Introverted and Intuitive (INFP)
Saturday, December 27, 2003
I will be in Chicago for a few days having a wonderful time in the cold (!) I will return January 1, 2004 and will answer my emails them. happy New Year everyone! January 2004 is the Year of the Monkey and it's going to be a fantastic one. Visit YEAR OF THE MONKEY 2004 for a look at what's to come.
Friday, December 26, 2003
THE GIFT OF LIFE , a free online book of healing prayer, especially for those with serious health problems. Please pass it along.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I had one of the best ever. They just seem to keep getting better, the more I understand what works for me and carving out a little piece of Introvert Territory amid the hectic pace and social demands. Now my focus is on my trip to Chicago in two days. Time to find out what the weather is like ... wow, it drops to between 25 and 36 degrees on Monday with a chance of snow. Of course I would love to see some snow. It makes everything so pretty. I'm glad I have a full length coat I bought for my trip there last year. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in Chicago!!
Here's a great service you may not know about. If you suffer from allergies, it gives a daily report on allergy highs and lows around the nation. Local Pollen Reports and Forecasts As I think about relocating, I'm keeping things like this in mind.
Wednesday, December 24, 2003
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!
What are you doing tomorrow? We are NOT seeing "The Lord of the Rings" but I bet you are!!Tuesday, December 23, 2003
Well, this is the funniest thing I can give you for Christmas. Should put a smile on your face :-) COME ALL YE FAITHFUL!
Monday, December 22, 2003
INTROVERTS OF COLOR
Here are some statistics on ethnic introversion from one of the forums I belong to. In some cases, there are more introverst percentage wise.
Here are some stats from the MBTI Manual that might be of interest:
National Normative Samples of Adults - African Americans
ISTJ 15.0%
ISFJ 12.7%
INFJ 1.4%
INTJ 1.9%
ISTP 5.8%
ISFP 10.0%
INFP 2.5%
INTP 3.6%
ESTP 6.1%
ESFP 9.7%
ENFP 8.9%
ENTP 1.4%
ESTJ 8.9%
ESFJ 8.6%
ENFJ 1.1%
ENTJ 2.5%
Saturday, December 20, 2003
For how many centureis have lovers prayed that there will be no moon tonight? What a difference it once made. And the goddess in Japan, CHUP KAMUI the modest maiden who asked to trade places with the Sun because of the things she had to watch at night as the Moon.
Fuggira
Luna scomparia
The moon will not be awake. It will flee. The moon will vanish.
Masks from MASK ART
Well, here we are on the BBC again but they are testing the nation for IQ and have a nice test to offer which will describe what kind of thinker you are. Here's mine.
Existential thinkers:
Like to spend time thinking about philosophical issues such as "What is the meaning of life?"
Try to see beyond the 'here and now', and understand deeper meanings
Consider moral and ethical implications of problems as well as practical solutions
Like existential thinkers, Leonardo questioned man's role in the universe. Many of his paintings explored the relationship between man and God.
Other Existential Thinkers include
The Buddha, Gandhi, Plato, Socrates
Careers which suit Existential Thinkers include
Philosopher, Religious leader, Head of state, Artist, Writer
I am satisfied. This sounds a lot like me.
WHAT KIND OF THINKER ARE YOU?
MORE MIND TESTS FROM THE BBC
WATER SIGNS
Take this kiss upon the brow,
And, in parting from you now,
You are not wrong, who deem,
That my days have been a dream;
Yet if hope has flown away,
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?,
All that we see or seem,
Is but a dream within a dream.
I found this on a Carrie Moss website (!) but it fits the romantic nature of the infp and all other watery, feeling types. The water signs are Cancer, Scorpio and Pisces. I am usually mistaken for a Cancer or a Pisces which I consider a great compliment. Water signs make feeling connections with the world around them. They are magnetic, draw things to them and then ... don't want to let go! I wish I had a penny for every woman I've read for who was trying to get over a Pisces man!
Last night I had the kind of dream that keeps you from wanting to wake up for another hour. I dreamed I was in a house surrounded by trees. It was set at a difficult angle on the property. There were trees everywhere. As I sat in the living room, all I could see were tree tops. There was a two story house in front and to the right of the one I was in that had more of a city feeling, sidewalks, etc. In the house lived a man and his two sons. The man was on the short side and balding. He wore attractice leisure clothes. He seemed like he was from New York or Europe. At one point in the dream, I actually thought he was quite short, as though he were a midget. He had been separated from his wife for six weeks. He was obviously well to do, deep, artistic and intellectual. He was a very strong "F" or feeling type of person. One of the sons was very attached to me, followed me around, asked me questions constantly and the other didn't feature in the dream except as a factor. This boy reminded me of someone I am teaching at the moment. I kept marveling at how happy I was to have found these people. In the dream I thought I had found the right man for me. I found the man through his son, who had asked me to do a Tarot reading for him. He was going through some kind of an upset due to his parents' separation. I remember leaving my coke glass between his bed and the wall, I guess giving me something to go back for. At the end of the dream, the man was setting up outside for a private party he was hosting where there would be a performance of arias from the opera Falstaff. As I walked to my car, I kept thinking, this man is perfect for me. It reminds me of a man I dated in my early thirties who had a 14 year old son; another man I dated in my early fifties who had two sons and also Prince Charles and his two sons. Maybe this is a pattern? Everyone knows I dream about Prince Charles a lot ... sorry, just do! It's sort of a joke. I mean, really, Prince Charles?!?!?! I do admire some things about him and am very interested in the British Royal Family, but I dream that I am at Charles' wedding and talking privately with him and things like that. OK, it isn't an erotic relationship, we just admire each other in the dreams. ROFL
Everyone on eHarmony has said there is no chemistry between us. There have been five more this month. Men certainly have the advantage when you get older. The roles really reverse. I went in again and changed the wording of my self description so now I sound like I'm a lot less intelligent, richer and more "affectionate". I said I didn't read very much and that the person I most admired in the world was Helen Gurley Brown and the advice she gives in Cosmopolitan magazine. I'm curious to see if this makes any difference. The standard part of the description can't be changed, so that remains the same .... the results of the personality inventory you take when you sign up.
I went to a very bad movie today, Mona Lisa Smile. I left after 30 minutes. Then I went to a very bad performance of Handel's Messiah. I wanted to see how it would sound at this cathedral, but it isn't even a very good cathedral, being made of wood and plaster rather than marble and stone and there were only about a dozen people in the chorus and an audience so unprepared that they tried to clap after the first solo. I think it is worth it to pay for seats at the Symphony Hall where all of those things are superior. It was also drafty and cold so I left and went by IHop for some German pancakes. Everyone admired my evening clothes in IHop and later at Ralph's where I got a dozen eggs and some brandy to try out the Wassail recipe I was given last Christmas. I brought home the sampler for Odie -- the two strips of ham, two strips of bacon and two sausages that accompanied my German pancakes.
Thursday, December 18, 2003
I'm hoping the holidays are full of great surprises for you. Remember when you were a kid and had those presents stacked under the tree? May that same sense of expectation thrill you during the holiday season and may the miracle of Christmas bring you your heart's desire.
If you're a romantic and looking for a truly heartwarming seasonal experience, try LOVE ACTUALLY< with Hugh Grant (sigh!) and Emma Thompson and others. It's just the most romantic and heartwarming story I've seen in a long time.
According to Reuters, LOVE ACTUALLY is keeping pulses racing at the box office holding the top spot on the charts for the fourth week running (in England). The film is a tapestry of ten of the dearest, intertwined love affairs -- they are very realistic and reminded me of life in my mid thirties when all my friends and I were single or should have been.
Written and directed by Richard Curtis, LOVE ACTUALLY has amassed 25 million pounds in receipts in Britain alone. It is on course to become one of the year's biggest box office hits. And we thought Hugh Grant was burning out.
Wednesday, December 17, 2003
The results of the BBC BIG READ in order winner down:
1. The Lord of the Rings, JRR Tolkien
2. Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen
3. His Dark Materials, Philip Pullman
4. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Douglas Adams
5. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, JK Rowling
6. To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee
7. Winnie the Pooh, AA Milne
8. Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell
9. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, CS Lewis
10. Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë
11. Catch-22, Joseph Heller
12. Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë
13. Birdsong, Sebastian Faulks
14. Rebecca, Daphne du Maurier
15. The Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger
16. The Wind in the Willows, Kenneth Grahame
17. Great Expectations, Charles Dickens
18. Little Women, Louisa May Alcott
19. Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Louis de Bernieres
20. War and Peace, Leo Tolstoy
21. Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell
It's holiday time, and, introverts or not, we'll all be going out a bit more in the weeks ahead. It's a good time to brush up on our manners. Here is a marvelous website by Gloria Auth, called PROTOCOL PLUS
Here's an example:
Question: I recently took a client to lunch and the service and food were terrible. I was very embarrassed, but didn’t want to make a scene. What should I have done?
Answer: Apologize to your guest just once and let it go. Your guest is embarrassed for you so don’t make a big deal of it. When you get back to your office, call the restaurant manager to let them know of your bad experience.
"HAVE THESE CELL PHONE PEOPLE NO SENSE OF PRIVACY OR SHAME?" " NO JONATHON, THEY DON'T!"
Quote from a Jonathon Delacour's BLOG that is sympathetic to our crusade against CELLS only he's more of a gentleman than I'm a lady about it. After all, I'm on a MISSION ........................Jonathon comments: "I visited friends in the Blue Mountains last Saturday and, during the 80 minute train ride, a few different people in my carriage conducted protracted, voluble, and loud mobile phone conversations. I found myself wondering, along the lines suggested by Jeremy, about the relationship between extroversion and the willingness to reveal to strangers both the intimacies and banalities of one’s existence. “Have these people no sense of privacy, or shame?” I asked myself.
"To me, being interrupted on a train or in a restaurant, while I’m thinking or reading or watching, is an intolerable intrusion. Yet all around me people are constantly checking their mobile phones for voicemail or SMS messages. Surely only extroverts feel such a relentless desire to be in constant contact with their family, friends, and/or business associates."
CAR CELL PHONE GUY GET OFF THAT PHONE. IT'S NOT SAFE. IT'S OBNOXIOUS. HAVE YOU NO SHAME?
We don't want to hear the banalities of your life. We are embarrassed for your invasion of our privacy. We think you are pathetic because you can't be alone with yourself for a moment. GET A CLUE CAR CELL PHONE GUY AND THROW THAT PHONE AWAY.
Tuesday, December 16, 2003
Wanna see something really funny? It's time for your HOMELAND SECURITY BRIEFING so sit back and enjoy!
Tis the season of the Saturnalia, the Roman Winter Festival.
You know I love the classics. Latin was my best subject in school and in its own weird way, my favorite. Here is a website that will tell you how to make your winter festival Saturnalia Hat, Phrygian style. It's marvelous and adorable. I think I'll go get some red material right now today! IO SATURNALIA And Merry Christmas, too!
Monday, December 15, 2003
As a public service, I'm reprinting SOCIAL SKILLS FOR INTROVERTS which is hilarious. Thanks, BeachKitty!
As you are probably aware, we're a minority - and we get some flak for it. People think we're weird because we like to have peace, quiet and time to ourselves. Here are some survival tips I've learned over the years:
** Develop a snide sense of humor. Extroverts, most of whom have all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, will not detect a note of sarcasm in your enthusiastic gushing over a football game (or something equally meaningless). Fellow introverts will catch on - and they'll be potential allies.
** Get "sick" frequently. If you're all stressed out from too much input and too many people, and you need an excuse to take some time out to recharge, get "sick." Stomach upsets are particularly useful. People will stay away--far away--if they think you're going to puke.
** Develop the ability to make it on less sleep. If you don't live alone, you can either stay up later than everyone else, or get up earlier, depending on your inclination.
** Cultivate some "weird" interests...anything outside the mainstream. The most truly boring people will leave you alone. With the time saved, you can read and recharge your batteries. The people who aren't put off by your "weirdness" will doubtless be much more interesting!
** Tell the people you live with that you've joined an organization (just make up a believable name) that meets one evening a week. Then use the time to do whatever you want...alone. (Disadvantage: you do have to leave the house. But introverts aren't always stay-at-homes. I personally enjoy shopping and movies solo. And there's always the public library!)
At work:
** Volunteer for the tasks which can most easily be done alone.
** Suggest work procedures which allow you to work alone. If you can telecommute, you are truly blessed!
It's unfair, but true: during times when there is no actual work to do, you're supposed to pretend to work anyway. It's called "looking busy." It's doubly unfair that mindless chatter with coworkers about trivia counts as "looking busy" - but reading doesn't. Well, you can hide a book or magazine inside a folder, binder or (sometimes) a desk drawer.
** If there's an extra chair in your cubicle, pile some stuff on it. People will leave sooner if there's no place to sit.
You need to socialize just enough to avoid getting a reputation as a weirdo. After all, the workplace is where you go to earn the money you need to buy books, music, and software.
** Go for a bland, pleasant persona; shallow people won't bother to look beneath it, and they'll leave you alone. People who attempt to get to know what's under your bland, pleasant persona are usually worthwhile people, who can become true friends.
** Finally, you might want to consider "coming out of the closet", so to speak. Announce that you're quiet and introverted, and behave as if this was a perfectly normal way to be. (Guess what? It is! It's not a defect...it's a legitimate personality type!)
Saturday, December 13, 2003
DID YOU KNOW?
that 37% of people in American now believe in astrology? It's no wonder, what with the recent world changes. It is at times like this that there is a resurgence of interest in the hermetic arts, such as astrology.DID YOU KNOW?
that your astrology charts describes the life path you have chosen for this incarnation? It is like a road map to your enlightenment and fulfillment.DID YOU KNOW?
that I would like to beYOUR PERSONAL ASTROLOGER
.Why not begin with the experience of a full natal reading so I can describe your inner dynamics and the best way to use them for success, fulfillment and happiness in this lifetime.
Or you may opt for a regular half hour session with the support of your horoscope interpretation. I also use Tarot cards and have the intuitive gifts of empathy, clairvoyance, prophecy, telepathy and I am an infp personality type, a rare 1% of the population, called THE HEALER. Appointments start at $55 for 1/2 hour. I will answer all your questions, including personal questions, questions about destiny, challentes and hidden talents.
Call for your appointment today at 619.669.0605 and then I can be YOUR PERSONAL ASTROLOGER.
Nancy R. Fenn
Tonight's the night on the BBC. Who will the winner be. In the meantime, here are some funny title translations of some of our favorites. Wuthering Height in Spanish is Stormy Heights, His Dark Things in French is At the Crossing of the
World. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy in German is called Hitchhiking through the Galaxy. Bird Song is translated in Italian as The Sky Song. To Kill a Mockingbird in German is Who Disturbed the Mockingbird. Winnie the Pooh in Spanish is Winnie of Pooh, Gone with the Wind in German is Blown Away by the Wind and Catch 22 in Italian is Subsection 22. Little Women in German is Betty and Her Sisters. Catcher in the Rye in French in the Heart Catcher.
Have a wonderful weekend. Hadley and I are going to see To Be and to Have, the French documentary, best selling over there of all time, about the country school teacher in the one room schoolhouse.
Friday, December 12, 2003
Do you consider it an interruption to get a phone call? When you have to make a phone call, do you prefer to do it in private? Then you are probably one of us ... an introvert! Welcome to the club. Please sign up for the bi-monthly newsletter ezine EMAIL ME and put "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.
And most of all, do you hate cell phones?!?!?!?!
This evening I stopped by one of my favorite spiritual restaurants in town called Jiyoti Bihanga. It is run by the devotees of Sri Chinmoy. I had seen the movie Tibet: Lion in the Snow, a documentary about the current situation in Tibet and had found it very moving. I was looking forward to a wonderfully conscious vegetarian meal as I digested the movie which included seeing two monks set themselves on fire and several others tortured with cattle prods in their mouths.
Instead I got CELL PHONES. There were three of us in the restaurant and two of us yakked into cell phones all during the meal. This is just not right. Of course I'm going to send a letter to the manager. Jyoti Bihanga is all about conscious food preparation and conscious eating, neither of which can occur when someone cannot be alone with themselves long enough to consume a simple meal in gratitude and silence, or in quiet conversation with a friend.
CELL WOMAN NO, NO, NO, I WILL NOT ANSWER THAT PHONE. GET A LIFE!
Thursday, December 11, 2003
My dream come true ... Wolfgang Peterson is making the movie Troy, about the Trojan War, with some of our favorite heroes. (Those of us who studied Latin in high school!) Brad Pitt is going to play Achilles. What perfect casting. Peter O'Toole is King Priam. The movie will be released next year. In the meantime, you can visit my webpage ULYSSES and get caught up on the details. Coincidentally, I just made this web page and was wishing someone would make an up to date movie what with all the excellent special effects that are taking place recently.
Wednesday, December 10, 2003
The Four Kings in the playing deck ... do you know who they were fashioned after?
Learn more KING DAVID, CHARLEMAGNE, JULIUS CAESAR and ALEXANDER THE GREAT
Tuesday, December 09, 2003
NOON TUESDAYS. That's the day most of you are visiting my IntrovertZCoach site. Glad to have you! Is this a lunch hour thing :-)
6 pm MONDAYS is the time most of you are visiting my astrology site. Maybe this buffers you after those rough Mondays in the office.
I'm getting about a thousand visitors a month to each of my site. This is wonderful. Please tell a friend.
When I worked downtown all those years (years ago), I spent many weekends at seminars and personal growth workshops. I was usually very happy almost to the point of euphohria. As much as I loved my job, it would take me about 5 minutes on Monday morning to get my feet back on the ground. It was difficult to stay centered with the phone ringing, unreasonable demands on time and patience, etc. So Monday Morning became my Guru.
Monday, December 08, 2003
My German grandmother, Gertrude Stolterfoht Zeiske, taken in 1950 at the Rockdale, Texas train station.
DNA TRANSGENERATIONAL HEALING
Read the Sunhealer's article about DNA Transgenerational Healing and break some big insidious family patterns. Of especial interest ... German heritage healing. Join the discussion by pushing at the top
Here are the comments to date:
Comment by: Nancy R. Fenn (parklanenancy@hotmail.com)
Posted on December 8, 2003 at 3:30 PM EST
FROM NANCY: My maternal grandmother was one hundred percent German. Her grandparents moved to the US long before World War II, as did many Germans who "saw it coming". Germany had such a troubled time of it all during the 20th century economically and culturally. Although she and her 7 sisters were bilingual, the German language was never spoken in her home. They tried to downplay (hide) the fact that they were German during the second WW when I was born and lived with her and my grandfather and mother while my dad was fighting Germans in the Battle of the Bulge(!) What I noticed was this current generation of Germans that I met when I began to study German language in 1995 -- they seem so guilt ridden, they are pacifists without a cause, afraid of any human passions, afraid to live, to hope to dream, lest they run amuck again (?) hyper reactive in terms of any sort of personal power, etc. I found that even more frightening. It isn't right to go from one extreme to another, although that is the tendency of energy. It is good to find the middle ground. These young Germans can barely conceal their contempt for their grandparents not only because they got a bad reputation, I think, but also because they lost way out there in front of everyone in the European world and American continent. There is a lot of shame involved in losing. I'm not saying how it should be, I'm saying how it is. It is a very complicated set of attitudes and beliefs that German young people bear today and they bear it for all of us. Let's all heal. The evil is this world did not reside exclusively with Hitler. There's more than enough to go around. In order to fight the darkness, all we need to do is turn on the light. I am so glad you are doing these healings, Margaret.
Comment by: Margaret Loris (margaretloris@earthlink.net)
Posted on December 8, 2003 at 12:25 PM EST
FROM MARGARET: Thank you for your feedback. Your sharing about your father's belief about his early death is exactly what I speak of. This work is so powerful, yet gentle, and the results are extraordinary. With DNA Transgenerational Healing, we can finally release the "sins of our fathers" and move forward in life. We pull and release the beliefs that are detrimental to our well being, then insert beliefs that create a life of health and happiness on all levels. My dream is to bring it to all the corners of the world for freedom and evolution. Love, Margaret Loris RN, MS
Comment by: Lady Camelot (LadyCamelot@aol.com)
Posted on December 8, 2003 at 9:07 AM EST
FROM LADY CAMELOT: Margaret, you have so seemingly pinpointed the tragic and learned misconceptions of the multitudes. Your DNA Transgenerational Healing seems to be a valuable asset in today's society. Moreover, a psychological and emotional healing technique, I perceive that many individuals could benefit from your therapy. Being that I myself am half German, I understand wholy how mistakes of past generations can implicate one's life. A family member of mine tends to carry guilt from the country's horrid events, however, these episodes occurred well before her time. I have come to realize, in order to sustain one's self as a human being and an essential part of society, that persons MUST let go of these old and outdated cliches to resolve present barriers. Another example you touched base with was the fact that some families have "imminent death syndrome." What I mean by that is that yes, even in my own family, my father's father and his grandfather died at very young ages due to heart disease. Suddenly, a psychological imprint is diabolically placed on my own father's DNA. Now, at age 57 (after having had several heart attacks and heart surgeries), he is convinced that he is going to die. What I have tried to convey to him and many others is that life, in general, is a mindset that we must conquer in order to achieve total wellness and overall personal fulfillment. You have definitively pinpointed the problem that so many encounter on a daily basis, and through therapy, (such as your DNA Transgenerational Healing) could prove invaluable to all concerned. Great article! Thank you for sharing such a profound piece of literature. Love and God bless, LadyC
The German Soldier's Ten Commandments
[ Printed in Every German Soldier's Paybook ]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. While fighting for victory the German soldier will observe the rules of chivalrous warfare. Cruelties and senseless destruction are below his standard.
2. Combatants will be in uniform or will wear specially introduced and clearly distinguishable badges. Fighting in plain clothes or without such badges is prohibited.
3. No enemy who has surrendered will be killed, including partisans and spies. They will be duly punished by courts.
4. P.O.W. will not be ill-treated or insulted. While arms, maps, and records are to be taken away from them, their personal belongings will not be touched.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Dum-Dum bullets are prohibited; also no other bullets may be transformed into Dum-Dum.
6. Red Cross Institutions are sacrosanct. Injured enemies are to be treated in a humane way. Medical personnel and army chaplains may not be hindered in the execution of their medical, or clerical activities.
7. The civilian population is sacrosanct. No looting nor wanton destruction is permitted to the soldier. Landmarks of historical value or buildings serving religious purposes, art, science, or charity are to be especially respected. Deliveries in kind made, as well as services rendered by the population, may only be claimed if ordered by superiors and only against compensation.
8. Neutral territory will never be entered nor passed over by planes, nor shot at; it will not be the object of warlike activities of any kind.
9. If a German soldier is made a prisoner of war he will tell his name and rank if he is asked for it. Under no circumstances will he reveal to which unit he belongs, nor will he give any information about German military, political, and economic conditions. Neither promises nor threats may induce him to do so.
10. Offenses against the a/m matters of duty will be punished. Enemy offenses against the principles under 1 to 8 are to be reported. Reprisals are only permissible on order of higher commands.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Works Cited
Lord Russell of Liverpool, C.B.E., M.S. The Scourge of the Swastika: A Short History of Nazi War Crimes (New York: Ballantine Books, 1957), pp. 239-240.
Wette, Wolfram. "A Legend Collapses: Hamburg Exhibition's Sombre Picture of Conduct of the War in the East" in Kulturchronik, No. 4, 1995 (Bonn: Inter Nationes e.V., 1995), p. 13.
COURTESY http://ddickerson.igc.org/german-soldier-rules.html
Last Updated: 5 February 1996
GERMAN SOLDIERS' CUSTOMS
German mannerisms and cultural traits and military etiquette
Creative Energy - On a large scale, the Germans have always been great builders and inventors. On a
smaller scale, individual Germans are some of the hardest working people on the planet. GIs who
occupied German positions were amazed to find some bunkers with screen doors, carpets and
paneling.
Thoroughness - The Germans have a saying: "Wenn schon, denn schon", meaning 'if it's worth doing,
it's worth over-doing'. They are masters of organization and give great attention to detail.
Orderliness - The Germans have 2 more sayings: "Ordnung muss sein", meaning 'there must be
order' and "Alles in Ordnung", meaning 'everything has a place, and everything is in it's place'. They are
neat and everything must go by the rules. Punctuality is another by-product; woe to the person who is
late for a meeting. 5 to 15 minutes early for meetings and formations is expected.
Sincerity - Germans pride themselves in their honor; they generally do what they say they will do.
Firmness - More tangible terms might be 'persistence' or 'single-mindedness'.
Loyalty - Loyalty to his organization, family, country and comrades is one of the things that makes the
German a very good citizen and soldier.
Songs - Germans like group singing and have songs on just about every subject under the sun.
German soldiers sang not just march songs but hiking and folk songs about nature, comrades,
country, food, alcohol and women. To Americans this kind of and amount of singing seems overly
sentimental or corny. In the German army of WW 2 a lack of singing indicated poor morale.
Health and nature - Germans are great fans of health and nature. They walk every day, take care on
what and how much they eat. They surround themselves with flowers and trees are almost holy.
Germans take health vacations for fresh air and sunshine.
Table manners - Germans hold their forks upside down in the left hand, and knife in the right hand. A
piece of bread is held in the left hand and break off pieces with the right hand. Both hands must remain
above the table at all times.
Politeness and social rules - German society was and is very formal in speech and interaction.
Germans place great importance on introductions, greetings and standing when a woman enters the
room. Upon leaving and entering a room you shake everyone's hand. This handshake is the
one-pump, not limp, not too strong handshake. German soldiers would include a very slight bow. Hat's
off to ladies out of doors (you never wear a hat indoors, except if you are carrying a weapon). In
greetings and introductions you always include the person's title(s) - examples: Herr Doktor Braun,
Herr Reichsminister Speer, Herr Leutnant Doktor Klein, SS Untersturmfuehrer Schmidt, Frau Keller,
Fraeulein Professor Albrecht.
Military discipline - The German army was at the top of the ladder in the social order and it was deemed
the highest honor to be a soldier. Respect for leaders was shown at all times; leaders took care of their
men and made sure they were well trained. Standing at attention and saluting when an officer comes
near is expected. Regular military salutes were used mostly, but the straight-arm Nazi salute was used
sometimes, along with the ''halt" style salute which was a comrade greeting (Kameradgruss). Never
stand around with your hands in your pockets and look lazy. Stand up proudly and in a military manner.
Speak clearly and simply to an officer or sergeant, not using hand gestures. In class you sit up straight
with hands folded on the table. Waffen SS rooms and personal items were not locked up because
comrades were to be trusted and stealing was a very bad offense.
Professionalism - German soldiers take great pride in everything they do, and do it thoroughly, with
enthusiasm. Every soldier was trained to take over the next highest rank and use their initiative when
needed. The goal or objective was given to the leader, and the leader devised his own plan to make it
happen - with the least amount of casualties. No leader was expected to try to take an objective that
could not reasonably be taken with the resources at hand. The German army did not expect to stupidly
lose men and equipment when so much time and effort was given to create it. Leaders were expected
to speak up when they had questions or concerns about their men or mission. German soldiers were
trained to be highly proficient in every part of their jobs, so each tool and job came naturally and could
be done confidently.
Differences from Americans - German soldiers hold their rifles cupped in one hand when running, not
in both hands like GIs. The wedding ring is on the right hand.
THIS SOUNDS LIKE THE GERMANS I KNOW AND LOVE, INCLUDING MYSELF.
The BBC is having the TopTen Most Awkward Moments for Politicians. In #2 position at the moment is our president, who richly deserves this honor. Yeltsin makes an appearance in #10 position (before his firsts heart attack) and the rest are typically British as only the British can be about their "embarrassing moments". My personal favorite is #8 as John Redwood tries to fake the words to the Welsh National Anthem in front of a room of people who might be expected to know the words. You must check out the little video here. TEN EMBARRASSING MOMENTS
Here's a new book one of my readers recommended. It looks terrific. I've just ordered a copy for myself and I'll let you know.
Book Overview * Book Alert * Books Ahoy!
For the first time, psychologist Dr. Ester Buchholz, in THE CALL OF SOLITUDE: Alonetime in a World of Attachment (Simon & Schuster; August 11, 1997; $24.00) draws on ground-breaking new research on babies and children to demonstrate that the desire to be alone reflects an innate biological and psychological need that our culture has tragically neglected. For decades, we have been taught that attachment to other people is our primary psychological need, while being alone has been associated with loneliness, unhappiness, and dysfunction., Yet Dr. Buchholz established that the need to be alone is just as strong as the need for attachment and intimacy, and that this fundamental need begins even before birth. Indeed, in a world that seems to become busier and more stressful by the day, the need for "aloneness" is more urgent than ever before.
Without a healthy balance between aloneness and connectedness, Dr. Buchholz warns, we lose the ability to restore our inner calm, to maintain satisfying relationships, and to find solutions to our dilemmas. She addresses the contemporary problems which in many cases are actually issues of solitude, such as Internet addiction, over-involved parenting, relationships that fail because partners feel smothered by one another, and those malaises of our time exacerbated by lack of alonetime, such as depression, hyperactivity, emotional numbness, and spiritual emptiness. Yet Dr. Buchholz also tells us how to begin to reconstruct the alonetime that we need to change self-destructive patterns, to rekindle our energy and enthusiasm for life, and to recreate inner peace.
Drawing on popular culture, literature, and her own experience as well as psychology, biology, history, and sociology, Dr. Buchholz challenges our negative preconceptions about being alone. Above all, she emphasizes, alonetime is not the same thing as loneliness. Rather than a place fraught with fear and peril, aloneness is a state that offers serenity, healing, clarity of mind, and even a means for survival. Since society's over-emphasis on attachment has undermined the positive aspects of solitude, Dr. Buchholz has coined the new term "alonetime" to represent a vital need and state of being.
To build her argument that aloneness is an urgent developmental need that is as strong as the need for attachment, Dr. Buchholz surveys the exciting new research in neonatology and infancy showing that fetuses and infants actually initiate periods of isolation. In the "chase and dodge" scenario, for example, a mother gazes into her baby's eyes seeking attachment. At times, the baby naturally returns her gaze. At others, however, the baby closes its eyes or moves its head in order to avoid its mother's gaze. If a mother persists in chasing after a baby who wants to disengage, the baby begins to fuss and to show other sings of distress. After infancy, it becomes apparent that the school-age child, teenager, and adult also need alonetime for physiological and psychological growth.
Furthermore, Dr. Buchholz shows how love has been distorted by unreasonable expectations for attachment. How, for example, can couples suddenly find themselves disenchanted at moments of intense closeness? In the experiences of her patients, Dr. Buchholz finds solutions that resolve painful impasses between partners. Whether men and women think in opposite terms about aloneness within couplehood is debatable, according to Dr. Buchholz; she believes alonetime is an equivalent need for women and men that often enhances both love and responsibility.
Traditionally, Western society has granted large amounts of alonetime only to dedicated artists and spiritual seekers. Yet substantial amounts of alonetime are needed by everyone in order to creatively engage life, Dr. Buchholz claims, rather than just the select few. According to her, the natural creativity in all of us -- sudden and slow insights, helpful ideas, bursts and gentle bubbles of imagination -- is found as a result of alonetime. Whether it is Mozart seeking his personal freedom, or Virginia Woolf searching for privacy, or a medical intern opting to enter business school, or a teacher demanding immersion in utter silence after spending a day with students, a creative solution requires the alone side of ourselves to assert itself.
Dr. Buchholz writes, "We are born ready to do things on our own as well as to connect to others. Both needs -- to be alone and to engage -- have equally provocative claims. Without solitude existing as a safe place, a place for long sojourns and self-discovery, we lose the important sense of being self-regulating individuals... This book begins to lay the foundation for both through a new view of alonetime, which claims that each and every one of us needs time alone. Some people may crave many hours by themselves; other may find sufficient solace in small doses of separate time. Regardless of the dosage, solitude is a deep, soothing, and persistent call in life."
THE CALL OF SOLITUDE is certain to strike a chord in countless readers -- including overwhelmed working adults, terminally in-touch professionals, people in troubled relationships, and anyone who's ever cried for "space" -- who intuitively know that alonetime is a need aching to be fulfilled, but who feel too guilty to take it for themselves. In addition, the cutting-edge research on children's need for alonetime presented by Dr. Buchholz, with its profound relevance to child-rearing, will be of particular interest to parents. Trail-blazing and controversial, authoritative and accessible, THE CALL OF SOLITUDE will take its place among the classic psychological literature of our time.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The above text is a press release from Simon & Schuster.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Contact: Pamela Duevel, Associate Publicity Director (212) 698-7277
P. S. I was able to get a used copy for $1.49.
You might also like to check in on Amazon.com: Listmania! Books Just for Introverts
Sunday, December 07, 2003
We watched a great movie tonight, Word of Honor with Don Johnson. My ex-husband and the father of my daughter was a Naval officer in VietNam. I thought Johnson did a fantastic job and the plot was excellent. It is also a good example of a dark bond (Saturn in the 8th). That kind of bond is thicker than any other kind. Like vows, dark bonds have very long shelf lives. Most last over many lifetimes. I will be writing an article about this with some examples. Very strong astral attachments are formed.
Saturday, December 06, 2003
RAYS OF SUNSHINE, MINI LABS OF INFINITY
I am collecting stories and feedback from infp introverts because of an interesting assertion I read about this personality type in Keirsey Personality Type Theory. Keirsey states that infps have a particularl affinity for dealing with issues of good and evil.
Healers is the name Keirsey gives to infps. They are also known as Poets in Myers-Briggs typing. So here's the direct quote:
Healers seek unity in their lives, unity of body and mind, emotions and intellect, perhaps because they are likely to have a sense of inner division threaded through their lives, which comes from their often unhappy childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood, which, unfortunately, is discouraged or even punished by many parents. In a practical-minded family, required by their parents to be sociable and industrious in concrete ways, and also given down-to-earth siblings who conform to these parental expectations, Healers come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. Other types usually shrug off parental expectations that do not fit them, but not the Healers. Wishing to please their parents and siblings, but not knowing quite how to do it, they try to hide their differences, believing they are bad to be so fanciful, so unlike their more solid brothers and sisters. They wonder, some of them for the rest of their lives, whether they are OK. They are quite OK, just different from the rest of their family-swans reared in a family of ducks. Even so, to realize and really believe this is not easy for them. Deeply committed to the positive and the good, yet taught to believe there is evil in them, Healers can come to develop a certain fascination with the problem of good and evil, sacred and profane. Tutors are drawn toward purity, but can become engrossed with the profane, continuously on the lookout for the wickedness that lurks within them. Then, when Healers believe thay have yielded to an impure temptation, they may be given to acts of self-sacrifice in atonement. Others seldom detect this inner turmoil, however, for the struggle between good and evil is within the Healer, who does not feel compelled to make the issue public. [the end]
Audra is an infp, around thirty years old, currently living in Paris. When Audra wrote her essay on this topic called IN THE ABSENCE OF GOOD AND EVIL from the infp introvert perspective, I commented that I used to love to watch the particles of "infinite things" in rays of sunshine, My mother pointed them out to me in haste and irritation at the allergist's office where we were visiting for my little sister's condition when I asked her what "pollen" and "allergins" were. I'm sure the problem was the second hand smoke in the home, but we were at an allergist's that day. My mother was usually rushed and irritated by her children. I became transfixed, watching the sunlight fall through a shaded window. I have always thought it looked like stirring honey. It reminds me of my past lives as a Druid, the way the amber shafts of sunlight would stream through the tall forests. I can still get lost in a shaft of sunlight or the absolute delicate perfection of a spider web.
I recommended the short story by Conrad Aiken called Silent Snow, Secret Snow.
Audra replied the particles in the sunlight! I love them, too!
We are thinking maybe this is an infp thing.
Kardea, an introvert who completed my BOOK SURVEY said one of the books that changed the way she looked at the worlds ... was Kit's Law. It gave me a vital clue on why life went the way it has for me...on the way that i "learnt" to play with the extraverted world pointed it out to me and made a huge impact
So I picked up a copy on amazon. I'm always looking for good introvert resources, especially for young people.
I read the second page ... Kit is in church with her family, Sometimes, when the sun shafted through the windows, I would watch the black specks of coal dust swirl through the air along with the silver glints of dust motes and lose sight of the rows of hat-coiffed heads and slicked-back brush cuts lining the pews in front of me.
Hmmmm. Me, Audra and Kit. Three's a crowd :-) What about you? Have you ever gotten lost in a shaft of sunlight?
Tonight (!) if only I had a tv :-) and could get the BBC (!) the Big Read counts down toward finals and Simon Schama defends his pick, War and Peace. "What's not to like about War and Peace?" says I, Nancy Garrettovna Worcester ... my nickname is Kalinka, for no discernible reason until the third chapter when I will suddenly be called Katya Garrettovna, again for no discernible reason. Oh dear. Love those Russian novels. Read about my trip to Russia this summer with Much Love TOUR ON THE TOLSTOYHmmmm. I wonder how I could meet Simon Shamaovich aka Sasha :-) ?? He looks like a very nice man.
Well at least visit STENKA RAZIN and hear one of Russia's beautiful national anthems. Stenka throws his bride over into the Volga because the guys are making fun of him that he's getting soft.
As most of you know I haven't owned a tv by choice for over 15 years now. One day I just set the set (!) out by the road and said adios to passive entertainment. Too many other things to do and actually I've always just hated television. My ex husband with a stellium in Gemini was glued to the tv, subscribed to 16 different magazines each month, watched 4 shows at the same time he read the magazines and wanted me to sit next to him on the couch for this nightly ritual that was extended to entire days on the weekend. I shudder to think what he's up to now that they have so many different channels. Back then there were only 4 (!)
I do watch tv over at my grown daughter's on most Saturday nights, a movie of her choice, or one that she thinks I'll love :-), my little sweetheart. Tonight we are going to start a video series called Band of Brothers that my friend Pete gave me to look at. It's six hours, I believe. I'll let you know what it's like. He and I share an interest in "the real" World War II because of our fathers' involvement.
Monday, December 01, 2003
Fight Festivity Stress for Introverts!!! Jennifer writes today: I'm responding to the article you wrote for Enchanted Spirit on how introverts can recover their holidays. I've been trying to implement advice like yours for a few years, but the problem is that the people I've dealing with seem to view introversion as a disease that needs to be quite literally corrected. No matter how much I try to educate them on the qualites of an introvert, they seem to think that these qualities are somehow wrong or bad and spend their time trying to get me to go to more gatherings, etc. Rather than incurring the guilt from constantly saying no and using various excuses to bow out, at this point, I wonder if my only alternative is to cut all family ties. [The family is actually my boyfriend's not mine. My personal family doesn't really care if I'm not around.]
Read INTROVERTS: RECOVER YOUR HOLIDAYS FOR YOURSELFSpeaking of Christmas, this actually looks like fun to me (a Slovac tradition).
Sure beats sitting around an overheated room with a fireplace, a few cigarettes, way too much food and drink
AND A WHOLE LOT OF SMALL TALK GOING ON!
Try to reclaim some of the holidays for yourself this year. We're here to support you.
