Unravelling U(mair)

So the third week was all about vitality, and we had to begin with giving a defenition for it. so how does ths sound:

Vitality: is having an abundance of physical and mental energy to use in a manner that will help oneself to grow as a person to achieve a better lifestyle.

Well normally that would be merather easily, i mean when i volunteered as a steward at the MCM expo on 30th October, even the organising staff were astonished by my levels of energy. But that week in particular was an off week (shall i put it) for myself.

The reason? simple enough, Sleep, or rather a lack of sleep, not eating regularly (due to falling slightly ill) and then looking after my nieces and nephew aged between 9 months and 4 years old. However you’re probably thinking how the heck did i have an abundance of energy when i was stewarding at the expo, well the answer is once again simple. Sleep. yes that’s right sleep was the deciding factor in all of this.

I was able to get about 7 hours sleep (even though i needed something close to 12) helped me to re-energise myself after getting as little as 4 hours of sleep some nights. It’s ridiculous, but hey I kept pushing through, and i’m still alive.

But enough about that, as our Task was to do with something about Vitality, the wonderful people over at Spark & Mettle provided us with a short video about breathing to watch, on how we could improve our vitality. The link to watch is just below…

http://anmolmehta.com/blog/2007/07/31/powerful-4-part-deep-breathing-exercise-for-vitality-free-online-yoga-pranayama-book-ch-3/

and though it is a yoga breathing technique and i know it works, as my mum used to do this as well. for me it really didn’t do too much. I mean i did about 7 years of martial arts classes, and still like to dabble in martial arts every now and then, and if there was one thing that i had learnt from there, it was to control my breathing, and how to take long deep breaths, to fill my lungs entirely.

But i’d say if there was one thing to further increase my vitality, it would have to be jogging a bit more, as i’ve realised i’m completely out of shape, and to be able to maintain high energy levels I’m going to have to get in to better shape.

And here’s an example of somebody with vitality, my sister and her kids. as she gave birth to her fourth beautiful child on Halloween, and i’m telling you, if there are anybody in the world that have a lot of vitality i’d say it’s children and pregnant women. i give it to them to be able to go through that ordeal and want to go through it again. i mean you’d never hear a guy to be asked to be kicked in the balls again. So yeah.

That’s vitality for ya

Firstly I’d like to start off by apologising for being a bit over 2 weeks late with this post, things have been crazy at home.

but to begin with our first task was to do this ridiculously childish quizz (no offense, but it really was), to see what our level of mettle/grit/resilliance (whatever you’d like to call it) was.

So after answering these 12 childish questions, (i keep referring to them as childish, as some of the questions that were given were specifically meant for a child). the result that i was given….

and in hind-sight i’m not surprised by the result…

was…

yes, i’m trying to build as much suspense as possible, as that’s what i feel like doing…

but back to my point…

my result was…

My resiliance level is: High!

though i wasn’t suprised by that, the description did slightly annoy me slightly (i guess is the word) by saying are you Simon Cowell? As it really brought down the integrity of the description in my opinon.

But the description given was…

Are you Simon Cowell? No? You’re clearly someone very focussed on your goals. You’ve got a very high “grit score” and that means you can sacrifice short-term stuff and work towards your dreams without being distracted. A high grit-score can be a better indicator of future success than high IQ. Just one thing: remember to have some fun along the way, because developing strong positive relationships is also important when times get tough.

and for those of you that would like to have a go at it here’s the link for you:

www.playsuperme.com/quizzes/quiz-mettle-detector/

It’s this time again, Spark & Mettle have set myself (and others) another task. and this time it’s to answer a riddle. Now being the type that likes being challenged by riddles, i immediately had a massive grin, thinking “Bring it!”

So here’s the riddle for you guys to ponder on, by the way, we only had 20 minutes to get to an answer:

Three gods A, B, and C are called, in no particular order, True, False, and Random. True always speaks truly, False always speaks falsely, but whether Random speaks truly or falsely is a completely random matter. Your task is to determine the identities of A, B, and C by asking three yes-no questions; each question must be put to exactly one god. The gods understand English, but will answer all questions in their own language, in which the words for yes and no are da and ja, in some order. You do not know which word means which.

Now upon reading this riddle, i instantly thought of a similar riddle, which goes along the lines of, 2 people, one always lies, the other tells the truth, you can only ask 2 questions (ie one to each) and you are to find out which one is which. So going through with the logic that all I had to do, was attain the correct question to ask each of them. The answer would then fall in to my lap quite instantaneously, i set about trying to figure out the question needed.

At first i was only asking the question which goes along the lines of (At A) if you were B would he say you always lie? and so on. but i soon realised there would be too many different permutations to figure out the contradiction. Which at that point I then figured that i was on the right line, but my question had to be extended further. So i changed it slightly to become: (At A) If i asked B, asking if i asked C would he (C) say that you (A) always lied? and then the other questions would be directed like that , to creat a circle of questions, so that an answe rcould be attained.

At that point, i became hell-bent crazy that i was close to the answer, that i grabbed multiple sheets of papers, and started listing every single permutation of da and ja possible compared to if A, B & C were telling the Truth, Lies or being Random. Now i must admit at this point, I believed that though i haven’t worked it out properly in my head, i’m sure that the answer is here in this set of permutations.

Ladies & Gentlemen, i have to admit, that was foolish of myself. i over looked the simple variable that we do not know what da and ja actually mean. However if we did, the method i was using, would have got me the answer. Thereby i can conclude, that though there is no answer to this actual riddle, as there are far too many variable to play around with. I do believe that i attempted this rather well. I was rather calm and calculating, thought about it logically, and did not give up, (in fact I don’t plan to give up even now, as i’m damn well sure that an answer can be produced) however that is another story, for another day.

So all in all, i’d say i had a lot of fun attempting this, and that it shows even under the stress of a short deadline (in this case 20 minutes) i remained calm and concentrated as much as i could ti get as far as i could to answer this.

Well normally I’d say working in a birthday card shop is pretty boring, and well normally it is. But today was different. The difference being Halloween~

So simply put, we were told today to dress up in one of the custumes that we sell in our shop, so that we could advertise our merchandise i guess.

Well~ me being me, I chose what would probably be the scariest costume we had, and I had a complete blast with it. ithe amount of customers that were ‘spooked’ was hilarious, but the best reaction was from a group of three girls, i just walked past them, and happened to look in their direction, with which they screamed and ran further in the shop. What made it all the more hilarious was just the fact that these girls were like 11 or 12, they seemed closer to being yound adults. (Now i’m not 100% sure, due to have a lack of vision, from the mask, and then the added effect of not wearing my glasses, but yeah~)

So just for your opinions, tell me how scary my costume really was~

For our second task from Spark & Mettle we had to make a list of 10 things that Engage and Interest us…

So my method was simple, list the first top 10 things that i could think of that engage mewhich are then categorised as to which i do in a professional state, and which i do in a personal state, and here they are in no particular order:

Personal:

• Reading Novels, i can easily lose myself within a good book, and i try to read as often as i can
• Drawing/Sketching just about anything, most of the times i do it without even realising what i’m drawing, and i tend to do this if i’m bored i guess
• Problem solving (puzzles, and maths questions… and yeah, i really am a bit of a geek)
• Tennis - my favourite sport (playing wise) without a shadow of a doubt, i get so involved in the game, that i could play it all night long
• Video gaming on any platform really, though i’m more of a nintendo and playstation fan, than an Xbox one
• Dungeons and Dragons, just got in to it, but i’m hooked
• Music, as i’m sure you’re already aware, I’ve got a pretty extensive library of songs, and it’s just a tip of the ice-berg. If i had the time and a better internet connection, i’d have shared more songs by now
• Anime/Manga, it’s been a massive part of my life for some time now

Professional:

• Crafts, mainly such as Origami interest me a lot as well as calligraphy from all over the world. i especially enjoy writing japanese calligraphy xD
• Writing/Debating, i like to write descriptive passages randomly, and i also like to write debates, so i’ve stuck these 2 together
• Problem solving (puzzles, and maths questions… and yeah, i really am a bit of a geek)

It’s interesting how Problem solving is something that i like to do in a personal sense, but can easily be done in the professional sense as well.

But it seems all in all, i haven’t grown up much, as i’m still pretty much a kid at heart xD

So seeing how Spark & Mettle is about helping disfavoured young people aged between 16-24 get the perfect job where they would be happy, and how i’m a guy that’s kept so many options open for myself, believing that the future will show me a path, instead of having to choose one myself (as i’m such an optimistic/lazy person) i decided to look at what possible career options woild be suitable for somebody that is an INFJ like myself.

Suggested were:

• Literature/Writer
• Humanities
• Web Design
• Philosophy
• Archaeology
• Religious Education
• Psychology
• Counseling

The ones in Bold were the ones that i thought were most suited for myself.

So literature/writer is in bold simply for the reason that, i’m very slowly right now (as i don’t have much free time) writing my own novel, and i had future hopes of getting it published xD

Web design, as i’ve got quite a bit of keen interest in programming, and i do feel that if i could design my own website, my (currently) very small calligraphy business could become bigger.

Psychology was chosen, because i simply loved the subject, and my analysis was always spot-on (or so my teacher would say)

and when it comes to Counselling having been highlighted, for most of my life i’ve basically been a counseller for a lot of my friends, helping them when they have problems, or just being there to listen. So if i could make money doing something that i do already, that could be great xD

As an INFJ, your primary mode of living is focused internally, where you take things in primarily via intuition. Your secondary mode is external, where you deal with things according to how you feel about them, or how they fit with your personal value system.

INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types.

INFJs place great importance on havings things orderly and systematic in their outer world. They put a lot of energy into identifying the best system for getting things done, and constantly define and re-define the priorities in their lives. On the other hand, INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it. Consequently, INFJs put a tremendous amount of faith into their instincts and intuitions. This is something of a conflict between the inner and outer worlds, and may result in the INFJ not being as organized as other Judging types tend to be. Or we may see some signs of disarray in an otherwise orderly tendency, such as a consistently messy desk.

INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get “feelings” about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. Consequently, most INFJs are protective of their inner selves, sharing only what they choose to share when they choose to share it. They are deep, complex individuals, who are quite private and typically difficult to understand. INFJs hold back part of themselves, and can be secretive.

But the INFJ is as genuinely warm as they are complex. INFJs hold a special place in the heart of people who they are close to, who are able to see their special gifts and depth of caring. INFJs are concerned for people’s feelings, and try to be gentle to avoid hurting anyone. They are very sensitive to conflict, and cannot tolerate it very well. Situations which are charged with conflict may drive the normally peaceful INFJ into a state of agitation or charged anger. They may tend to internalize conflict into their bodies, and experience health problems when under a lot of stress.

Because the INFJ has such strong intuitive capabilities, they trust their own instincts above all else. This may result in an INFJ stubborness and tendency to ignore other people’s opinions. They believe that they’re right. On the other hand, INFJ is a perfectionist who doubts that they are living up to their full potential. INFJs are rarely at complete peace with themselves - there’s always something else they should be doing to improve themselves and the world around them. They believe in constant growth, and don’t often take time to revel in their accomplishments. They have strong value systems, and need to live their lives in accordance with what they feel is right. In deference to the Feeling aspect of their personalities, INFJs are in some ways gentle and easy going. Conversely, they have very high expectations of themselves, and frequently of their families. They don’t believe in compromising their ideals.

INFJ is a natural nurturer; patient, devoted and protective. They make loving parents and usually have strong bonds with their offspring. They have high expectations of their children, and push them to be the best that they can be. This can sometimes manifest itself in the INFJ being hard-nosed and stubborn. But generally, children of an INFJ get devoted and sincere parental guidance, combined with deep caring.

In the workplace, the INFJ usually shows up in areas where they can be creative and somewhat independent. They have a natural affinity for art, and many excel in the sciences, where they make use of their intuition. INFJs can also be found in service-oriented professions. They are not good at dealing with minutia or very detailed tasks. The INFJ will either avoid such things, or else go to the other extreme and become enveloped in the details to the extent that they can no longer see the big picture. An INFJ who has gone the route of becoming meticulous about details may be highly critical of other individuals who are not.

The INFJ individual is gifted in ways that other types are not. Life is not necessarily easy for the INFJ, but they are capable of great depth of feeling and personal achievement.

Jungian functional preference ordering:

Dominant: Introverted Intuition
Auxilliary: Extraverted Feeling
Tertiary: Introverted Thinking
Inferior: Extraverted Sensing

And i have to admit, after reading that description i certainly felt this was me all over, and that i finally understood what it meant to be an INFJ

Once again i’d like to apologise about such a delayed post, i’ve been having many internet issues lately, and not etting much time at home to go on theh PC as i get home from uni so late ¬¬ But…

One of the first tasks we’d been set by Spark & Mettle so far has been to do a psychometric test, so that we can learn more about ourselves~

to have a go yourself here’s the link: http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes1.htm

Well after all 72 questions i was given the type INFJ: Introverted iNtuitive Feeling judging. and to be frank, i wasn’t surprised at all as it’s the same result i’ve had in other tests i’ve done before. But honestly, i never knew exactly what it meant. but that shall arrive in the next post….

but according to my results, i am 33% Introverted, 62% iNtuitive, 6% Feeling and 1% Judging…

Thus i am told from my results that the following are my strengths and weaknesses:

Strengths:

• Warm and affirming by nature
• Dedicated to achieving the ultimate relationship
• Sensitive and concerned for others’ feelings
• Usually have good communication skills, especially written
• Take their commitments very seriously, & seek life long relationships
• Have very high expectations for themselves and others (both a weakness & a strength)
• Good listeners
• Are able to move on after a relationship has ended (once they’re sure it’s over)

Weaknesses:

• Tendency to hold back part of themselves
• Not good with money or practical day-to-day life necessities
• Extreme dislike of conflict and criticism
• Have very high expectations for themselves and others (both a weakness & a strength)
• Have difficulty leaving a bad relationship

Well i have got to say, some of those actually made me laugh quite a bit especially my supposed weakness of “Not good with money or practical day-to-day life necessities” very humerous…. and for a much more detailed version of an INFJ, it’ll be my very next post (hopefully within the next 5 minutes assuming i don’t have any problems again ¬¬)

After a disasterous journey to uni today where i would have been roughly 20 minutes early, due to a moron getting in between the doors whilst it was shutting, i became close to an hour late. would have been more if i didn’t take the bus. but hey at least i didn’t miss my lecture completely

As there’s a little back log of posts, i’ll try to make this short.

The first hangout between myself, Bryony and Bud was pretty aweswome, if i say so myself. We covered a range of topics, from what we thought Optimism was and how we implemented it, this past week. we also mentioned our weaknesses & how we believed these could be turned in to positives. At this i have to say, i have got to take a page out of Bryony’s books, as she believes her most deplored trait within herself is being lazy. funnily enough, i’ve heard multiple times from many people i’m quite the lazy person, and the way she turns it in to a positive, is quite simple. giving herself a set timetable with which she sticks to, as she knows if she doesn’t do it then, she’ll end up not doing the things we must. definitely something i believe i could learn from.

We also got to meet Bryony’s pet tortoise Esmeralda, and my niece made a background appearnace a few times… But for only 45 minutes, it went by a lot faster, and though i had a few hardware problems with my webcam tilting awkwardly at times, we all had lots of fun, and i do believe that these are going to become very helpful in the near future.

So on to tomorrow’s hangout at 6pm. Certainly looking forward to what it reveals

Well what can i say? Google+ owns Facebook outright!!

i mean on multiple different areas, google has outdone facebook with their new hangouts. whilst facebook utterly fails with it’s attempt at video chatting.

1) Facebook’s video chat reduces the sound and image quality vastly, whereas Google+ has outshone it’s rival and has remarkable video and sound quality

2) whilst with google you have to just quickly click a few options to get yourself set-up, facebook is tedious and requires you to first download a .exe file which you have to execute. you then have to make sure the other person has done the same, and then after that can you actually start it up

heck, i could rant about this all night long, but hey at least the bright side is, i don’t have to use facebook video chat, and instead i get to use google’s brilliant hangouts for Spark & Mettle. so Yay me~ :P

Due to some problems with my internet, which is ridiculously frustrating… I’ve been unable to make my everyday posts… so be ready for a fair few posts ranging from my thoughts on google+ compared to Facebook, how my first google hang out went. To the interesting and surprisingly accurate results of the personality quiz as well as a whole lot of other stuff, including a little rant about work…

so enjoy the next couple of hours (hopefully assuming that my internet doesn’t crash again)