Self-knowledge is a virtue that St. Teresa of Avila highly valued.

“Self-knowledge is so important that, even if you were raised right up to the heavens, I should like you never to relax your cultivation of it.”

Genuine self-knowledge leads to humility, being truly grounded in who we are as God’s unique son or daughter.

 

The concept of the four temperaments was first proposed around 350 B.C. in which early philosophers used bodily fluids to help explain and understand medicine and psychology. (The history is super interesting but I’ll save that for you to look up.) The temperaments are part of our human nature to help us understand just a glimpse of the inexhaustible mystery that is the human soul. Once again, just a glimpse rather than the whole story. 

 

So, are the temperaments just another personality test?

Not quite. The temperaments are actually the sum of our natural preferences and how we react to our environment and other people that isn’t quite cultivated through nurture but rather part of our nature. 

 

There are four temperaments; sanguine, phlegmatic, melancholic, and choleric. Each are quite unique and you can possess more than one. One would consist of your primary temperament while the other is known as your secondary. 

 

Let me give you a brief explanation of each.

Sanguines are what I like to call the golden retrievers of the temperaments. They’re quite social, have a positive outlook in life, but can be a bit scatterbrained and disorganized.

Cholerics are also just as extroverted and are very passionate and organized but tend to bulldoze others, think Leslie Knope from Parks and Rec.

Phlegmatics are your “go with the flow” kind of people, not much bothers them at all but they tend to shy away when it comes to conflict.

Melancholics are the Eeyores of the temperaments. Their first response to any situation tends to focus on pointing out the negative but their spiritual depth is unmatched. 

 

The more I learned about the temperaments, the better I was able to understand myself, set realistic goals, and overcome comparison. They also taught me how to better love others when I began to pick up on their temperaments. 

 

I’m a phlegmatic-sanguine which means I avoid conflict like the plague, I love being around people but I also need my alone time, public speaking freaks me out, I tend to very much go with the flow, and I’m not good at detailed planning. A temptation of mine is being satisfied with achieving less than what I’m actually capable of. 

 

So when I’m setting goals for myself, I make sure that I push myself out of my comfort zone because I know I’ll settle for the status quo. Whenever I’m tempted to fall into comparison, I consider what the other person’s dominant temperament may be which helps me realize that what they have is actually given to them and not something I can necessarily achieve as naturally. (Which is such a phlegmatic thing to say). I also find more confidence in speaking up at work when it comes to planning projects because I’m more confident in what I’m able to contribute to reaching our ministry’s goals.

 

Understanding the temperaments has also helped me build up others in my relationships. I know that my sanguine friends won’t necessarily need a detailed schedule whenever we plan a weekend away together, but that it would help my choleric friends be at ease. I know not to take things personally whenever my melancholic friends need to vent about what’s going wrong in the world. And I know that I don’t necessarily need to expect a specific answer when asking my phlegmatic friends where they want to go to dinner. I’m better able to meet people where they’re at and love them in a way they can receive and in a way that will challenge them to grow as well. Which means sometimes I’ll have to use my optimism to encourage my melancholic friends, or allow my choleric friends to inspire me to be more passionate about striving for sanctity. 

 

Your temperament is truly a gift. Learn to embrace it!

We need each of the temperaments to challenge us to grow in holiness. As sanguines need melancholics to model for them a deep prayer life, phlegmatics need passionate cholerics to inspire them to love Christ more. Our melancholics need their token sanguine friend to remind them of the hope that Christ has to offer us while our cholerics need our phlegmatics to remind them not to take things too seriously. 

 

The temperaments aren’t meant to be used as an excuse to settle for our flaws either but rather to be another light to shine on our hearts so that Christ may point out more clearly how He desires us to grow closer to Him. I had a friend once compare striving for holiness to a dark messy bedroom. The more we learn about ourselves and Christ, the more light is shined in the room to indicate how much more needs to be done to clean the room. It’s indeed very humbling but fear not, Christ desires our sanctity and He desires to give us the grace to grow closer to Him. “For without me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

 

I highly encourage you to go take a temperament quiz and start learning! Temperamentquiz.com was developed by the authors of The Temperament God Gave You, Art and Laraine Bennett. Their book is an excellent place to start learning about the temperament that God has given you which also includes the history of the temperaments, temperament combinations, understanding the temperament of your spouse and children, as well as how to relate it back to your spiritual growth. 

 

What you have to offer the world is truly a gift that God delights in so embrace it, learn about it, and cultivate it!