.
Rather than looking at assessment results as defining a persona, and stopping there, I prefer viewing preferences as the red dot, on a map, saying, you are here. These are your natural defaults, as you perceive them.
There is much transforming work that a few explanatory words can offer to us. Sitting with an unbiased professional can expose us to our shadow sides, but also draw the veil that hides hints of color, beyond the seemingly black and white descriptors.
I remember sitting with three, maybe four or five, young women, one after another. Each had studied under the same personality facilitator. Their instructor was biased against their particular personality type, a personality that has a tendency to choose difficulty and hardship.
In our one-on-one coaching sessions, they began opening to the possibility that all trials may not be theirs to accept. Humility and pride come packaged together. Only they could know their personal invitations from the Holy. Trust in their next steps would come from deep abiding in Sacred within.
Considering results from one or multiple assessments releases us to the subtle strokes. Rather than focusing on specific details alone, we can create relationships between our narrow descriptors and broader patterns in nature or life like, night becoming day, winter moving toward spring and sadness opening to joy.
Assessments can be a practical way of looking for what we might call spiritual signposts, especially when we are stuck. When seeking to live authentically, it is helpful to consider our physical, emotional and mental reactions to the compilation of our assessed results.
Sitting with an objective professional, can encourage us to embrace ways that we might spend time in darkness, emerge from, or how the process through, allows us to become light in a dark world. Interacting with biased others can also be a gift, as it assists us in seeing how our traits typically upset those who differ.
Guiding answers together with colorful possibilities offer solid ground and a vast sky. Without foundations, our passions can spin us out of control. Without dreams, we stagnate.
Sacred Ruminations*
Looking in Christian scripture, list the characters of the Passion story.
Imagine how the story would differ if Mary or John had jumped up on the cross in Jesus’ place. Parents rearing interdependent children know this scenario all too well.
Consider your entire list of characters. Name the one with whom you most relate.
Now, think back over your life and try to see yourself as every single character in the story. If you have left some connections blank, Inner Work may be inviting you to an exhilarating journey.
To learn about available assessments, contact Lisa@sacredwithin.us