Dear Progeny and Future Typology Central Members,
In April, 2018, members of Typology Central began a collection of their philosophies and observations on life. The first entries, included here in this post, came from members who were nominated for the April 2018 Member of the Day Awards.
Feel free to visit the original award thread for each member and comment on his/her/their insights, and also to add your life insights and wisdom to this anthology thread.
Here are the original entries:
In April, 2018, members of Typology Central began a collection of their philosophies and observations on life. The first entries, included here in this post, came from members who were nominated for the April 2018 Member of the Day Awards.
Feel free to visit the original award thread for each member and comment on his/her/their insights, and also to add your life insights and wisdom to this anthology thread.
Here are the original entries:
[MENTION=33707]Population: 1[/MENTION] - April 2
Member of the Day: April 2, 2018
Occasionally life sends you exactly what you need. A thing, a message or a person arrives with such incredible timing you just have to wonder. I hope someday when I’m released from earthly bonds I may catch even a glimpse of how truly interconnected everything and everyone is.
[MENTION=1545]Atomic Fiend[/MENTION] - April 3
Member of the Day: April 3, 2018
Thanks for the nomination! Forums come and go all the time, so I'm glad my forum home is still alive and thriving after all these years. I hope it continues on as a fixture in the typology based online landscape.
A good vision for the future has the people you won't be around to meet in mind. You needn't rush to complete it all on your own. Life isn't a only personal experience, it's made up of everyone you have, will, and never will meet. It goes on when you're gone. Make plans so someone else can carry the torch when you no longer can, and trust that they will see it reach where it needs to go.
[MENTION=32871]Neal Caffreynated[/MENTION] - April 4
Member of the Day: April 4, 2018
What I learned in my life is that it’s always worth to be bold and to try, even if you’re unsure of the consequences. Maybe it won’t work out but at least you’ll know you tried it, or else it will work and you’ll be real glad you gave it a shot.
I found out during the 22 years of my existence that you need to have faith in yourself and in your abilities, and not listen to people that put you down. In most cases they’re either unsure of themselves, jealous or have problems of their own, so you should turn a deaf ear to them and only listen to yourself, and the people you can trust. Nothing should stop you from following your dreams.
So believe in luck, in your abilities and in yourself and you’ll certainly be successful in your life!
[MENTION=7111]fidelia[/MENTION] - April 5
Member of the Day: April 5, 2018
One important thing I have learned in my life is that no situation or circumstance, good or bad, is a waste since we have the agency to decide what to do with those experiences. There have been times when the things I wanted most desperately didn't work out. In hindsight, I couldn't be more thankful that they didn't! Some of the best experiences and insights I've ever had have come out of the most difficult times I've encountered. So no matter what happens, there is always something to be grateful for, and happiness can be found not in circumstances, or seasons, or events, or security, or certainty, or people, but in trusting that everything that happens to us is a grand opportunity in some way or another.
[MENTION=31527]DulcetRefrain[/MENTION] - April 6
Member of the Day: April 6, 2018
One important thing that I have learned in my life is the importance of courage. With courage comes hope for the future, the strength and drive to get through the darkest situations, the bravery to allow our true selves to be seen. I think from courage stems vulnerability, kindness, honesty, integrity, and so many other valuable things we need more of in this world. I want everyone who struggles with their sense of self worth or is in a rough spot, to choose courage. Because success is not final, failure is not fatal, it is the courage to continue that counts.
[MENTION=33717]Hermit Of The Forest[/MENTION] - April 7
Member of the Day: April 7, 2018
One thought that’s drifted through my mind frequently in the past few weeks is how TypoC is kinda like the Wood Between the Worlds* in The Chronicles of Narnia. The Wood is kind of an in-between place that has many pools in it, and each pool is a portal to a world. In the same way everyone here is like a fascinating new world to explore. As you may surmise from my username socializing has never come easily for me, but here it’s a little easier. It’s been my profound pleasure to meet and come to know some of you, and I look forward to meeting more of you in the future.
*See book 1: The Magician’s Nephew
[MENTION=13112]Stigmata[/MENTION] - April 8
Member of the Day: April 8, 2018
I'd like to thank everyone who nominated me. I came here 7 years ago to merely test the waters to a place I'd seen referenced many times in a negative way at the other place which shall not be named, yet almost immediately upon joining I was embraced by the membership here, despite all my idiosyncrasies and eccentricities. I've watched myself grow here, and I'll always have a soft spot for this place as a medium where I can be myself, even if the world itself chooses not to accept me. I'm quite thankful for all the friends I've made here over the years. I don't really have anything else to say.....
SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES!!!
― Movie "Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure" (1989)
Believe in the ball, and throw yourself!*
*Editor's note: Can't find source for this quote. Or is it one?
[MENTION=360]prplchknz[/MENTION] - April 9
Member of the Day: April 9, 2018
One important thing I've learned in my life is to be kind especially when you want to murder the other person. Sometimes it's better not to voice your opinion or call people out, because the ones that need to be have such a huge blind spot that they don't even know and so it's useless to do so. You end up being the asshole.
[MENTION=30038]Gentleman Jack[/MENTION] - April 10
Member of the Day: April 10, 2018
Jack elected to share some quotes that he loves, instead of writing a new speech. Here are the quotes he picked:
"If you want to believe in (something), then believe in it. Just because something isn't true, that's no reason you can't believe in it. (...) Sometimes, the things that may or may not be true are the things that a man needs to believe in the most: that people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power, mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; (...) that love, true love, never dies. (...) No matter if they're true or not, you see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in."
― Movie "Secondhand Lions" (2003)
And always remember:
"Just because it’s a myth doesn’t mean it’s not true!"
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.â€
― The Disney character Scrooge McDuck
“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.â€
― Mark Twain
[MENTION=15392]Cellmold[/MENTION] - April 11
Member of the Day: April 11, 2018
Life to me has always been about seeking. Looking for the answers to those questions either big or small, but most of all the existing in between those questions and answers. And so often I find myself wondering why, when you restlessly move from one state to another, it must be that some glimpse of those answers always seems to bring more curiosity? There is a key paradox at play, it seems, and one that goes along with the beauty and horrors of our lives.
And I always find myself, upon consideration, going back to what many would consider simple & essential ideas of meaning. Those I love and enjoy being around (human or otherwise) giving me joy in being here for this brief time & when that happens I realise I only want others to experience their own joy, in whatever form that takes for them.
So keep seeking, speedy communication has not made the world so small, there is a vast amount of experience out there, more than for one lifetime and I wish everyone the best in their own search.
Just remember to let yourself enjoy it along the way.
[MENTION=15246]SD45T-2[/MENTION] - April 12
Member of the Day: April 12, 2018
My first encounter with typology was years ago on a car forum when someone posted a thread with a test from similarminds.com. I got ESTJ and it seemed pretty accurate so I never really doubted it. Some time later as I started trying to learn more about other types I noticed that there weren't a whole lot of resources or discussions about ESTJs, but then I found EJCC's epic Ask an ESTJ! thread and actually read the whole thing over the course of several days. So I decided to join to participate and keep EJCC company, and I guess you could say the rest is history. I'm flattered and rather surprised by this nomination because I totally wasn't expecting it, but I'll take whatever I can get!
[MENTION=7]Totenkindly[/MENTION] - April 17
Member of the Day: April 17, 2018
I think one of the most important things I've learned in my life is that there is a time to endure and then a time to change, and some degree of change is inevitable. No one else can tell you when that time is, and no one else is going to "save you" when you're in unhappy circumstances. The responsibility and power to make your life something you believe and thrive in is ultimately your own.
The first time you let go of your life, watch it fall, then build anew is terrifying. But later, it is empowering because you have learned that you can survive anything and that new life invariably springs from old ash. I can't say it gets simple, but it gets easier because you aren't gripping everything quite so hard.
Anyway, thank you to anyone who suggested me (you poor dears). I hereby donate as tribute all the money I receive from winning this prestigious award to the good people of Typology Central who have tolerated me all these years. Between that and the recent tax cuts (for you American blokes and sheilas), happy days are here again! (MTCGA!)
[MENTION=30122]Lord Lavender[/MENTION] - April 18
Member of the Day: April 18, 2018
I would say that the world is a big place, and that's just counting our world, not counting the even larger cosmos out there. Well, I suppose I should talk about myself a little. I am Lord Lavender, who obviously loves purple, as the name implies. I also see things in terms of how can I make this and that better, and I love unicorns so much I'd legit genetically modify a horse to make my unicorn. I also want to one day maybe open a theme park. I love reading and art, and I think books and other art medias are a good way for anyone to express their ideas and creative energies. Well, I am blabbering now, but it's who I am, and a composed and professional speech wouldn't do me justice as a person. Another thing I love is video gaming, especially the RPGs and scary ones, and I just love creepy stuff.
[MENTION=26674]Pluvio[/MENTION] - April 19
Member of the Day: April 19, 2018
One important thing that I have learned in my life is that nothing is forever. For a romantic idealist like myself, learning that was difficult and painful. But then, just as the world dims and I am left without an opportunity to find my way out... A crack of light hovers from beyond the horizon, and now I see that maybe there is something good in learning that life lesson. If anything would last forever, it wouldn't hold its own weight with the special gratitude it deserves; real friendships, healthy and loving marriages, seeing the people around us change and morph before our very eyes. There's so much beauty in each of these things, and others, that I'm learning to accept that it's okay that it won't be around forever. I'm learning to not take things or people for granted anymore, and no longer run from the old in pursuit of the new if the new won't fix these old scars. I'm learning to actually be more at present, when all my mind has been good at doing is going to the past and the future. Life changes.. how exciting is that?! So here's to accepting that forever doesn't exist, and that it is more than okay that that's the way it's going to be for me from here on out. A toast to "until it runs out" and loving every second of it.
[MENTION=34350]Norexan[/MENTION] - April 20
Member of the Day: April 20, 2018
"Those who live in fear are slaves of their own will, so they must make others feel as they are, because fear is the greatest enslaver and tormentor of men."
― a quote from Norexan's book, translated into English
[MENTION=29687]Frosty[/MENTION] - April 21
Member of the Day: April 21, 2018
One important thing in my life that I have learned is that you can just never give up. No matter how far away your end goal seems, and how hard you feel it might be to get there, you have to keep trying because—everyone deserves their own personal best. I'm thankful to everyone on this forum who has helped me to understand that over the years. I owe more to this forum than I can ever repay, and think that it is just so sweet someone nominated me for this. Thank you.
[MENTION=33903]Crystal Winter Dream[/MENTION] - April 22
Member of the Day: April 22, 2018
Oh my god, I feel so honored right now. Honestly my life has turned into a trainwreck the past couple weeks so I really, really appreciate getting this.
First things, I'd like to discuss some wisdom I've gained from, well, screwing up a lot of times and being generally sporadic in my decision making.
1. You are NOT your mistakes. Mistakes are hard to handle, I speak as a perfectionist who struggles with beating myself up when I mess up, but mistakes are important for growth. You cannot grow without falling backwards a few times. It is a necessary pain.
2. Do not let this entirely define you. Considering we are on a typology website, that may be odd to hear. But I remember when I viewed typology as an "answer" to who I was. As a teen I typed full-heartedly as an ESFJ. And when I didn't meet up with an ESFJ thing I felt something wasn't right. As I got older, I stopped caring if I fit the type and just went with what I felt like fit me closest. Ultimately, none of these descriptions define the entirety of "you". Don't get too obsessed.
3. You are uniquely you. So don't compare your beauty or skills to other people! In the end there is no one like you, with your little smile or grand abilities. Instead of wishing you could have something someone else has, look in the mirror and appreciate YOU and the fullness of what you can do. Tap into your real potential!
4. Don't let one bad apple ruin the whole barrel. It was some wisdom my mother gave me when I lost my first best friend. It was a sad experience for me, and a lot more people soured the barrel to the point I think for a long while, I did judge people by these experiences. Another wisdom is when you build a barrier, throw the brick on the jerk who did it, not build a wall to keep everyone else out. You are setting it up wrong. Bury the jerk with the bricks and be open still. It is hard to think of, especially when you've coped with trauma, but it is important. There are bad people in the world, but there is so much good too. Like when you are in line at a check out and forgot your wallet, and someone behind you offers to pay.
5. Stop listening to everyone else. This is an issue I've actually fought with a lot. With some of my hurts, it came that I told a lot of other people they were wrong and they ended up right. In turn, I struggle to trust my gut instinct at times. But you can't follow what everyone says. Follow YOUR dreams, use YOUR abilities. No one truly knows you better than you.
Secondly, I would like to close with this.
To my close friends. Thank you. For listening to my weird rants all the time. Watching me start things and never finish them. For encouraging me whenever I doubt myself. For not telling me to shut the hell up when someone probably should by then. For taking me as I am, flaws and all. I am blessed to have you.
To those who don't know me yet, I hope I can know you! I may not know you but something I do know, is God made everyone with purpose. Whatever His mission is for you, I pray He will guide you along so you can see it too.
I want to remind you guys too, something I've learned in my life I feel is also very important. Turning negatives into positives perhaps here.
Not everyone will be your friend, and that's okay. As a matter of fact, appreciate the people who DON'T like you as much as the ones who do. Much of my growth came from coping with people who did not like me, or treated me rudely for being different. Those who felt a need to degrade people who weren't up to par in their eyes. That doesn't define you, how you respond defines you. Be the person you want to see, respond the way you'd want the rest of the world to respond. I haven't always done this perfectly myself, but I admire greatly people who do. Like [MENTION=29687]Frosty[/MENTION] or [MENTION=1545]Atomic Fiend[/MENTION]. Just some people who've responded so well even in adversity... so in a sense, thank your haters. Thank the people who do not like you and let you know. From them you can grow more than you can even from people who like and support you.
Thank you for the honors.
[MENTION=3521]Eric B[/MENTION] - April 23
Member of the Day: April 23, 2018
What's important to me now is somehow finding peace in a world that has been difficult, both from having a not too well understood type, among other conditions. Typology has been a big help, in being able to classify behavioral patterns in myself and others that make it easier to get a sense of where people are coming from. It's (finally) an interest that has more practical potential in life, and a subject that has drawn other people who share the same interest.
I hope to be able to contribute more understanding and clarity to this theory (in addition to other areas of which I have good knowledge). I thank everyone here who I've been able to share ideas with.
[MENTION=1180]miss fortune[/MENTION] - April 24
Member of the Day: April 24, 2018
One of the most important things that I've had to learn in life is how to admit to others... and myself... that things aren't ok. I do not like to admit to weakness in any manner because it makes me feel pathetic and getting sympathy from people makes me feel even more crappy most of the time, like I'm someone to pity and I really, really hate to be pitied. To avoid questions, I learned to pretend that everything was good to the point where people ask me what the secret to my happiness is. People usually don't look too hard when someone seems happy, I've learned, because happy people don't cause problems. Sometimes I even managed to fool myself.
Admitting that things were not ok, and then seeking out help, was one of the toughest things I've done... sitting in a room and watching people judge me and then express sympathy. Pretty much a nightmare situation to me. Going to therapy is also really uncomfortable for me, but I still go because I need to even if I don't want to.
I'm more open on this forum about things as practice. If you knew me in real life you'd probably still think I was just fine unless you were one of the few people that I feel comfortable enough telling when things aren't ok... people who aren't going to judge me or hold it against me. I know that if I were more open in real life it would probably be a good thing to show that people can succeed at things despite obstacles and all of that inspirational type of stuff that makes my skin crawl, but I'm afraid. I know what people think and I don't want to deal with it.
Someday I'll get to that point, but this stuff is a journey as opposed to flipping a switch. I'm still learning.
[MENTION=19700]asynartetic[/MENTION] - April 25
Member of the Day: April 25, 2018
The most important thing in my life right now is my son, and making sure he learns to be tolerant, open minded, but also skeptical.
One important thing I have learned in my life is to think before speaking.
[MENTION=16650]~MS*ANGEL~[/MENTION] - April 26
Member of the Day: April 26, 2018
One important thing that I have learned in my life is the power of trust. When I was younger, I used to think that love alone was enough to overcome any obstacles. But experience has taught me otherwise.
I remember the first time my trust in someone was broken. I was in high school, and I used to spend time on online chats here and there. I had been accused by an online acquaintance of betraying the entire chat group's confidential matters to admins from another website - something which I had never done because of my sense of loyalty and honesty. I was shattered by this, and had to fight for my innocence. I was lucky that this group's admin believed me and let the situation cool down, but after that I started to become more wary of trusting others completely.
In my real life as well, I've been learning this lesson the hard way. My sister had met a guy almost three years ago who seemed nice - but there was something "off" about him. His smile never looked genuine. But seeing how happy my sister was, I simply brushed it off and eventually got along with him.
Flash-forward to a year later, and my sister ran away from home with him - hardly six months after our grandmother died. My family and I were still in mourning when this happened, which made the pain in our hearts feel much worse.
They had no reason to elope, given that Mom and Dad were already discussing their engagement with the guy's parents (we all had agreed that my sister should take the time to complete her career studies first). But they (both my sister and the guy) felt that they couldn't trust our parents to allow them to marry.
And it didn't stop there. The guy's family got them married without our parents being present (and in our Indian culture, that's a huge deal), because my sister lied to everyone saying that my parents beat her up and locked her in her room without food. (In reality, our parents only scold us, and the day she ran away our mom had kept her dinner on the table as usual.)
Long story short, they broke our trust in the most devastating way.
Why am I telling this story openly now? Because I don't want others to go through the same pain I did, just to learn the same lesson. Trust is the most important thing you can give and receive. If you truly love someone, trust him/her first.
Thanks guys.
[MENTION=4945]EJCC[/MENTION] - April 27
Member of the Day: April 27, 2018
To whoever nominated me: thank you. And thank you to everyone who has made this forum a welcoming place.
When I joined this forum, I joined somewhat oppositionally, aiming to prove a point and make a case that other people need to hear. But as I’ve spent more time here and as I’ve gotten older - from late teens to late twenties - I’ve relaxed into the forum culture, and I’ve increasingly valued spaces that I can relax into.
My focus for the past few months and years has been self care via hygge - and while I may never achieve it, because mindful coziness is not really in my nature, I can try. Emotionally, re: what few emotions I am capable of feeling, Typology Central is a hygge place, which is a rare achievement for a forum. It’s why I’ve been here so long and it’s why I haven’t left.
Not sure how I'm so lucky, other than the voodoo doll of Macguffin that I burned a few years back.
[MENTION=31348]Peter Deadpan[/MENTION] - April 30
Member of the Day: April 30, 2018
Whether or not we all want to admit it, there isn't a single one of us who didn't come to TypoC to supplement our identity in some fashion. Perhaps it was a conscious endeavor to find the Self - a tool for introspection. Alternatively, for some it may just be used as an intellectual podium or a performative stage. Regardless, woven into the fabric of the webs we weave which intertwine us to matter, mind, man, moon, and everything in between is an undeniable sense of self.
There are several members here who openly scoff at others' paths of self-discovery while missing the irony that they are doing just that via comparison: "Your way is wrong, you should do it this way and elevate yourself to my level." The true beauty of paths is that each one offers scenery not available on the next, and every now and again two or more paths will cross, and although the surroundings are the same, the perspective from each will still be unique. If only one was able to elevate themselves above this plane, an observation of the whole might birth insight not conceivable at ground level.
If you lose your ego, you lose the thread of that narrative you call your Self. Humans, however, can't live very long without some sense of a continuing story. Such stories go beyond the limited rational system (or the systematic rationality) with which you surround yourself; they are crucial keys to sharing time-experience with others.
Now a narrative is a story, not a logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in these stories you wear two faces. You are simultaneously subject and object. You are a whole and you are a part. You are real and you are shadow. "Storyteller" and at the same time "character". It is through such multilayering of roles in our stories that we heal the loneliness of being an isolated individual in the world.
Yet without a proper ego nobody can create a personal narrative, any more than you can drive a car without an engine, or cast a shadow without a real physical object. But once you've consigned your ego to someone else, where on earth do you go from there?
At this point you receive a new narrative from the person to whom you have entrusted your ego. You've handed over the real thing, so what comes back is a shadow. And once your ego has merged with another ego, your narrative will necessarily take on the narrative created by that ego.
Just what kind of narrative?
It needn't be anything particularly fancy, nothing complicated or refined. You don't need to have literary ambitions. In fact, the sketchier and simpler the better. Junk, a leftover rehash will do. Anyway, most people are tired of complex, multilayered scenarios-they are a potential letdown. It's precisely because people can't find any fixed point within their own multilayered schemes that they're tossing aside their own self-identity.
― Haruki Murakami
Now a narrative is a story, not a logic, nor ethics, nor philosophy. It is a dream you keep having, whether you realize it or not. Just as surely as you breathe, you go on ceaselessly dreaming your story. And in these stories you wear two faces. You are simultaneously subject and object. You are a whole and you are a part. You are real and you are shadow. "Storyteller" and at the same time "character". It is through such multilayering of roles in our stories that we heal the loneliness of being an isolated individual in the world.
Yet without a proper ego nobody can create a personal narrative, any more than you can drive a car without an engine, or cast a shadow without a real physical object. But once you've consigned your ego to someone else, where on earth do you go from there?
At this point you receive a new narrative from the person to whom you have entrusted your ego. You've handed over the real thing, so what comes back is a shadow. And once your ego has merged with another ego, your narrative will necessarily take on the narrative created by that ego.
Just what kind of narrative?
It needn't be anything particularly fancy, nothing complicated or refined. You don't need to have literary ambitions. In fact, the sketchier and simpler the better. Junk, a leftover rehash will do. Anyway, most people are tired of complex, multilayered scenarios-they are a potential letdown. It's precisely because people can't find any fixed point within their own multilayered schemes that they're tossing aside their own self-identity.
― Haruki Murakami
We're more the same than we are different.
Thank you to all of the above who contributed their insights, stories, and life lessons in the form of Member of the Day Award speeches.
For more Typology Central history, see the thread [Redacted]®Central: A History of Typology Central by [MENTION=1545]Atomic Fiend[/MENTION].
Again, reader--you're invited to add your own life insights to this thread.
For more Typology Central history, see the thread [Redacted]®Central: A History of Typology Central by [MENTION=1545]Atomic Fiend[/MENTION].
Again, reader--you're invited to add your own life insights to this thread.
