If beauty is in the eye of the beholder, then it stands to reason that I ought to go about describing the set of lenses through which I see the world around me.
Disclaimer: This post contains something like an affiliate link. I am a DYT (Dressing Your Truth) club member so I can get referral benefits, but this blog is not yet affiliated directly with Carol Tuttle. With continued support I might get there someday. For now I'm just a really big fan of the program.
I begin with a story...
Once upon a time I was pregnant. Well, actually I had just given birth to my first son and my mom was hanging out at the hospital with me before I got to go home. To pass the time she read me a book: Carol Tuttle's Discover Your Type of Beauty. This is where my DYT experience began.
The abridged version of my mom's discovery of this system is that she was looking for ways to better understand her children's personalities. She had already guessed that I was either a Type 4 or Type 2 of Carol's four Types. It turns out she was right. In listening to her read and as I read it myself, I was able to confirm that I am a dominant Type 4 with Type 2 as my secondary.
As a college graduation present, my mom went ahead and bought a DYT club membership for me. This included my own copy of the book as well as all the online resources and a Style Guide card. Admittedly, it took me a couple of months to get around to completing the order and telling them where to send the book and card. (I was busy enjoying my newborn.) But once it all arrived, I dove right in and it has become my new obsession.
I loved being able to say "yes" to so much of what I read and then being able to go through my closet and redefine my style.
Make that LOVE.
I have always enjoyed watching makeovers and seeing Before and Afters, and here I got to do my very own.
It has been a couple of years since then and the full-on obsession has quieted down a bit, but I now see the world through the lens of the Types. I try to use Carol's overall Energy Profiling system in my parenting, in my interactions with my husband, and in managing my own outward experiences.
Just for fun, I thought I'd reread the book and take notes on what parts of all the Types I felt a resonance with. We have all four Types within us but to different degrees, and so I had begun to envision a set of sliders that showed how much of each Type was in me. In this read-through with my notes, I was able to crunch some numbers and come up with my slider positions. And here they are!
As you can see, Type 4 is very dominant. To keep the graphic clean I didn't stick in the percentages I came up with, but I can list them quickly:
- Type 1: 5%
- Type 2: 21%
- Type 3: 9%
- Type 4: 65%
Now that you can see my "Recipe" I guess I should do more to explain the ingredients. Each Type is generally described in terms of motion and how you move through life. In the book there is lots more detail on the different ways and characteristics that fall under each Type.
The Type 1 movement is upward and light involving randomness and adaptability to change quickly. I seem to only have a pinch of Type 1 in me. The highlights I can pull from my notes are that I can get bored when it comes to the food I make and sometimes with the clothes in my closet. This is part of why I love trying new recipes and shopping at thrift stores when I'm feeling a need of an infusion of New in my wardrobe.
Type 2 is my secondary. This movement is described as fluid and flowing. My emphasis here is creating comfort in my life. I am sensitive, nurturing, a good listener, a planner, soft spoken, and I don't really enjoy change. I enjoy comfort foods, I organize things in piles, and I have to touch the clothes that I might buy to make sure they are soft and feel good in my hands before I try them on. I can get caught up in focusing on details and I have been a bit of a pack rat when it comes to objects of sentimental value. I also feel that having so much Type 2 in me lends itself well to my massage therapy training; people tend to fall asleep during sessions with me, which is awesome in my profession.
I only have a dash of Type 3. This is active and reactive and is much more abrupt and forceful. In this area I enjoy results and making To Do lists, but I lack the actual push of a full Type 3 to get things in motion most of the time. I guess that is why I am attracted to this Type as my opposite. My husband is a Type 3 and I actually prefer Type 3 colors in my interior designs.
I had a full three pages of notes of my Type 4-ness. Picking just a couple of highlights is going to be hard for me. (Expect a separate post on this in the future.)
This movement is constant and still with a very reflective quality. The natural gift of a Type 4 is Perfecting. I like to think of it as Editing, but I use it in more than just my writing. This gift applies to how I go about living my secondary and tertiary Types. My Type 1 inspires me to vary my cooking, but my Type 4 searches out the best recipes. My Type 4 helps me not get stuck on details, reduces my pack rat tendencies, and helps me create a repeatable massage to refine my Type 2-ness. The Type 3 results that I love seeing the most are anything that even resembles a Before and After piece because those are the essence of Editing.
I just can't condense the biggest part of me any farther in this post. Look forward to more Type 4 related posts in the future. (I'll add links as they are written.)
In the mean time, if you want to begin your own Dressing Your Truth adventure, check out this link to start with the free online course. (Here's where I can get referral benefits, if you were wondering.) If you are anywhere in the Montpelier, ID area or are connected to me through social media, I'd love to be a helpful guide in your journey. I love answering questions and you can count on me if you need help tackling your closet.
Bon voyage!
No comments:
Post a Comment