Recently I am having fun reading about MBTI, Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. It's basically a method for typing personalities.
They focus on four character dichotomies, [Extrovert (E)-Introvert (I)], [Sensing (S)-Intuition (N)], [Thinking (T)-Feeling (F)] and [Judgement (J)-Perception (P)]. So they categorize people to 16 types (2x2x2x2), like, ISTJ, ENFP, etc.
More information can be found everywhere in the net, including this one.
http://www.personalitypage.com/html/portraits.html
Apparently I am a very typical INTJ, "The Scientist". In fact I work as a scientist, so I got my career choice right, although I was not aware of my "type" when I chose my career path. I am somewhat perfectionist. I look reserved. I always ask "does it work" and think ways for improvement. I was pretty good at school. I tend to have ridiculously high standard of performance for myself and for others...... There are many character descriptions that are hilariously accurate for me. So I was having a lot of fun.
Then I started reading about other types. It was eye-opening, too. I enjoyed the rich variety. Then I started speculating the types of some of people I know.
Currently the way I have fun out of this is like fantasy sports. Matching up different characters, and imagining how it would work out, or would not work out, or what needs to be done to get it work.
What's next? I don't know. Maybe it's a time to decide my stance to this information, this new mind toy? At this time I am not interested in joining a forum or two and discuss this at length, because probably there are better ways to use my time than that kind of endless chat that may not go anywhere. I guess I'll play with it until I get bored of it.
The MBTI gave me some typical names to characters of people. Our mind starts recognizing "it" only when we name "it". That's what I learned from a book "The Non-designer's Design book" by Robin Williams. The book called it "the Joshua tree epiphany". Only after she learned the name of Joshua tree in a tree identification book, she recognized the trees, that grew everywhere in her neighborhood.
I understand this type of theoretical or formulaic approach is not for everyone. But I like it, because it would work, and something that works appeals to my INTJ personality. Hehe.
Oh, and looking at these MBTI memes is fun, too. A good pastime for a freezing cold morning with a sleeping cat on my lap.
PS Even if your typing looks quite accurate, it does not mean a licence of sort. It's not like we can act as much as the descriptions say. Rather, I see it as cautionary diagnosis. It can tell me what I am NOT naturally strong at. So I can cover my *** better. INTJ thinking? Indeed.
A Tanda is a series of a few Tango songs. In a standard social Argentine Tango party (called milonga), it is customary that the couple dances the few songs successively. The Tandas are separated by a small piece of music called Cortina (Curtain), and when they hear Cortina, they return to their seats.
After the last blog entry, I sent out the manuscript again. To celebrate the re-submission, I went to Tulsa for their monthly milonga on Friday (the third Friday of the month at the Tulsalseros dance studio).
There were some partners I had not danced with for a long time. And at the very first dance, well, the dance was not working well with the partner. But after a few songs, we began to adopt to each other's dance habits and styles.
The extra time a Tanda can give; that is the reason why they dance Tango in Tandas. In many social dance settings, it takes more than one song to adopt to each other and achieve the Tango. Dancing Tango is, after all, somewhat like developing relationship.
Social Tango is a different game from working on a show Tango, in which familiarity to each other to pull off fancy choreography is a key. Show Tango practice is much more like other dances with choreography. To some extent repeated practice takes away the special air from the Tango, and makes it more regular dance.
In social Tango, on rare occasion, there is a great chemistry between two strangers/social dancers to set the dance off right away. But it is rare.
Usually it takes some time to figure out and adopt to the new partner, and achieve the dance. One song may be too short, all night may be too long, and a few songs may be a good amount of time to "converse" in a satisfying manner.
In a sense it might be likened to a Catholic marriage. If you are prohibited to divorce as a rule, religiously, you got to set your mind to get the marriage work, and work on it harder. There is no way out of divorcing. Tanda rule is, in a much smaller way, prohibiting you from separating. You got to work harder to get the dance work in the limited time.
Speaking of the dance that did not work well at first? Later on we got each other, and we had very satisfying dances. I enjoyed them a lot. I love this aspect of social dancing.
We submitted a paper manuscript for a journal some time ago. Since the journal's main targeted readers are physicians, we were not exactly certain how our manuscript with mainly mice model research would be received.
Today we got a rejection notice. As we suspected, the focus and scope was a reason for the rejection.
When you do science as a job, rejection of a manuscript is a part of the game. Sure, I am not happy to hear rejection, but if we take it hard every time, it does no good for anyone.
So over years I have developed my SOPs for coping with manuscript rejection.
(i) Receive and read the notification.
Usually you can immediately tell acceptance or rejection by reading a few lines. "We regret""Unfortunately" are for rejection, "We are happy to inform" is for acceptance.
(ii) Even if you know it by the word "regret" immediately, read the mail through, and catch general reason for rejection.
(iii) Breathe deeply. Allow yourself to be bummed for 5-10 minutes. Swearing is optional, depending on reaction. Getting up and walking around can be helpful.
(iv) Read the mail again.
By this time it should be easier to catch what they are saying more rationally.
(v) Activate contingency plans.
Usually we have an assortment of journals considered for submitting the manuscript. We would try the next-in-the-line journal.
(vi) Talk with the boss or co-authors about the new plan.
(vii) Read the new journal format specification and reformat the manuscript.
If the rejection notice points out a good point, incorporate it whenever possible.
(viii) Send out the manuscript.
(ix) Celebrate the re-submission. Cross fingers. Pray. Do whatever works for you.
(x) Be a cool professional. Don't bring negative emotions home.
The trick is to reduce emotional attachment. For the purpose, systems, rituals and SOPs do help. But it is kind of like trying to achieve Buddhism enlightenment. It's not easy.
At the manuscript submission stage, the part of the project is done, and I am usually working on something else already. As a matter of fact I am working on two other manuscripts and they keep me busy. It is helpful just to focus on the tasks at hand, and not to indulge on emotions.
And, when it is accepted for publication, be happy and celebrate. Yey :)
I like books whose purpose is clear. This book is one of such books.
This book tells you what to do to combat Depression.
Most people go through some phases in their life in a depressed mood. Our moods naturally fluctuate. Little ups and downs are a normal part of life.
But for some, the downs (and ups) are greater than others. Clinical depression is a physical illness just like asthma or cold, and need to be treated as such. "Snap out of it" doesn't work, no more than they can snap out of asthma attack or cold.
I went through a few depressed times while I was in college. From now I can say they were not that serious, but at these old times I had different opinion.
Besides, I am somewhat inclined to be self-absorbed. It works for me to work as a scientist (there are a bunch like me among scientists), to write blogs and other stuff, and to analyze whatever I am interested with (probably) greater attentiveness. But a side effect is that I can be, well, self-absorbed and remote. And with this character I can get caught by depression, just like I can get caught by a flu.
So when I recently heard something that made me sad, I bought this book.
This book describes a six-step program to beat depression without drugs. So, it should work for still healthy (hopefully), me.
This book says,
(1) Take omega3 (fish oil) supplements
(2) Engage activity
(3) Exercise physically
(4) Exposed to sunlight
(5) Have social support
(6) Sleep
Yup, I'll keep them in mind and will do them.
Here are a few nuggets from the book.
"Hunter-gatherers don't get depression"
"Depression is closely linked to a toxic thought process called rumination--the habit of dwelling on negative thoughts, turning them over and over and over in your mind".
"SAD (Seasonal Affefctive Disorder)....the treatment of choice for SAD is bright light therapy"
"Wherever a person is caught in the grip of depressive illness, the situation is agonizing for the spouse,...........Spouses can be an invaluable resource in the recovery process."
Overall I liked this book. The six steps are all actionable.
On a related topic;
This article is not from the book, but it caught my attention some time ago.
http://www.frontiersin.org/Behavioral_Neuroscience/10.3389/fnbeh.2013.00041/full
The title of this behavioral neuroscience paper reads,
"Don't be too strict with yourself! Rigid negative self-representation in healthy subjects mimics the neurocognitive profile of depression for autographical memory".
It is saying that the brain usage pattern of people with Negative over-generalization is similar to patients with depression.
Yeah, if I keep saying to myself "why am I ALWAYS like that", "I will NEVER be able to do it", or "You will not change, you will ALWAYS be the same", it's got to be depressing.
A Tango instructor told me that he can tell a beginner couple that is not going to last just by listening to their language.
He basically said that if one is blaming the other,or both are blaming each other, it's not going to last.
It is a wisdom. Language of how we speak to self and others matters. I got to be very careful on this one.
A few days ago I went to Tulsa for a milonga and for OK/KS/AR state swing dance contest. I had some pretty good dances, both for Tango and for Swing. They should be helpful to combat depression, too.
