Wednesday, January 04, 2012

Winter, The Phlegmatic Temperament



"...Sir Winter is also motivated by his physical being. Winter prefers to communicate in action and pictures and not as much with words. When one walks out into a winter wonderland they don’t hear the laughter of the summer brook, the chirping of spring birds, or the chattering of autumn squirrels. Instead one must switch their focus to the visual and the physical and notice the sloping snow drifts, the gently dripping icicles, and the physical beauty of each snowflake. When winter wants to communicate he does not shout, cry or laugh – he moves. Winter’s philosophy in life is “don’t talk about it – do it.”

However, as much as Sir Winter likes to keep to himself and is motivated by his own inner world, he can also be influenced to change by others. A snow-drift can be transformed into a snow-fort, a pile of sticky snow can become a snow-man, ice on the walk can be melted by salt and an avid skier can create modern art on Sir Winter’s powdery white surface. To the casual observer Sir Winter may seem impenetrable. However, to those that know him well, the secrets to bringing him out of his comfort zone are revealed. Because above all, the comfort zone is what matters most to Sir Winter."

What a wonderful description of the Phlegmatic temperament. Read more here. We've got an entire household full of Phlegmatics right down to the cat! ;) It's a winter landscape here, although my daughter has a few drops of sunshine(Sanguine).

More about the four personality temperaments(Waldorf homeschool) here.

2 comments:

Myrnie said...

Ah, thank you! I couldn't find this post on her blog :) I know she says don't judge temperaments until the teeth change...but I'm pretty sure my oldest is NOT NOT NOT a Sanguine. Her little sister is, though, haha- she can be telling me "I don't want to!" and if I look at her and smile and nod my head and say "yes you do"....she agrees with me. Hee.

Alexandra said...

Ha, ha, pretty accommodating the Phlegmatics, but they also dig their heels(like a mule!) in when they reach their limit. All in their own time or they shut down.