What a fun book to read! I have 3 grown married kids and 10 grandies and was focused the whole time on finding out if I could place them in one of the four temperaments listed below. I definitely found myself: Melancholy, and I found my husband...Choleric. They were 100% spot on!
Although this book was written by Catholics, and they say for Catholics, it's really about the four basic temperaments which we ALL have...not just Catholics. There is very little mentioned about the Catholic religion, mostly in the last chapter. All verses referenced are from the Holy Bible that you and I read. I am not Catholic and I thoroughly enjoyed finding out that my weird quirks are real and normal...for melancholics...and were instilled in me at birth.
Temperament is something you are born with and is separate from your personality (or your character), which is a product of your environment. You aren't completely locked into your temperament. It can be changed and reshaped over the years. You can strenghthen your weaknesses if you know where they are. Understanding your own temperament, and your spouses and your children and grandchildren...and accepting it...will help you communicate better with them. That's what this book is all about.
These four temperaments are used today by psychologists, educators and spiritual writers to categorize people. You can find other books on temperaments if you are thrown off by the word Catholic...but this is a good one. Here are the four temperaments and a brief description:
1. Choleric - passionate, quick to anger, make his opinions known, have a difficult time taking orders, leaders doing things their own way, can be overtly controlling, outspoken, argumentative, everyone else is less intelligent
2. Melancholy - 🙋🏻♀️ unhappiness, sad, quiet, inclined to solitude, doleful, guardian, caretaker, expresses opinions but seems cold, impersonal and demanding by others, logical and analytical, can appear snobby or standoffish at parties at first needing time to process, value principles and truth over feelings and sentiments, not much of a friend nurturing person, making decisions can be overwhelming, need clarity in any given situation or decision, are leaders because they do things their own way, have a difficult time taking orders, can be quietly controlling behind the scenes, makes critical judgements internally noting imperfections in themselves and others
3. Sanguine - social, confident, hopeful, eager, optimistic, artistic, seeks other's opinions, usually disorganized and messy
4. Phlegmatic - calm, unemotional, logical investigator, self-effacing when expressing himself to avoid conflict or fear of being hurt, attuned to his feelings and of others can appear snobby or standoffish at parties at first (need time to feel comfortable), will retreat in solitude to video games and such
One other distinction to consider when finding your temperament is whether you are:
1. Extravert - choleric & sanguine (focused on and comfortable with people and events, look externally for value, talk more than listen, repeat their points, speaks before he even knows what he thinks about the topic in hopes that his thoughts will become clear to himself as well as to others the longer he rattles on...HAHA...THIS IS MY HUSBAND!! He is Choleric.)
2. Introvert - melancholic & phlegmatic (focused and more comfortable with his interior world of thoughts and emotions, reflective, less warm, needs time to process information, can be the life of the party but will find it emotionally draining, find it hard to express themselves, intense inner life internalizing conflict and rehearse dialogues inside your head, can appear snobby or standoffish at parties at first needing time to feel comfortable or to process)
The book has so much more for you to learn about yourself and your family members. I would definitely recommend reading it. See, your spouse is not annoying for no reason; they were born that way...haha!