Book Review - Personality Plus by Florence Littauer

I think what I mainly got from this book is to be more aware of how others are different to me and why.

How a Popular Sanguines motives are usually just to have fun, and they just want everyone else to join in on that fun, he doesn't realise his sense of fun is not others sense of fun, he doesn't mean to lie or offend he only wants to see others enjoy a story even if he's not telling the true story, the truth is less important to a Sanguine... he doesn't want to know about his weaknesses, even when he begs for you to tell him!.

Also how Perfect Melancholies are more prone to depression, and would more likely take your comments to heart, but hes the one you can get into deep meaningful conversations with, a very analytical and deep soul.

And how awesome Peaceful Phlegmatics are, you know you will get on with them, but also know they would need lots of motivation to actually do anything, an exciting passionate romance with one of them just wont happen .. but how peaceful life would be around them.

Powerful Cholerics are great as leaders, not much else to say about them I guess, I think I would rather avoid them in a social situation.

But of course its not as simple as all that, most people are combinations of all these types, or have 'masks' of types hiding the true temperament, but its been interesting to discover myself in there, and witness the traits in others, some are very obvious strong on one major type, others are an obvious mix, others not so easy to define.... it was very interesting to see how I interacted and viewed them before I read the book and now after, much negativity and judgement has gone , especially toward the Popular Sanguine type, which as a strong Perfect Melancholy myself, I found delightful in small doses but failed terribly when trying to have any deeper connection with.
It explains why I can clash with my own type, having two Perfect Melancholies in a relationship can get very painful, as neither partner would ever be 'perfect' enough, and the attempts of both to 'correct' the other would end up in disaster, but also how I can connect with them on a deep level, and the joy of having someone else to analyse with is fantastic!.
And how I so very much appreciate the Peaceful Phlegmatic, and would keep them as friends for a lifetime, but perhaps romantically, it would be rather frustrating...

But a Peaceful Phlegmatic with a dash of Popular Sanguine a hint of Powerful Choleric with a touch of Perfect Melancholy, might make for a very tasty pie.

I think the main discovery I had was that, not getting along with someone did not mean I was a failure, or defective socially, and neither are they, its just the combination of temperaments could not co-exist peacefully, just realising that and accepting it makes all the difference, you don't even need to try to 'fix' it.. if you don't feel like putting in the energy, just accept it and move on, find people you do get along with naturally.


The only other thing I would mention about the book, is that it is written by a Christian, and has a few random religious quotes, great for other Christians, and not too much that it would bother non Christians.