By Jennifer Davis
Happiness is knowing oneself and recognizing the role of Jesus as the Savior, said Paul R. Warner in his lecture titled, “The Pursuit of Happiness: Understanding Your Personality, Your Communications Style, Your Emotional Health and Your Desire for Righteousness.”
“Happiness means a lot of things to a lot of different people,” he said.
In the quest for happiness, it is crucial to understand one”s own personality, Warner said.
Every person is born with an innate personality, he said. There isn”t one that is exactly the same.
Finding joy in one”s uniqueness of personality is beneficial to the individual. It will help one recognize the contribution each individual makes to surrounding environments, how personality limitations do not make one a bad person, how important it is to have patience with those who may not have similar personalities and recognize how correct principles strengthen the unique style.
An innate personality is different for every person, yet some things may influence that personality, such as circumstance, values, habits and lifestyle.
“Our circumstance that we”ve been born into has a tremendous amount to do with one”s values,” he said.
Warner explained how one can come to understand their own innate personality by finding out their motives, their IQ, whether they are an extrovert or an introvert and their order and thinking style.
One way to finding out what one”s motives are is through the Hartman Personality Test, which defines 4 types of personalities or motives through colors: red, blue, white or yellow.
Power is the motivation for those who score high in the red personality. Intimacy is the motivation for the high blue scorers; peace is for the high white scorers and fun for those who scored high in yellow.
“It”s important to appreciate your core personality,” Warner said. “There are very basic differences we are born with, please remember that it”s OK.”
Another important step to understanding oneself is by recognizing talents. Warner spoke of the research done by Calvin W. Taylor from the University of Utah of six basic talents. Everyone excels in one of the talents, does above average in two of the talents, below average in two and not well at all in one of them. The talents are academic, creative, planning, decision making, forecasting and communicative.
Also, knowing if one is an extrovert and introvert helps one know what their core is.
“Being an extrovert does not always mean outgoing, easy going, loud, but the key is where you get your energy from,” Warner said. “Extroverts get their energy from people, activities, getting involved. Introverts get their energy from being alone.”
Also, the way extroverts and introverts deal with a problem is very different, he said.
Knowing how one thinks and orders their life will help understand oneself better.
“It is extremely important to understand this concept in your life and those around you,” Warner said. He discussed four different types of order and thought: concrete, abstract, sequential and random.
After looking at all the different results from all of the different methods of self-discovery it becomes pretty apparent that every individual is unique from the other, he said.
Understanding one”s emotional health helps show if they are on the right path or not.
“If you do have some characteristics that are unhealthy, you can change,” he said. “There are a lot of people who need help in the church.”
Not being able to express love or accept love is one of the indicators of an unhealthy emotional state.
“If there are pressures and you don”t know how to deal with stress?talk about it with someone, don”t hold it inside,” he said. “There are a lot of people who won”t talk about themselves in the church… You need to find someone who will listen and give feedback.”
After learning more about oneself, it is important to recognize the road to happiness is the road to righteousness, Warner said.
