Personality Types According to Hippocrates

Hippocrates theorized that all people fall into one of four basic "temperaments" or personality types: Melancholic, Sanguine, Choleric, and Phlegmatic. He assumed that each personality type was the result of an overabundance of a certain bodily fluid (black bile, blood, bile, and phlegm respectively), hence their designations. A Melancholic personality is characterized by creativity and sensitivity, though prone to depression. A Sanguine person is light hearted, spontaneous, and confident --though sometimes also day-dreamy and overindulgent. Cholerics are ambitions and charismatic, but often impulsive and easily angered. The Phlegmatic temperament is characterized by self-assured calm, though they can be unemotional and inhibit the enthusiasm of others.
 
While the notion that one's personality is shaped by an overabundance of phlegm or blood is now regarded as ridiculous, the 4 personality types Hippocrates identified have stayed with us. Though the types have changed and been refined, they are still part of the basis of modern personality modeling.
 
As products of the human mind, artworks often also can be attributed "personality" traits. An energetically painted landscape rendered in saturated color can be described as sanguine; a delicately lit black and white photograph of a contemplative figure can be said to be melancholy. An artwork's temperament does not necessarily reflect the temperament of the artist that produced it.

Thanksgiving Day

Today is Thanksgiving Day. Although the Thanksgiving festivities celebrated by the Pilgrims and a tribe of Wampanoag Indians happened in 1621, it wasn't until 1789 that the newly sworn-in President George Washington declared, in his first presidential proclamation, a day of national "thanksgiving and prayer" for that November.

The holiday fell out of custom, though, and by the mid 1800s only a handful of states officially celebrated Thanksgiving, on a date of their choice. It was the editor of a women's magazine, Sarah Josepha Hale, a widow and the author of the poem "Mary Had a Little Lamb," who campaigned for a return of the holiday. For 36 years, she wrote articles about the Plymouth colonists in her magazine, trying to revive interest in the subject, and editorials suggesting a national holiday. Hale wrote to four presidents about her idea — Taylor, Fillmore, Pierce, and Buchanan — before her fifth letter got notice. In 1863, exactly 74 years after Washington had made his proclamation, President Lincoln issued his own, asking that citizens "in every part of the United States, and also those who are at sea and those who are sojourning in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next, as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise." He requested prayers especially for those widowed and orphaned by the ongoing Civil War, as well as gratitude for "fruitful fields," enlarging borders of settlements, abundant mines, and a burgeoning population.

It was Ralph Waldo Emerson (books by this author) who suggested, "Cultivate the habit of being grateful for every good thing that comes to you, and to give thanks continuously. And because all things have contributed to your advancement, you should include all things in your gratitude."
In the book On Gratitude, published in 2010, a number of writers take up Emerson's charge, listing some of the specific things that helped them in their writing career — things for which they are grateful. In the book, Kurt Vonnegut (books by this author) said: "I've said it before: I write in the voice of a child. That makes me readable in high school. Simple sentences have always served me well. And I don't use semicolons. It's hard to read anyway, especially for high school kids. Also, I avoid irony. I don't like people saying one thing and meaning the other. Simplicity and sincerity, two things I am grateful for."
John Updike (books by this author) said: "I'm not a movie star or a rock star. I maybe get two or three letters a week out of the blue, for some reason, and as I'm an old guy now, most of the letters are kindly. They do keep you going. This is an unsponsored job. I don't get paid without readers. So I appreciate that enduring fan base. It does keep me going. And for someone to take the time to say they like me. That's a blessing."

Joyce Carol Oates (books by this author) said: "I was only about eight years old when I first read Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, and when we're very, very young almost anything that comes into our lives that's special or unique or profound can have the effect of changing us ... I virtually memorized most of Alice ... That blend of the surreal and the nightmare of the quotidian have always stayed with me. My sense of reality has been conditioned by that book, certainly, and I am grateful for it."

Jonathan Safran Foer (books by this author) said: "I'm grateful for anything that reminds me of what's possible in this life. Books can do that. Films can do that. Music can do that. School can do that. It's so easy to allow one day to simply follow into the next, but every once in a while we encounter something that shows us that anything is possible, that dramatic change is possible, that something new can be made, that laughter can be shared."

Happy Thanksgiving

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them. ~John Fitzgerald Kennedy

We give thanks this day.

For the expanding grandeur of Creation, worlds known and unknown, galaxies beyond galaxies, filling us with awe and challenging our imaginations.

We give thanks this day.

For this fragile planet earth, its times and tides, its sunsets and seasons.

We give thanks this day.

For the joy of human life, its wonders and surprises, its hopes and achievements.

We give thanks this day.

For our human community, our common past and future hope, our ones transcending all separation, our capacity to work for peace and justice in the midst of hostility and oppression.

We give thanks this day.

For high hopes and noble causes, for faith without fanaticism, for understanding of views not shared.

We give thanks this day.
For all who have labored and suffered for a fairer world, who have lived so that others might live in dignity and freedom

We give thanks this day.

For human liberty and sacred rites: for opportunities to change and grow, to affirm and choose.

We give thanks this day.  We pray that we may live not by our fears but by our hopes, not by our words but by our deeds.

It IS a Good Morning

Good Morning!

If you woke up this morning with more health than illness, you are more blessed than the million who will not survive the week.
If you have food in your refrigerator, clothes on your back, a roof over your head and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75 percent of the world.
If you have money in the bank or in your wallet, you are among the top 80 percent of the worlds wealthy.
If you hold up your head with a smile on your face and are truly thankful, you are blessed because the majority can, but most do not.
Author Unknown

Choices

Choices

You too shall pass away.
Knowing this, how can you quarrel?

How easily the wind overturns a frail tree,
Seek happiness in the senses,
Indulge in food and sleep,
And you too will be uprooted.

The wind cannot overturn a mountain.
Temptation cannot touch the one
Who is awake, strong and humble,
Who masters oneself and minds the law.

              -- The Dhammapada

The Best is Yet To Be

"Grow old along with me! The best is yet to be. "
 - Robert Browning

Let Love Lead the Way

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”
~Henry David Thoreau~

Dostoyevsky

It's the birthday of Russian novelist Fyodor Dostoyevsky (books by this author), born in Moscow (1821). He published his first novel — a short novel in letters called Poor Folk — in 1846, and was hailed as a great new voice of Russian literature. The most important Russian literary critic, Vissarion Belinsky, proclaimed that Dostoyevsky was the new Gogol. But Dostoyevsky's arrogance got the better of him — he wrote to his brother, "Everywhere I am the object of an unbelievable esteem, the interest in me is, quite simply, tremendous." Ivan Turgenev responded by publishing a satirical poem about Dostoyevsky, mocking him for being so arrogant that he wanted a special border printed around his work. His next novels got terrible reviews, and he fell out of the good graces of Belinsky and his circle. It was generally assumed that Dostoyevsky wouldn't live up to his promise.
In 1849, Dostoyevsky was arrested for his affiliation with a group of radical thinkers called the Petrashevsky Circle. He was sentenced to death, but his sentence was commuted to four years of hard labor in a maximum-security prison in Siberia. He wrote a letter describing his experience: "In summer, intolerable closeness; in winter, unendurable cold. All the floors were rotten. Filth on the floors an inch thick; one could slip and fall. The little windows were so covered with frost that it was almost impossible to read at any time of the day. An inch of ice on the panes. Drips from the ceiling, draughts everywhere. We were packed like herrings in a barrel. [...] There was no room to turn around. From dusk to dawn it was impossible not to behave like pigs." He wrote in another letter: "There were moments when I hated everybody I came across, innocent or guilty, and looked at them as thieves who were robbing me of my life with impunity. The most unbearable misfortune is when you yourself become unjust, malignant, vile; you realize it, you even reproach yourself — but you just can't help it."
After he was released from the prison camp, things were looking brighter for a while. Dostoyevsky married, served his time in the army, and was allowed to return to St. Petersburg. He joined his brother Mikhail in editing two literary journals. But in the year 1864, both his wife and his brother died. Already in debt, Dostoyevsky took on his brother's publishing debts and the financial burden of his brother's family. He thought gambling would help him manage his debt, but instead he became addicted to gambling and ended up losing more and more money. In July of 1865, he went abroad with the hopes of getting some writing done and making back his money by gambling; it only took him five days to lose everything. He had to ask for a loan from Turgenev — he promised to repay it in a month, which of course he was unable to do. The future looked bleak.

Then, less than two months later, he wrote a letter to a publisher outlining his idea for a new story, or maybe novella — at this point he had no idea it would turn into a novel. He wrote: "It is the psychological report of a crime. The action is contemporary, set in the present year. A young man, expelled from the university, a petit-bourgeois in origin and living in the direst poverty, through light-mindedness and lack of steadiness in his convictions, falling under the influence of the strange, 'unfinished' ideas afloat in the atmosphere, decided to break out of his disgusting position at one stroke. He has made up his mind to kill an old woman, the wife of a titular counselor who lends money at interest. The old woman is stupid, stupid and ailing, greedy [...] Almost a month passes after this until the final catastrophe. No one suspects or can suspect him. Here is where the entire psychological process of the crime is unfolded. Insoluble problems confront the murderer, unsuspected and unexpected feelings torment his heart. Heavenly truth, earthly law take their toll and he finishes by being forced to denounce himself."

That book would become Crime and Punishment (1866).

Nature

790

by Emily Dickinson

Nature — the Gentlest Mother is,
Impatient of no Child —
The feeblest — or the waywardest —
Her Admonition mild —

In Forest — and the Hill —
By Traveller — be heard —
Restraining Rampant Squirrel —
Or too impetuous Bird —

How fair Her Conversation —
A Summer Afternoon —
Her Household — Her Assembly —
And when the Sun go down —

Her Voice among the Aisles
Incite the timid prayer
Of the minutest Cricket —
The most unworthy Flower —

When all the Children sleep —
She turns as long away
As will suffice to light Her lamps —
Then bending from the Sky —

With infinite Affection —
And infiniter Care —
Her Golden finger on Her lip —
Wills Silence — Everywhere —

"790" by Emily Dickinson. Public domain.

Enjoy Life to the Fullest - Slow Down

November 3, 2011
The Time of Your Life
Learning to Slow Down

When we rush through our days and lives, we fail to notice the simple beauty of living.

Throughout our lives, we are taught to value speed and getting things done quickly. We learn that doing is more valuable than merely being, and that making the most of life is a matter of forging ahead at a hurried pace. Yet as we lurch forward in search of some elusive sense of fulfillment, we find ourselves feeling increasingly harried and disconnected. More importantly, we fail to notice the simple beauty of living. When we learn to slow down, we rediscover the significance of seemingly inconsequential aspects of life. Mealtimes become meditative celebrations of nourishment. A job well-done becomes a source of profound pleasure, no matter what the nature of our labors. In essence, we give ourselves the gift of time葉ime to indulge our curiosity, to enjoy the moment, to appreciate worldly wonders, to sit and think, to connect with others, and to explore our inner landscapes more fully.

A life savored slowly need not be passive, inefficient, or slothful. Conducting ourselves at a slower pace enables us to be selective in how we spend our time and to fully appreciate each passing moment. Slowness can even be a boon in situations that seem to demand haste. When we pace ourselves for even a few moments as we address urgent matters, we can center ourselves before moving ahead with our plans. Embracing simplicity allows us to gradually purge from our lives those commitments and activities that do not benefit us in some way. The extra time we consequently gain can seem like vast, empty stretches of wasted potential. But as we learn to slow down, we soon realize that eliminating unnecessary rapidity from our experiences allows us to fill that time in a constructive, fulfilling, and agreeable way. We can relish our morning rituals, linger over quality time with loved ones, immerse ourselves wholeheartedly in our work, and take advantage of opportunities to nurture ! ourselves every single day.

You may find it challenging to avoid giving in to the temptation to rush, particularly if you have acclimated to a world of split-second communication, cell phones, email and overflowing agendas. Yet the sense of continuous accomplishment you lose when you slow down will quickly be replaced by feelings of magnificent contentment. Your relaxed tempo will open your mind and heart to deeper levels of awareness that help you discover the true gloriousness of being alive.

To My True Love

Sonnet 44 - Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers by Elizabeth Barrett Browning
Beloved, thou hast brought me many flowers
Plucked in the garden, all the summer through
And winter, and it seemed as if they grew
In this close room, nor missed the sun and showers.
So, in the like name of that love of ours,
Take back these thoughts which here unfolded too,
And which on warm and cold days I withdrew
From my heart's ground. Indeed, those beds and bowers
Be overgrown with bitter weeds and rue,
And wait thy weeding; yet here's eglantine,
Here 's ivy!—take them, as I used to do
Thy flowers, and keep them where they shall not pine.
Instruct thine eyes to keep their colors true,
And tell thy soul their roots are left in mine.

One Person Can Make All the Difference

Never forget, no matter how overwhelming life's challenges and problems seem to be, that one person can make a difference in the world. In fact, it is always because of one person that all the changes in the world come about. So be that person.

Buckminster Fuller

American Designer, Inventor and Author

Seabiscuit and Medical College for Women Trivia

The first medical school for women opened in Boston, Massachusetts, on this date in 1848. It was started by Samuel Gregory, who named it the Boston Female Medical College. The first class — 12 women in all — graduated just two years later, in 1850. Gregory's own formal medical training consisted of a summer lecture course that he had taken in anatomy and physiology. He wasn't remotely a supporter of women's rights, but he believed it was unseemly for male doctors to assist women in childbirth, so the college was mostly intended to serve as a school for midwives at first. In 1856, the school's name was changed to the New England Female Medical College; it named among its graduates Rebecca Lee Crumper, the first African-American to earn a medical degree, which she did in 1864.

The "match race of the century" between Seabiscuit and War Admiral was run on this date in 1938. Seabiscuit had become something of a kindred spirit to dispirited Americans in the grip of the Great Depression: He was little, he was ugly, his legs were crooked, and he was plagued by frequent injuries. He was named for his sire, Hard Tack; a "sea biscuit" is another name for the hard bread eaten by sailors. Early in his racing career, he had been unreliable — sometimes blazing fast, sometimes lazy and tough to motivate — and he liked to overeat and oversleep. In spite of being trained by one of the top trainers in the business, Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, he lost his first 10 races and no one really thought he'd amount to much. Fitzsimmons began to neglect him, and turned his attention to more promising colts.
But Seabiscuit eventually found a new owner. He also found a new trainer, who had recently served a suspension as a scapegoat in a doping case; and a new jockey, who had a drinking problem and happened to be blind in one eye. Trainer Tom Smith and jockey Red Pollard saw potential in the colt, and worked to awaken his competitive spirit. The horse's stubbornness began to work in his favor, and soon he was winning. He would draw even with his competitors and stare them down out of the corner of his eye until they gave in, almost defeating them through sheer force of will. He became so competitive and so fierce that some of his stablemates refused to run against him in workouts. Track handicappers, in an attempt to make races more equitable, loaded him down with lead weights, but still he won. In 1937, as a four-year-old, he won 11 of 15 races and was the top money earner of the year. But he lost the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year to another stallion, who just happened to be his uncle.
That other horse was War Admiral, son of the great Man o' War, who was Seabiscuit's grandfather. War Admiral was everything Seabiscuit was not. Tall, gleaming black, and handsome, he had won the Triple Crown. A match race was set between the five-year-old Seabiscuit and the four-year-old War Admiral at Pimlico Race Course in Maryland. Forty thousand people packed the stands, and 40 million listened in on the radio. At one-to-four odds, War Admiral was the overwhelming favorite. Seabiscuit broke fast from the gate, pulling away quickly, but War Admiral gained on him and the two traded the lead for a while. Seabiscuit's usual jockey, Red Pollard, was sidelined with a bad racing injury, but he'd told his replacement what to do: Ease up on the horse and let him get a good look at his opponent. Seabiscuit looked War Admiral in the eye and pulled away with a burst of speed, winning by four lengths. The little brown horse's tale inspired two movies and several books, the latest of which was Laura Hillenbrand's best-seller, Seabiscuit: An American Legend (2001). In 1940, The Saturday Evening Post called him "the Horatio Alger hero of the turf, the horse that came up from nothing on his own courage and will to win."