The Bear Test

[Jonny]

The bear is large and brown, with a massive body and relatively small head. It is haggard looking, with patches of thinning fur, although it is definitely not emaciated (perhaps it is an old bear). It is staring out across a small creek, its back to me, with some berry bushes on its right. When I spot it I experience a jolt of adrenaline; my pulse begins to quicken. Fearing for my safety I begin to back away slowly, longing to be back at my car and driving away. As I back away the bear lethargically turns around, aroused by the sounds of my presence. When it spots me I feel an immediate and overwhelming sense of impending doom, as if the bear is going to leap the 50 or so yards that separate us in an instant and devour me. For what seems like an eternity I wait, only to have the bear slowly turn back around and move across the creek. Still visibly frazzled and wanting to be amongst civilization, I speed walk back to my vehicle and drive away. Later on I tell my friends that I saw a bear while hiking, and how awesome it was.

 

[wolfy]

When I imagined it, he was brown and stood up. I stood still and took some time to centre, then I checked everyone else around me ,then my mind moved to options. Then I looked at the spoiler.

 

[erm]

It's the largest bear in existence, towering far above the clouds. Its fur is made out of lasers, with a mouth darker than the absence of light, framed by pure suffering in shape of teeth. Its eyes burn with an intensity that drowns out the sun, and its roar exceeds the summation of all cries since the dawn of time.

I keep on walking, barely noticing the creature. It desperately scrambles to clear the path ahead of me, trying to gain the favour I will never grant it.

EDIT: Ah, well there's no such thing as something that challenges an ESTP, so I guess it makes sense. Even other ESTPs don't challenge ESTPs.

 

[A window to the soul]

[MENTION=8543]Nerd Girl[/MENTION]

That's insanely awesome!!

Thanks!

I couldn't stand it, I had to reinvent the boring bear story, so I deviated from the OP's original storyline of, "imagine you're walking in the woods alone and you spot a bear."


Realistically, I'll be hanging out by the creek when I have a bear encounter.

 

[Ginkgo]

You care to offer any expert analysis of some of the responses here, Herr Ginkgo?

Not in the thread because that may ruin the spoiler.

 

[011235813]

Not in the thread because that may ruin the spoiler.

I'll be posting a response soon. I expect a 300 word reply commenting on my contribution in my inbox within 24 hours.

 

[PeaceBaby]

Not in the thread because that may ruin the spoiler.

You could put them in spoiler tags too.

[MENTION=8031]Ginkgo[/MENTION]:

My expert analysis

 

[Ginkgo]

I'll be posting a response soon. I expect a 300 word reply commenting on my contribution in my inbox within 24 hours.

haha. You know what's funny? I actually had a dream a couple nights ago that I received 375 "likes" to this thread, and that function hasn't even been implemented.

My bear:

I'm walking alone; the forest glimmers with defined greens, yellows, and vibrant whites. I shift my attention from the canopy to the area in front of me, and 10 meters ahead is a massive, fuzzy black and brown bear. His muscles ripple underneath as he turns his attention towards me and rears on his back legs in a threatening posture. As you can imagine, somewhere inside I'm shitting my pants, which plops with the sound of disappointment and fear. However, I remain detached enough to handle the situation. Immediately, as the bear charges, I draw a bow and take fire, swiftly and as accurately as possible. The bear flinches, and as I strafe, backpedal, and maneuver, my arrows sink in the bear from every angle imaginable. Working past the pain, the bear lunges toward me through fields of bear traps; so I hop back and begin climbing a tree. Once I'm in a safe position, my arrows slowly nibble away at the bear until no patch of fur is left bloodless. Once it collapses, I poop on its chest and eat it.

~Fin~

 

[redcheerio]

Thanks!

I couldn't stand it, I had to reinvent the boring bear story, so I deviated from the OP's original storyline of, "imagine you're walking in the woods alone and you spot a bear."


Realistically, I'll be hanging out by the creek when I have a bear encounter.

The first time I read it I thought it was a true story, but then I realized you prob'ly wrote it like that to be original, which may defeat the purpose, but was fun anyway, haha.

 

[redcheerio]

[MENTION=8031]Ginkgo[/MENTION]

How very Magenta of you.

 

[A window to the soul]

[MENTION=8031]Ginkgo[/MENTION]: Intense.

The first time I read it I thought it was a true story, but then I realized you prob'ly wrote it like that to be original, which may defeat the purpose, but was fun anyway, haha.

I went camping and fishing there, and I took a dip in an icey creek. That part of the story is true.

You mentioned defeat. What was the purpose of this exercise?

 

[Ginkgo]

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.

You examine your challenge deeply, but quickly, and then take them head on as equals. You are a challenge.

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.

You view your challenges from a very distinct and detailed perspective, even with empathy and respect. However, you tend to pass by them through the path of least resistance.

i think you're supposed to play dead.

You know how to adapt by applying your experience, and you probably have a father complex. Please send me a description of your next dream and we can have a followup appointment.

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.

You definitely distance yourself from your challenges.

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.

You gather as much about the context of your obstacles as possible. You adapt to deal with them accordingly. Above all else, you are a pragmatist; you don't take issues personally and may even opt out of them without feeling obligated to engage them.

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.

You see your obstacles as a part of yourself to be overcome, but in that sense, you are also deterred from your process of growth depending on whether the pros outweigh the cons. As far as measuring the advantages and risks, you are naturally adept.

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.

You tend to be resourceful, using your atmosphere to your advantage. However, you'd rather your difficulties come to you than you approach them; even when they approach you are disagreeable with them.

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?

Lol, your interpretation is interesting. Sounds like you want to remove yourself rather than disrupt the world. You would never consider being a redound hero or movie star.

/for kicks

 

[redcheerio]

I went camping and fishing there, and I took a dip in an icey creek. That part of the story is true.

You mentioned defeat. What was the purpose of this exercise?

I meant that if instead of going with your first instinct, you instead made something up to be more creative, that might defeat the purpose of the exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is that supposedly the scenario that first comes to mind is your subconscious representation of how you face problems. So if you instead use it to make up a creative story, it might not be representative anymore.

I dunno, maybe it still worked for you anyway. In any case, it made for a cool story.

 

[Ginkgo]

It's the largest bear in existence, towering far above the clouds. Its fur is made out of lasers, with a mouth darker than the absence of light, framed by pure suffering in shape of teeth. Its eyes burn with an intensity that drowns out the sun, and its roar exceeds the summation of all cries since the dawn of time.

I keep on walking, barely noticing the creature. It desperately scrambles to clear the path ahead of me, trying to gain the favour I will never grant it.

EDIT: Ah, well there's no such thing as something that challenges an ESTP, so I guess it makes sense. Even other ESTPs don't challenge ESTPs.

You listen to too much Cradle of Filth and Cannibal Corpse, but don't wear a hat unless absolutely necessary. You have a nervous habit of inserting your hands in your pockets obsessively when you feel threatened or insecure.

 

[erm]

You listen to too much Cradle of Filth and Cannibal Corpse, but don't wear a hat unless absolutely necessary. You have a nervous habit of inserting your hands in your pockets obsessively when you feel threatened or insecure.

Aside from the music bit, which should probably be "you watched too much dragonball z as a child" instead, that's pretty accurate.

 

[Ginkgo]

I meant that if instead of going with your first instinct, you instead made something up to be more creative, that might defeat the purpose of the exercise.

The purpose of this exercise is that supposedly the scenario that first comes to mind is your subconscious representation of how you face problems. So if you instead use it to make up a creative story, it might not be representative anymore.

I dunno, maybe it still worked for you anyway. In any case, it made for a cool story.

Exactly.

 

[A window to the soul]

[MENTION=8031]Ginkgo[/MENTION]: You skipped over some of us. Are you saving the best for last or was that Fe fail?

 

[violet_crown]

[MENTION=8031]Ginkgo[/MENTION]: You skipped over some of us. Are you saving the best for last or was that Fe fail?

Herr Doktor works on his own time. Best not question his methods.

 

[Antimony]

[MENTION=8543]Nerd Girl[/MENTION], I'd say best for last.

 

[chickpea]

it's a big, brown bear. i see it from a distance walking around, and sneak off as quietly as possible trying to avoid it spotting me.

haha this was very accurate. avoid avoid avoid.