Homeschooling for 3

I’ve probably mentioned a few times that I learned about a really cool way to distinguish personalities and tailor my approach to the person based upon that information. I learned in my on-going training to be a Professional Network Marketer, but I’m finding my greatest practice and success with my own children. I am blessed to have the full spectrum of color in my home and it has become a new fascination of mine.

I guess I’ll start with myself. I’m blue (which happens to also be my favorite color). Now, to most of you, that doesn’t mean a thing. But when you think about the things on our planet that are blue, can get a few clues. The sky is everywhere and “sees” everything. A person with a Blue personality is usually into everything and wants to experience everything with a side order of everything else. LOL! We are, as a group, very quick learners and happy go lucky. We’re like Tigger from Winnie-the-Pooh. We bounce around from place to place, usually with only a vague idea of where we’re going or why. I mean, once we get there we’ll be able to figure it out, so planning isn’t our strong suit. The greatest punishment for us would be boredom.

A Blue’s Kryptonite

I have many experiences with overcoming boredom. Unfortunately the teachers and other students probably didn’t appreciate my solutions very much. Here’s an example: I was working for a company called Marsh & McLennan back in the 1990s. Now, just for you youngsters out there, this was during the time of the Wild West of Word Processing systems. Lotus, Microsoft and WordPerfect were dueling for supremacy. They decided to do all of their work in Lotus Suite. So, of course, all of the administrative assistants and secretaries had to go to training classes to learn the four programs that encompassed the suite.

Now, I know myself very well, so I politely asked the teacher could I leave the class early if I completed the workbook to her satisfaction. “No,” said Ms. Superior Knowledge Instructor. I meekly acquiesced and took my seat. For some reason, people were having problems with how to create a basic equation in Lotus 1-2-3 and it was driving me crazy. I tried, I really did try, not to disrupt the class so I continued on with the rest of the exercises to keep my mind off of the plodding pace of the class. Needless to say, I finished the workbook about 10:45ish and now had nothing to do. When the class was dismissed for the break, I asked Ms. Superior Knowledge once again if she could check my work so that I could leave after lunch. She once again said “No”. Okay, she asked for it.

When the class returned, I decided to entertain myself. I went back to the presentation software, called Freelance, and started designing things and making slideshows. I was doing this (I thought) very unobtrusively. However, many of the students in the class started paying more attention to my slideshows than to the instructor. Well, once she realized this she was kind of, a little bit, perturbed by this. So I stopped. But I hate being bored. So then I started playing with Lotus 1-2-3. You know making bar graphs and things. Once again, my work was more interesting than her instruction. To make a long story short, she gave the class another break, looked through my workbook, handed me my certificate and asked me to leave. Now, if she’d only listened to me in the beginning I could have been on the train before lunchtime.

Blues are known for Fun!

That’s what we blues do. We entertain ourselves and most folks don’t understand that side of our nature. My daughter is blue and when I homeschool her we’re all over the place. She’s learning, but we’re hopping around the room, drawing pictures, playing computer games and a whole host of (to the untrained non-blue eye) doing everything but learning. That’s the main reason I’m withdrawing her from the cybercharter school. The repetition is killing us both. That doesn’t mean that I don’t make her sit down and do conventional work/study units. It just means that we need it spiced up a bit, just like Tigger.

People of the blue persuasion are very good talkers, so you’ll meet us in all walks of life. Our special niches tend to be in sales or other places where the art of persuasion is valued. We’re great public speakers (once we learn to slow down). If you’re into Chinese astrology we’re the monkeys of the group. If you like Charlie Brown, we’d be Snoopy. We’re usually popular and very active. We’re very creative with lots of ideas. Our biggest downfall (aside from having a hard time listening patiently to others) is that we have difficulty when it comes to follow-through.

My mentor always says that the Blue personality would come up with the idea of a suspension bridge, but you don’t want a blue doing any work on it. Why? Because we aren’t detail oriented, and if that steel girder doesn’t fit in place right away, we might just leave it off. I mean, do we really need it? I guess it’s a good thing that the Blue personality only comprises 15% of the population. Can you imagine the architectural nightmares we’d cause? LOL!

Challenges on Educating a Blue Child

One of the challenges that I’ll have teaching my daughter is driving home the point that speed is not the same as quality. There’s a time to get answers quickly and a time to sit still and think about why the answer is the answer. I was fortunate growing up because my father was of the detail-oriented personality color and taught me the value of being methodical. And I’m blessed that Jade’s father is also of that same type. He’ll keep both of us on an even keel.

Blue’s need to be involved in something that requires quiet and patience in order to fully actualized our potential. I choose to crochet and knit. The constant hand motion satisfies the need to multitask. It makes me slow down and think about what I want to do later on, to plan instead of just jumping into things. I sometimes listen to audiobooks while I crochet – good literature and a cool blanket all in one sitting – blue nirvana. I have my daughter attending Tae Kwando and dance classes. These are physical activities, but they also require precision and focus. She’s also involved in the church choir and will be taking piano lessons come September. This is just another way to slow down her brain and learn self discipline. Without self-discipline we’ll end up drifting from one thing to another without a purpose beyond the next “fun job” to do.

Contrary to the belief of the “by the book” personality (think Rabbit from Winnie the Pooh), trying to contain a Blue (as the poor Lotus instructor learned) will only cause you an immense and profound amount of frustration. Save your energy. As they are doing schoolwork, if they like to sit on their heads while they learn, just let them. As long as they are getting the work done, nagging, cajoling or trying to get them to perform in the “correct” manner will only frustrate you both and the Blue child will tune you out and go play in their own fantasy filled mind. Blues do well with frequent breaks, especially if it is a tedious assignment, such as handwriting or math. We also grasp things quickly, so giving us repetitious worksheets will only ensure that the answers get more ludicrous at the end of the page. Once we’ve shown mastery over a subject, you really should just move on.

Teaching your Blue child to take dictation should be one of your goals. We do not have great auditory recall. Why? It’s not for lack of trying, I can tell you. The problem is that our mind is always racing. So while you’re talking about the weather, we’re listening with one ear, planning dinner, thinking about what to wear tomorrow and what’s the name of that great song we just heard on the radio? So when you give instructions, especially involved instructions, the Blue child really should write it down. You should also have the
m repeat the instruction to make sure that they got it down correctly. Jade can be in the middle of an explanation and suddenly start drawing a picture of her favorite cartoon character. And she’ not doing it to make me crazy (well, it drives my husband crazier because I understand the symptoms), but sometimes you get these “inspirations” at the wrong time.

Also, deadlines need to be set for things to get done. It’s not that the Blue child is necessarily procrastinating. Actually, they probably forgot about it as their mind whirls around at 750 mph. Please note the other color’s minds whirl at about 300 mph. That’s why in a game of Telephone or any other contest of verbal memorization, we usually score at the bottom of the bunch.

In Conclusion

One of the cool things about studying personality types is that it gives me more compassion and understanding when people approach the same problem from a different angle than I would. I also appreciate better their role in my life, how they give me balance and perspective on the things that I am trying to accomplish. Our basic personality type is hardwired within us, although we all display aspects of each color depending on what we are doing. But the colors balance out and I hope that as my family grows up we’ll all be able to appreciate each other’s natural gifts. Life is a melting pot and we need to appreciate all aspects in order to be successful in our homeschooling, family life and business.

I live with a shadow Cheryl. My shadow is someone who watches my actions and records my thoughts. My shadow knows what I want before I really know myself. And although my shadow has the gift of anonymity and stealth, I am gifted with the power of intent. You see, my shadow takes orders from me. Everything that I do or say; think or wish lays the foundation for its actions. It may think that it is randomly picking its course. My shadow may think that it is really the one running things, but it is not true.

Let me explain. You see, my shadow is my subconscious. It is powerful in the fact that it can lurk behind me and register information that I’m not even aware of in my day to day existence. It’s a master collector and does its work automatically. Its other power stems from its ability to create whatever it perceives to be my most important goals. It works while I’m asleep and while I’m awake. It is a true multi-tasking engine. But what my subconscious doesn’t have is an understanding of the things that it is collecting. It doesn’t know if a gun is good or bad; only my conscious mind can place values on the things that I see and do. But it does register my emotional response to a gun and make its decisions or responses from there. So, it is quite important to be on my toes if I want to generate the right responses and achievements.

Regardless of the power that my subconscious holds on my life, my active conscious mind is the one that is in control. So, in order to keep myself on course to a brighter and more desirable way of life is to subtract the negatives and seek out the positives. Emotions are the catalyst that loads the subconscious mind for action. I must feed my subconscious such emotions as Love, Faith, Enthusiasm, Hope as well as Desire, Sex and Romance. These emotions are positive and extremely powerful. They provide the breeding ground for bountiful crops of goodness and fortune. However, if I allow myself to absorb the negative, destructive emotions such as Fear, Jealousy, Hatred, Revenge, Greed, Superstition and Anger my life will reflect that as well. This is the breeding ground for failure, health issues and poverty. I will not be another statistic because I know the truth. I control my destiny. I control my own mind. I set the programming for what I will achieve with the help of my very powerful subconscious.

Although the general public would almost to a man state that they want goodness and success, they feed their subconscious on a steady diet of fear, greed, superstition, prejudice, revenge and jealousy. They clamor to the television, movies, music and books that highlight adultery, lying, cheating, violence, and other horrors. I love music and song, but am constantly disappointed by the popular music that is played on the radio. It’s so depressing. For everyone one hopeful and inspiring song there seems to be an endless stream of songs highlighting pain, revenge, disrespect and other non-virtues. No wonder so many people are living paycheck to paycheck and hand to mouth. How can you achieve better when the media continuously features the epitomes of dysfunctional behavior?

And even in religious life, you can see that many people don’t understand the provision of prayer. Communing with the Infinite Intelligence requires trust and hope. We would discuss things in the planning stages and throughout our work, not just when everything falls apart. And as Mr. Hill mentions when people approach prayer at the endgame, it’s a fearful and resigned effort. Their mouths may be pleading for success, but their very state of mind is programming their subconscious to ensure failure. This is one of the lessons that we must all keep in mind. Due to the dysfunctional way that most people use prayer, it is easy to fall into the unproductive habit of praying after the disaster has arrived.

My shadow Cheryl is being reprogrammed minute by minute whether I actively participate or not. Knowing this it is imperative that I remain in constant vigilance to throw out fear and drink in hope and faith. I must not let myself become complacent. On the contrary, now is the time to recite my motto, speak to people about ways to help benefit them and be a positive influence upon others. Living a positive life is the most valuable gift I can give to myself and my family. And shadow Cheryl is going to be my partner in making my section of the universe a better place.

Yours respectfully,

Cheryl Henderson-Khalid

I found this to be a very interesting chapter. Some of the information was new to me, but I was surprised how much I already knew, but had never put it all together. It has long been a custom for trainers to keep their athletes away from women, warning that engaging in sexual relations would weaken or dissipate their skills. However, I never made the connection between creativity and sexual energies. After reading this, it seems so obvious that in order to achieve our goals we need to demonstrate mastery over our minds and, in this case, our bodies.

As a mother, I know the power that emotions can have over you. The thought of anyone hurting one of my children gets my blood churning, ready for action. Our sexual nature works in the same way, but we have to 1) be cognizant that this energy can be utilized to create the secure financial future that we want and 2) to make a conscious effort to channel these feelings into areas that will make us successful.

There was an episode on the television show Heroes last year where there was a young man with the gift of precognition. However, because he experienced his first precognitive episode while under the influence of heroin, believes that he cannot achieve his visions any other way. As the series progresses, he is detoxified and learns that he can reach into himself and use this gift without the aid of the drugs. The same is true with us. Many people feel (or were taught to believe) that in order to be creative they need to turn to artificial stimulation such as drugs and alcohol. But we have been gifted with all that we need to tap into the Creative Mind. It is contained within our individual biology, if we would only take a moment to reflect and examine ourselves.

I think that the fact that God has given us each the power to transform our own lives into whatever shape we see fit to be awe-inspiring and more than a bit humbling. Religionists spend so much energy on trying to make their congregations and organizations conform, that they unintentionally (or intentionally) squeeze and hamper the very gift that our Creator bestowed upon us. Only when we take stock of ourselves and take an honest appraisal as to what we want and who we truly are, will we be able to grasp and use that potential.

It is interesting that most creative geniuses don’t emerge until they are in the fourth or fifth decade of life. As Napoleon Hill notes, this is the time of life when most men stop chasing after sex and begin to put their energies and minds towards other things. Many times we hear the warnings against promiscuity, but it is solely concerned with the physical consequences of this misuse of sex. No one ever warns people about the damage “sowing wild oats” can do for your financial future. Perhaps if our power of sexual energy was equated to money, people would take better care of their physical assets. Mr. Hill also mentions that as sexual freedom grew after WWI, the scientific and cultural breakthroughs were affected inversely. The increased lack of sexual restraint seems to have put a strain on the creativity and inventive minds of many.

Love is such a powerful and transforming emotion. It can literally change one into a swan. People who are in love are easily picked out in a lineup. Their posture is different, their aura, if you will, is charged. Lao Tzu once wrote: “To love someone deeply gives you STRENGTH. Being loved by someone deeply gives you COURAGE.” We will do things for the ones we love, what we would not do for ourselves. We will push ourselves to achieve if we know that our heart’s partner is waiting. I think that it is important to also recognize that when we forget or take for granted the love of another person, we are not only hurting them, but also ourselves. Napoleon Hill illustrated this wonderfully by relating the rise and fall of Napoleon Bonaparte. When he chose to rid himself of Josephine, his empire perished. Love is something that is not to be taken lightly if we want to succeed in life. It should be nourished and treasured because it is both irreplaceable and vital to our existence.

When we funnel the positive energy from love and sex towards our goals, it will speed us on our way to success. My husband works in New York City and spends four days a week there. I have chosen to funnel my energies into learning more about the industry, myself and training myself to be a success. So, once the kids are asleep I’m either listening to The Mastermind Sessions with John Fogg, or catching up on the trainings at the Mentoring For Free site. These recorded calls, in addition to the regular training calls, have helped me to keep my eye on the prize, despite the everyday madness that I call my life. J

Respectfully yours,