The church community was the first place that I recognized my spirituality and the gift of empathy. It is also my involvement in this community that allowed me to discern my gifts. There are always different groups that come together to help with various charitable necessities, and I noticed my tendency to gravitate toward the group that offers more personal interaction and assistance rather than just volunteering to do an activity. For example, a friend noticed that I often to listen to people’s problems and noticed that I often provide a different perspective. They said that instead of just trying to tell them how to solve the problem I help them understand how to find the solution themselves. I realized that because I could empathize with them, even if their life was completely different from mine, that I used this gift to help them make their own decisions.

I had never consciously realized that I could identify with them so closely and this was the way to offer guidance or help without actually telling them how to resolve the problem, they did that themselves. I think that is why I like to be involved in peer guidance opportunities, I have to say it makes me feel good inside to help other people, for example, if they are having a difficult time making a decision about class or a problem with a friend or even an issue at home. The ability to identify with others is important in my objective to be a life coach, one with a spiritual influence.
I do need to work on how to become a stronger leader, as I share my own learning experience with my peers hopefully it will inspire them, The reason I say this is that while I am comfortable with friends sometimes in a large group of people it feels awkward to speak to someone I do not know, and yet if I feel that they need help then it is easier for me to speak to them. As an example the other day there was someone new in the study group looking a bit lost and so I initiated the conversation. I really do enjoy helping others and I am more open to people in those circumstances.

I have felt that I knew myself and understood my personality quite well, however, after taking the Myers-Briggs evaluation it opened up a new and fresh understanding to my personal characteristics. I am Introversion (I), Intuition (N), Feeling (F), Judgment (J), INFJ, which is described to be a quite rare personality type. The type is described as an advocate which aligns perfectly with my personal desire to help others, both personally and professionally. The list of personality strengths includes: creative, insightful, inspiring, decisive, determined, and altruistic while the weaknesses are: sensitive, private, perfectionist, need a cause, and suffer from burn-out. After reading these I considered each one and realize that while I think each trait does apply it definitely is different for each one. While I do not consider myself to be creative, as in building things, I know that I am decisive and very determined. It also made me realize that I am kind of sensitive to criticism, it tends to make me withdraw into myself but I always thought that it was just me.

By understanding these characteristics it will help me to think differently about some situations and try to reduce the negatives and to improve my positives. For example, when I am working on a project and get so focused that I need to work on not getting burned out. Also by rethinking the positives, such as being creative is using my imagination and empathy is to encourage people when they come to me for advice or help. Also while it is important to be driven it is also crucial to recognize that perfection is an unattainable goal.

The decisive part of my personality knows I want to help people it is my calling. My vocation involves a most important and essential part of my life and that is the church, and I have a mission to teach and motivate a passion for a strong and spiritual faith, essentially evangelize through persuasion and inspiration. The church has brought so much joy, pleasure, and acceptance into my own life that I feel compelled to share with others.

The Myers-Briggs test is a stepping stone to a deeper understanding of who I am and how I can use my positive personality traits to help others achieve their goals and objectives, which is exactly what a life coach does. By becoming more personally aware of my own strengths and weaknesses this is the beginning of my own journey of conscious development with the goal to help others. It inspires me to delve into the reflection of a situation and gain a more developed and evolved understanding, and as I grow and learn how to utilize these tools I can, in turn, use them to help others attain their goals. It is important to me that I continue not giving solutions and answers but by providing the necessary tools so that others are inspired and motivated to find the answers within themselves.

All of this can be achieved yet it must be recognized that this is a constant learning process. There is no perfection however that does not mean that we lower the goal. My vocation is to utilize my gifts to help others, whether it is attaining their goals, or assisting with their personal or professional life. To be more personally aware, to maximize the best characteristics of my personality, and to realize my spiritual mission is the journey for my lifetime.