For those of you who are new (or even not so new) to this blog, I suppose the title needs a bit of explanation.  Once upon a time, my husband used to blog, and in those days we had a weekly occasional whenever-we-felt-like-it routine of posting on the same topic on Saturdays.  We called it He Says, She Says Saturdays.  Cute, right?

Anyway, it’s been a while, but we are back today with a very special event indeed.  Our first ever He Says, He Says, He Says, She Says Saturday, introducing two of the Internet’s newest bloggers, Trevor’s (no longer) little brothers Adrian and Nathan.

Such an occasion called for a special topic indeed, so we’ve decided to tackle an old favorite subject of mine and Trevor’s: Myers-Briggs personality types – specifically, our own.

We were first introduced to this brand of self-analysis about five years ago by dear friends who had used it as a tool to strengthen their marriage.  To be honest, it’s real appeal is that it’s just super fun to take a five-minute quiz and then see your exact personality laid out before your very eyes.

If you’ve never tried it, we used this site to get a free and quick read-out last night.  Even if you don’t read another word of this post, I can’t recommend enough that you take the quiz – you’ll thank me, and then you’ll make everyone you know take it, too.

So, after 5 minutes of questions, most of which made me think, ‘well, this is dumb – surely everybody picks this answer’  ( “Really!?” I asked, “Who would say that they only value people for their usefulness and don’t care about their feelings?” to which Trevor and his dad piped up in unison, “I did!”  Just wow.) 41q.com had this to say about me:

Your personality type: “Spontaneous Idealist”

Enthusiastic, idealistic and creative. Able to do almost anything that interests them. Great people skills. Need to live life in accordance with their inner values. Excited by new ideas, but bored with details. Open-minded and flexible, with a broad range of interests and abilities.

If you care to see all the nitty gritty, including a fancy little chart, click here.

So, I am an extroverted (E), intuiting (N), feeling (F), perceiver (P).  What does all that mean?

I know what an extrovert is, and I don’t need convincing that I am one.  My mother and I have  exactly the same personality type except for the E.  This explains why I enjoy nothing more than going to the park and meeting new mommy friends, then filling up my calendar with playdates.  It explains too why she adores a night completely alone with a book and a bubble bath (what fun is that!?).

I gather that my F-ness  probably has a lot to do with my being a girl.  It’s not completely true to say that all men are thinkers and all women are feelers, but it does tend to line up that way more often than not, so I’ve heard.   If you watched my video this week, you’ll know it didn’t take rocket science to figure out that I’m a sappy, blubbery sort of girl.

I haven’t quite nailed down the S versus N situation, so I’ll leave that one to move onto the real shocker of this whole endeavor.

P. Ah, sweet P.  Being a perceiver means that I float through life without a care in the world, making perfectly good decisions on the fly without wasting my life planning everything down to the minutest detail.  Going with the flow, taking what comes, blooming where I’m planted.  It’s a happy place to live life, and one in which my sweet ISTP husband and I blissfully cohabited.

Until last night.

Five years ago, when Trevor and I first took these tests.  Our  P-ness was our only common bond.  The one point of our very disparate personalities at which we were bonded and unified.

According to last night’s test results, Trevor is now a J.  Apparently  my reckless approach to life finally forced him to grab hold of the reins, lest our collective lack of plan lead us down the road of unpaid bills and squandered weekends.  In truth, I’m glad he did.

But the fact remains that my husband and I are now officially complete polar opposites.  And this, to me, is where the great usefulness of these tests comes in.   Knowing that he thinks, feels (if he feels at all!) and just generally operates differently than I do helps me to love him better.   It helps me get why he doesn’t always get me.  And that helps everybody.

I believe that, my J-convert husband notwithstanding,  God has designed each of our personalities with as much care as He took over our faces or fingerprints.  Understanding the uniquely amazing design of those around us (I can’t wait until the girls are old enough for me to analyze this way!) helps us to love people for who they are, to overlook wrongs (perceived and actual) and to realize just how many of our own wrongs they have overlooked.

Now, I’m off to go check out what Trevor, Adrian, and Nathan have to say about all this.  Care to join me?

Also, if you did take the quiz, would you indulge me by telling me what your ‘type’ is in the comments?  I just can’t get enough of this stuff.