Temperament

        "One's temperament is an outgrowth of environment and behavior attributes. These, added with the basic core of the personality's temperament, make up a playing field for the emotions and feelings of the person to manifest. This 'playing field' becomes a refuse center of many negative emotions as well as happy ones. There is a tendency to see more of the negative displays and refer to them as temperament than to associate the word with the happier feelings. Yet temperament comes in all sizes of not just one or the other, but a combination of both. When one becomes too projecting of the negative, then we say that person is too 'temperamental.'

        It is good that we are not all the same, nor that we react all the same. That would be a stressful world. Imagine everyone exhibiting the anger and frustration that we all have...and all at the same time! Of course we can also wonder how it would be for everyone to be exhibiting the positive all the time. We see some evidence of it at gatherings where everyone is having a fun time. The energy is uplifting but sometimes, afterwards, the temperament needs calming down.

        We seldom hear anyone talking about working on temperament. An individual may say that he or she is working on temper, or impatience, or a specific attribute, but we seldom hear of the same approach toward temperament as a whole. And what is the sum total of your temperament? How would you describe yourself generally? Which way do you lean - more toward the positive or more toward the negative? How often have you looked at your pattern in your daily life? Are there changes that need to be made? Are you able to look at a more total picture of who you are and what you project? It is in being aware of your own individual brand of temperament and its total parts that will give you a better guideline for balance. If you lean too much one way or the other, try to find a center, or try to find less extremes or swings from one side to another. If you become aware over a period of time you will see that it is a changing persona - it grows and changes and with experience, it can become like a fine tuned instrument. Try to bring into your own life, your own expression of you, a more balanced temperament that will serve you and others well."