Interesting exercise: Know thyself! How do other's view you?

This summer I heard of an interesting exercise and have been looking for a good opportunity to try it out.  That opporunity came today on Christmas!  My family sat around the table and we decided to come up with three words that best describe each person.  This is an interesting exercise because many times we "tell ourselves stories" about who we are and who we want to be.  It is an interesting experience to see how the people who know you best would describe you.  The way we view the world is often called our "paradigm" or our "belief window."  and it affects the way we interact with ourselves and the world around us.  

Caution:  You should only do this if you can have an open mind and not take offense at what others say.  In fact, you should remain silent while the group debates what words to descibe you.

One by one we went around the circle and debated the top three traits of that person.  It was interesting to see what my family thought of me.  For example,  my sister thought one of the words should be teacher, because I am constantly learning from others and try to help others by sharing the things I learn.  I hadn't really felt like that was one of my most dominating characteristics...  

As a group we decided that my Mom was "emotional" (not in the crying sense but in the sense that emotions drove her behavior much more than logic).  Anyone who knows my mom knows that she is very passionate about a lot of things and definately gets into what she does.  My mom however, had a negative perception of the word "emotional" and was surprised at our observation.  You see, she didn't think people saw her that way... she eventually came to grips with the word "passionate" rather than emotional!  ha ha.  

Anyway, Here is a list of the Characteristics we came up with for each memeber in the family:

Brad (my dad): Patient, Integrity, Optimistic

Ruth (my mom): Entertainer, Organized, Emotional/Passionate

Me: Outgoing, Ambitious, Diligent

Amy: Organized, Opinionated, Extrovert

Kenzie: Emotional, Independent, Persistant

Seth: Reserved, Analytical, Strong-willed

Erica: Analytical, driven, diligent

You would be surprised how heated and eye-opening this was for a lot of us... We often have several "Me's."  Incluidng the me that I think I am, the me that others see, and the me that I aspire to be.  I would encourage everyone to try this experiment with someone they truly trust and who knows you well.  I would love to hear your experience if you do it or if you have do9ne it in the past!!!  please comment below or email me if you have an experience.  

Know thyself... you just might find out the person you think you are is different than the person you thought!