Temperament Tip #6
In our last issue of Insights, I asked you to consider giving “good gifts” to people you love. Some readers sent in a request for me to be more specific and identify some items for each of the colors. In fact, they asked for suggestions that don’t require a lot of money. Because your wish is my command, below are free or nearly free gifts that won’t add stress to your pocketbook.
After you read through the lists, keep in mind your next assignment:
Please give a gift to someone today!
Don’t you dare wait for holidays, birthdays, or anniversaries! The sooner you do these things, the sooner your relationships will be enhanced.
- Blue. The best present you can give to a Blue is yourself. Give them your time, your energy, your inner thoughts. Begin by sitting next to them in a comfortable place, where both of you can be free from interruptions. Look at them eye-to-eye, knee-to-knee. Show interest in their interests. Talk about things they want to talk about. And when they’re ready to open up and share their private feelings, listen intently, listen carefully. As they begin to discuss their hopes, dreams, desires and issues, accept these without offering your judgment or your solutions to their problems. Just be supportive and encourage them to continue. Then, just like washing your hair, lather, rinse and repeat frequently. At least weekly, and daily if possible. For a Blue, quantity time is just as important as quality time.
- Gold. Begin by giving a Gold recognition for their hard work and dedication. Cards and thank-you notes are great, but they also need a little reward, a little appreciation for their work ethic, their efficiency, and their dependability. So pamper them a bit. Give them a break from their routines. Help out a little more. Put your dirty socks in the hamper. Squeeze the toothpaste in the right place. Plan ahead. Be punctual and prepared. Every so often, give them a day of your time where you do whatever they need, even if it means spending three hours on a Saturday afternoon sorting nuts and bolts into hundreds of baby-food jars. Do what they do for a while. Walk a mile in their moccasins. You might be surprised at how much they do, and how well they do it.
- Green. A good Green gift involves space and time. Give them as much personal space and time to themselves as they want. Whether it’s a room or office of their own, or a corner of a room divided by a makeshift partition, they need a private space where they can escape to and do what they want to do. Try to stay up on their interests, which may change quickly as soon as they get bored with it. Support them from afar as they work on their hobbies or build their set of competencies. If they invite you into their world, go quickly and eagerly. Listen to their ideas, support their need to be ingenious, and help provide the endless resources these “info junkies” need.
- Orange. Oranges crave adventures. Eating new things, going to new places, meeting new friends, doing outrageous things, doing activities that involve risk — all of these activities give them opportunities to be adventurous. For example, one of our colleagues “kidnaps” an Orange friend every month. It is always a different day of the month, so the Orange never knows when it is going to happen. The Orange is blindfolded and placed in a car with other friends, who then go someplace they’ve never been before or do something they’ve never done before. Last month, the group of six middle-aged adults went to 16 different fast food restaurants, only buying something that cost less than $1 dollar, splitting it between them, and eating it before moving on to the next place. It took them three hours to eat dinner, but they had a very unusual, memorable experience. That’s what an Orange wants. Something different, unexpected, and unusual.