Why Personality Typing Helps Relationships

This week on the Love Project the theme is Know Yourself. Yesterday's Website Wednesday included a bunch of links to personality typing systems, both serious and silly. And those are just the tip of the iceberg.

But are these tests just fun or can they be useful? Today, in my Pick The Brain guest post: What's My Type and Why Should I Care? I explain that by learning about personalities, you discover how different people are and begin to understand not only yourself, but others. From the article:

I used to be confused or take it personally when someone wouldn’t be pleased by the same thing that pleased me. We’re so used to hearing the golden rule: Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. But really, it should be: Do unto others as they would want… which may not necessarily be what we would want ourselves.

Another Pick The Brain article, How to Unleash Your Hidden Power, describes the power of knowing your value and strengths. The author writes:

Defining yourself comes from a combination of articulating your values and acknowledging your strengths. Knowing these things will give you a clear picture of where you want to go and the tools you have to get there.

Knowing yourself and feeling good about who you are is, in my opinion, a pre-requisite to love. You need to start with yourself. That's why, in this love project of mine, I have started with assignments and themes about self-love.

If you haven't done so yet, I hope you'll pop on over to the Know Yourself Assignment and add a one-word comment describing yourself. (Or feel free to leave a longer one or a whole blog post!)

Stay tuned as we have more assignments and fun to love ourselves and others.
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Kindness Tips from Pick The Brain

I'm going to wrap up this final day of World Kindness Week by pointing you to a post from Pick the Brain: Do This and People Will LOVE You - Even If They're Suspicious.

This article talks about how nice it is both to give and receive unexpected kindnesses... just little things that show someone we're thinking of them. Here are some ideas from the post:

● Bring in snacks for the office.

● Give friends and co-workers small gifts matching their interest.

● Compliment parents on their children in public places, particularly their behavior. Even if they weren’t perfect. Who is?

● Do the classic pay for the coffee of the car behind you thing in drive throughs.

● Show up with flowers for no reason.

● Take a few minutes to listen to someone who seems lonely.

● Send letters or cards to let people know you’re thinking of them.

Some people think it's more "selfless" to give a gift anonymously. They feel that if part of the reason you're giving the gift is to get recognition or thanks or love it's "selfish." The thing is, when you receive a gift you want to thank that person. You want them to know how grateful and happy you are for their kindness. You want to share that happiness with them by giving your thanks. If they're anonymous, you can't do that.

We all enjoy doing something that makes another person happy whether that's giving or thanking. Accepting a kindness graciously and with happiness is almost like a gift back to the giver. Doing a kindness for someone will make you both happy... it's a win-win deal.

So, whether you're the giver or receiver, enjoy the gift of kindness.

By the way, Pick the Brain is a great site with lots of articles about motivation and self-improvement. They also have a new "90 Days to a Better You" eBook that you can get for free along with some daily inspirational quotes and confidence builders. Check it out!