The Bear Test

[Ginkgo]

Imagine you're walking in the woods alone and you spot a bear.

Picture your very first impression of the bear. Don't overcomplicate it, but give it enough detail to illustrate its general form. What does it look like? What does it do? How do you handle the situation?

After you type your description of the bear in this thread, look at this:

The bear symbolizes how you tend to perceive your challenges in life. Some interpret their challenges as small, perhaps because they view themselves as larger than life. Others are completely overwhelmed by their challenges. Some fight. Some run. Etc etc. Do you think the bear corresponds with how you deal with your obstacles?

 

[Jaguar]

The bear just stared at me. I cocked my eyebrow, stared back, and said, "What's on your mind, buddy?"
A bear and a jaguar having a stare-down.

 

[CuriousFeeling]

It's got brown fur like a grizzly bear, kind of a brown/red color. The fur is slightly wet, appearing as if it just went into a nearby river to catch fish. It walks around in the woods sniffing the ground, pushing over some leaves and other debris on the forest floor. Then, it ends up standing on two feet to raise itself up towards a pine tree in a sunny glen of the woods, and it reaches up to the tree to find any type of food source, or so it appears. But from a second glance, up on a large bough of the pine tree, there is a little bear cub sitting on it, and it ends up climbing off of the tree and walks over to it's mama, and the big mama bear brings its little cub away from the area, and leaves me alone.

 

[LEGERdeMAIN]

i think you're supposed to play dead.

 

[Jaguar]

i think you're supposed to play dead.

With that little pussy in your avatar, no wonder you think that.

 

[gromit]

Large, brown fur, crouched down, it's across the stream from me. It stands up on rear legs. We look at each other and then it leaves.

 

[violet_crown]

Ideally, I would never be in a position to encounter a dangerous animal alone, unarmed, and on its turf. On the off chance I were, Id deserve to be eaten. If I'm playing along, though, the bear is large and brown, probably a Grizzly. He rears slightly with a growl. Im close enough to see the foam on his muzzle. I feel more awe than fear. I don't move. The bear can outrun me, so trying to escape would be useless. Fighting him might be the only chance I have, but even that is a fairly bleak prospect. My only hope is that the bear loses interest and goes away on his own. I wait to see what is the bear's next move.

 

[PeaceBaby]

He's a black bear, smallish. Is eating berries or something and when we come across each other, we both seem to look up at each other in surprise. His head is cocked to one side and the bear faces me squarely, chews one time. My palms break out in sweaty nervousness but I slowly start backing away, still facing the bear. It turns and runs into the undergrowth.

 

[onemoretime]

Big brown bear lumbering across a hillside. Two cubs follow behind her. The group walks slowly and deliberately, taking a moment to sniff the air and, in particular, a group of yellow flowers, either dandelions or daffodils. The bear is shaggy, with interlaced brown and black hairs draped over a powerful, muscular frame. I stay very quiet, hoping that by keeping still, the bear will pass without either noticing me, or considering me a threat to its cubs. After the bears move onward, I continue my journey, perhaps a little more alert to my surroundings.

 

[OrangeAppled]

The bear is a deep glossy brown. It is a female, large, but not frightening.
She is unaware of me. She is strolling along, looking for something, maybe food.

I creep away quietly & leave her in peace.

I take this to mean I view challenges as something beyond me, as if I'd be intruding on something grand & beautiful that I have no right to claim a part of. I can't even be frightened by them because I never even entertain approaching them. It seems it has nothing to do with me. I turn away from them so as to keep myself in my place. The story of an underachiever?

 

[The Outsider]

An ugly shredded grizzly bear with one missing ear, it's fur is partly clamped with clotted blood and partly burned. It breathes heavily, stares straight at me and prepares to attack on the first movement that I make.

 

[Antimony]

The bear is huge, gigantic. We stand there, staring at each other. It is a little scruffy, and looks like it wants to eat me. But I know better. I know what to do.

I was walking through the woods, all was quiet, save for the gentle snapping of twigs as I chewed upon a Kashi bar in the dead of winter, looking for rabbits to pet. My biggest concerns were wolverines, but I knew they were fairly elusive. I walked on, looking up at the trees. It was then that I heard a gentle panting. It was chilly outside, a crisp 26 degrees (F). Despite this cold, it sounded like something was hot. Anyway, that was how I sounded when I was hot. I stopped.

All was quiet, save for some birds chirping softly in the distance, twigs breaking....

WAIT! I WASN'T MOVING! IT WAS THEN THAT......

I realized I was facing the bear! And that is how we ended up here, having a nice little stare down. Most people would have been terrified. A 12 foot tall bear (who is counting?) with 3 inch claws, and a mouth which could shred my flesh straight from my bone. The fur was matted, and I thought I saw some blood on it's arms and paws. It bared (no pun intended) its teeth at me...but then I realized IT WAS SMILING!!!

We both whip out our jet packs, and fly to Canada to feast upon salmon! We decide that a fight to the death would be a waste of time and energy. Besides, reasoning with a bear is far more interesting than fighting it.

[add after reading the spoiler]: yeah, this is how I face challenges. I make friends with it and turn it into the best situation possible.

 

[redcheerio]

double post, sorry!

 

[redcheerio]

I come upon it standing on its hind legs in the middle of my path, big but not huge. We stare at each other. I'm nervous, but not as scared as I should be. I keep staring. It shrugs, gets back down on all fours and goes back to munching berries in the forest, watching me as I walk by.

Does this mean I face my problems, or that I watch and wait for them to go away on their own?

 

[Antimony]

I come upon it standing on its hind legs in the middle of my path, big but not huge. We stare at each other. I'm nervous, but not as scared as I should be. I keep staring. It shrugs, gets back down on all fours and goes back to munching berries in the forest, watching me as I walk by.

Does this mean I face my problems, or that I watch and wait for them to go away on their own?

[MENTION=13844]redcheerio[/MENTION]: you might wanna delete the post before that

 

[redcheerio]

[MENTION=13844]redcheerio[/MENTION]: you might wanna delete the post before that

Oops, thanks!

 

[Totenkindly]

It's a huge shaggy brown grizzly bear, its head craggy and larger than it has any right to be, fur thick and ruffed. It's just digging for roots and eating berries. It doesn't pay me much attention, and I walk over and rub its head with both hands. Its teeth are yellow white, its claws brackish-gray, both long and dangerously curved, but I know it will not harm me even if I could not say the same for another. When it is done eating, it lays down in the long grass, and I sit and lean against it before falling asleep.

EDIT: Darn it, I didn't know the bear had a jet pack.

 

[Antimony]

Hmm, noticing the trend of everyone dealing with *******s by letting them stand there

[MENTION=7]Jennifer[/MENTION], too bad, your imagination limits you!

 

[Z Buck McFate]

Is anyone else noticing how enneatype appropriate these answers are? I've noticed both 4w5s and Jennifer (another e5w4) gave descriptions similar to my own: looking for something/food. Gromit and Peacebaby (both e9) both said the bear leaves them alone after a while. And there are others that seem appropriate to their enneatype as well. It makes sense, given the 'meaning' of the bear. It might even be a useful tool to find someone's enneatype.

[edit: I *think* Jennifer is 5w4, if my memory serves correct.]

Mine (which I did write before reading any others) : It’s rummaging through something for food, like in a looking for honey kind of way. It’s kind of slow moving. I’m not really afraid of it, it’s not interested in me, it’s more concerned with finding what it’s looking for. It’s big, and looks like a grizzly. It’s big enough to do real damage if it wanted to, but I don’t think it wants to, I think it really just wants to calmly find what it’s looking for.

 

[mujigay]

I am walking along a hiking trail, by myself, because I am stupid and think that I can do everything by myself. The weather is gorgeous, the air is clean, all is well in the world. I am humming a happy little hiking song.
Untill...I meet an enormous, brown, matted and ugly looking grizzly bear. It stares at me for one awkward moment. I stare right back it, because I read a magazine once where it advised to stand your ground against grizzly bears three times your size. It then stands up on its hind legs and roars. The breath is very smelly. I am scared beyond belief, but I do not move.
And then it mauls me to death and the funeral home has a hell of a job piecing me back together for the viewing.