Relationships
Sensing and Intuitive
Dr. Dawn-Elise Snipes PhD, LPC-MHSM, LMHC, NCC
Executive Director, AllCEUs
Host, Counselor Toolbox
Continuing Education (CE) credits can be earned for this presentation at https://allceus.com/member/cart/index/product/id/615/c/
Objectives
~ Define temperament
~ Examine how knowing your temperament and the temperament of those around you can
~ Improve communication
~ Enhance relationships
~ Reduce stress
~ Explore in-depth the Sensing/Intuitive dimension
~ Identify potential conflicts
~ Examine potential ways to help people on opposite ends of the spectrum collaborate.
Temperament
~ A relatively stable set of traits referring to
~ Preferred environments
~ Learning and problem solving styles and methods
~ Ways of conceptualizing and approaching the world
~ Philosophical approach to the world
~ Time management
~ Temperament occurs along a complementary continuum
~ Neither end of the continuum is better or worse
~ Most people are somewhere in between each point
Temperament
~ As stress increases, people gravitate toward their preferred temperament dimensions
~ Additional stress and vulnerabilities can be prevented through:
~ Awareness of personal preferences (Prevent your stress)
~ Awareness of the preferences of those around you
~ Knowledge of how to create an environment supportive of individual preferences
~ Learning is made up of 3 parts acquisition, conceptualization and caring
Temperament–Conceptualization
Sensing
~ Are practical and realistic
~ Inductive reasoning
~ Prefer facts and live in the real world
iNtuitive
~ Are imaginative dreamers
~ Deductive reasoning
~ Prefer abstraction, inspiration, insights
Interventions
~ Hear out the Intuitor, try to avoid shutting down/invalidating his/her creative process
~ Create reasonable structured goals (pace yourself; don’t stress others out with optimistic dreams)
~ Weigh the cost/benefits
~ If the iNtuitor needs an outlet, identify one project; start grant writing etc.
~ Regularly communicate about the good things in the current situation
~ Identify what does NOT need to be improved
~ The box is there for a reason, let the sensor help you use it to your advantage
~ Sensors need to remember that every package needs a unique box
Temperament–Conceptualization
Sensing
~ Focus on practical, concrete problems
~ See the details and may ignore the big picture
iNtuitive
~ Focus on complicated abstract problems (Metaconcepts)
~ See the big picture but miss the details
Interventions
~ Puzzle Activity
~ The Electricity Question
~ Sensors can avoid the rut by
~ Reframing things in terms of the bigger picture—Look up once in a while
~ Not getting too stuck in day-to-day must dos—Frame the day in terms of the bigger picture
~ Ensure others understand the details—the whys/hows
~ INtuitors can avoid failure to achieve by
~ Keeping a list of things that have to be done
~ Seeking consult about any overlooked details (laundry room)
Interventions
~ Identify one person to take the lead (top-down or bottom up)
~ The other person will consult in phase 2
~ Know your strengths
~ Sensors can miss the big picture, (Life is supposed to be enjoyable) because they are so caught up in trying to do the things to make life enjoyable
~ INtuitors can disrupt the big picture by failing to attend to details. They are so busy doing enjoyable things that they fail to pay enough attention to the required things (Holiday planning, Recovery)
Temperament–Motivation
Sensing
~ Content in general
~ Believe “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”
~ May think that those preferring intuition are impractical
iNtuitive
~ Live in the world of possibilities and the future
~ Believe anything can be improved (relationships, recovery, self)
~ May think that those preferring the practical lack vision
Interventions
~ ACT—
~ Define values and goals for the individual and the couple/organization/family/recovery
~ Explore what you are currently doing that is meeting those goals/embodying those values
~ Review any new projects/tasks/improvements in terms of helping you achieve those goals…in what way will putting energy into this get us closer to the agreed upon goals
Temperament
Sensing
~ Want specifics and tend to be very literal
~ Have difficulty extrapolating interpretations from data
iNtuitive
~ Love word games/semantics
~ Love to interpret things to support their hypothesis
Interventions
~ Encourage active listening and open communication
~ INtuitors need to be self aware of the motivations guiding their interpretation (self-fulfilling prophesy)
~ Sensors need to be aware that, although it may appear to be one way, there are potential other explanations.
~ INtuitors often like to debate/question, help Sensors not take it personally and understand it is part of their process
~ Help both types clearly define goals and objectives
~ Relationship
~ Recovery
~ Communication
Temperament
Sensing
~ Would rather do than think
iNtuitive
~ Would rather think than do
Interventions
~ Encourage active communication and agreement on an end result before commencing work
~ Taxes
~ Vacation planning
~ Home Improvement
~ Relationship Improvement
~ Recovery
~ Clearly assign goals and start and end dates
~ Periodically stop and evaluate
Summary
~ Each person is often a combination of some Sensing and some intuitive characteristics
~ Knowing your own preferences can help you reduce your own vulnerabilities and stress
~ Knowing the preferences of your friends, family, coworkers can help you understand more about how to interact in harmony with them
~ Just like two people with depression may have different “symptoms,” two Intuitors may have different Intuitive traits.
Summary
~ Quick Assessment
~ Do you…
~ Focus on details or the big picture
~ Tend to be action oriented or a good planner
~ Tend to be content or always looking to improve
~ What do you bring?
~ Who compliments your traits?