Friendly, Talkative Sanguine

Sanguine!!!

The Sanguines burst upon the scene like fireworks: vivacious, colourful, loud, and all eyes on them!
Sanguines would prefer to either be first, or, as in this case, make a grand entrance at the end of the show. Hurrah!!

Everybody loves a Sanguine. And a Sanguine loves everybody! Being with people, talking, laughing it up, telling ridiculous stories...this is Life At It's Best for this personality type. Unlike the introverted Phlegmatic and Melancholy, Sanguine is out there. Extroverted and the life of the party. Who is standing on the table? Who is telling a loud story (embellished richly with details that may or may not be exactly truthful but are certainly hilarious), attracting a growing audience? The dancing girl in my last post with the huge piece of cake, going from guest to guest, is a Sanguine. She's having fun and wants everyone to have fun, too.

If you've watched Parks and Rec (TV show), Tom Haverford is a Sanguine. Yep.  You get it.
(If you haven't watched P and R, what have you been doing with your life!? That show is a riot. In a can. With sprinkles.)

"Everywhere I go, I'm walking on red carpet." -Tom Haverford

"The only good font is the Soprano's one where the R is a pistol." - also Tom Haverford

Tom has the classic Sanguine conundrum; he wants to be amazing, successful, popular, and talented....but he also wants to do whatever he wants, and that part usually wins. He wants to have money, but he wants to spend money more. He wants to have good relationships with people, but he doesn't want to give more of himself than he has to. He wants his cake....and he can't believe he just ate it, the entire thing, by himself.

Signs and Wonders

You can tell a Sanguine pretty much by the way they dress. (But not always.) Where a Melancholy will be carefully matched, often in pastels or softer colours, a Sanguine will be wearing Skittle clothes. Ok maybe not exactly Skittles, per se. You will notice them, though.

 The coach with the plaid shirt, dark purple pants, red tie flung over his shoulder. The woman who comes to the party late, laughing, dressed in yellow, orange and peacock blue, and some kind of 'bling' flashing. The kid who can't wait to dye his hair orange and picks the most amazing looking running shoes at Sport Chek...you know the ones.

The color red is a popular choice of the true Sanguine. Rock stars often wear red, when they aren't wearing black...Jim Morrison, Steven Tyler, Taylor Swift,  Axl Rose, Sting, Demi Lovato, Gwen Stefani, Brandon Flowers...etcetera. All front, center, and sporting a red something; bandanna, stilettos, Napoleon jacket, lipstick vest. Being a rock star and being Sanguine kinda go hand in hand.
 
Someone like Kurt Cobain though? A front man who was not a Sanguine, he couldn't stand the attention and lack of privacy. It probably drained him utterly being in front of people all the time. Naturally introverted, he wanted people to "get" his music, but it drove him crazy watching them all sing along. "With the lights out/it's less dangerous/here we are now entertain us/I feel stupid and contagious/here we are now, entertain us" go the lyrics to the grunge song that blew up the charts, toppling glam rock and pop like a statue of Stalin. He was a Melancholy/Phlegmatic in a Sanguine/Choleric world; a creative person in a performer's role.
I'd love to dedicate a whole blog post to Kurt and grunge and personality....maybe some day.
Oh well, whatever, nevermind.

The Good, Bad, and Ugly in Sanguine Town

The great thing about Sanguine people is they are so optimistic and fun-loving. They know how to motivate and inspire, and can quickly spread enthusiasm for a project. Their curiosity and high-energy bravado make them excellent idea people, good at selling and getting things "off the ground." They have very expressive faces, and often talk with their hands. A Sanguine is likely to view giving a speech as a great opportunity, and will approach it with confidence and excitement. They will be so funny and interesting that no one will notice they only followed their notes for about two minutes.

 If you need someone to introduce you to people, the Sanguine will be the perfect contact. They have so many friends it's not even fair. If you are feeling down, the Sanguine will take you on a shopping spree or an impulsive trip, saying, "Come on! It will be so fun, you'll love it!" Sanguines live in the moment, and forget about the past easily. They will forgive and forget. When the Sanguine finally arrives (because he completely lost track of the time), every head turns and everybody smiles, genuinely happy the Sanguine is here to start the party.

Tigger is Sanguine

The Bad 

On the downside, Sanguines can be attention hogs, and may barge into conversations simply because they feel left out. Generally disorganized and lackadaisical about boring things like time and schedules, the Sanguine may have a messy desk and constantly be late for meetings and appointments. The maddening thing is though they will apologize profusely, you know they will do it again tomorrow. They truly cared, deeply, for about thirty seconds, and then it faded into the past. 

The Sanguine will have a great idea, but won't be able to see it through. They need someone to do the legwork, to keep them on track, or they will litter the landscape with abandoned projects. "Well it seemed great at the time, but it's totally not fun anymore."

Sanguines are expressive talkers. They might knock a vase off your table with their flailing arms. They love to talk, and may not have the patience to listen. If you try telling them your problem, they will most likely launch into a story to illustrate how they feel exactly the same way, and before you even finish your sentence they will have it all figured out. Sanguines must learn to Shut. Up.

Speaking of stories, they love telling them, often embellishing details and adding little things here and there to make it more interesting. Not lying really...not meaning to lie.... but yeah it's actually lying if you think about it. And if you tell a Sanguine something in confidence, well, don't say I didn't warn you. They seem to have an uncontrollable need to spill, whether it's their guts or someone else's.
(Ok that wasn't a great sentence from a visual perspective...haha. Idioms taken up a notch don't always read well!)

Being with an impulsive Sanguine can be AWESOME - and it can also be hell. "What!? You booked us tickets for where?? WHEN???!"  
"Excuse me? You are getting married...TOMORROW??" 
"Well we were thinking of tonight, but thought it might be too soon." Sometimes the best advice a Sanguine can hear is 'Think Before Acting or Speaking'.
Ahhh, yes. That.

Sanguines are often over-sharers. Every thought they want someone to hear or identify with gets posted on Facebook or Instagram immediately. It's a great time, but really...people may have other things to do than read your post, oh Sanguine. And if they don't "like" it immediately, it doesn't mean everyone hates you and you're a loser. Just post about half the things you want to, and the world will still go on.

The Ugly

There's nothing ugly. That was just to finish the phrase. If there is anything ugly, the Sanguine will pretty it up and sell it for 10 times its worth. 

 

The Wrap-up

The fun-loving, sunny Sanguine can be great to have around, but too much exposure can make you feel a bit sun-burned. You may need to seek shelter, especially if you are on the introverted end of the spectrum. Sanguines need to learn that life goes on when they aren't the center of attention. Also, they like to hug everyone they meet, or drape themselves on people to show affection, but a little shoulder squeeze here and there will do it. 

  If the Sanguine works with their strengths and considers how to tone down their weaknesses, he or she can become fairly balanced. If they get out of control, well, that tends towards narcissism. The ME Monster....and nobody likes those.
Admittedly, the above portrayal has been something of a caricature. No Sanguine is totally as I've described, because there are bits of the other personalities sprinkled in that change the flavor of  individual temperaments.
If You are Sanguine, don't hide your personality and think that you are "too much" for everyone.  Enjoy your flair and zest.  When you feel anxious and burnt out, try and relax; take a seat, lean in and listen to someone else.
If you are close to a Sanguine, take a deep breath and dive in. They will help you get the most out of life. If you feel overwhelmed, let them know gently. The Sanguine's feelings may seem hard and brittle like candy, but they are pretty sensitive, more like fudge.

I hope this post opens a window on understanding the personality that loves life, loves people, and just wants the whole world to love them back.

My ABC's are Red and Blue

Guess what interesting thing I've learned recently? I am a synesthete! Yeah! What in the world is that?
A few weeks ago a friend heard me say "I think in color" and she replied, "There's a name for that!"
I see things in colors, like words and letters and numbers. When I was a kid I thought I was super weird! Nobody seemed to understand what I was talking about, so after a few hesitant attempts, I decided to never mention it again. Case closed! 

Well anyway, I looked it up and it seems I'm not so weird after all....let me rephrase...I'm not so alone in being weird. Ha ha. 

Here are some quotes from two sources that were helpful in defining what synesthesia is.
I am mostly the "common one", color-graphemic.


Our friend, Wikipedia

Synesthesia

(also spelled synæsthesia or synaesthesia, plural synesthesiæ or synæsthesiæ), from the ancient Greek σύν (syn), "together," and αἴσθησις (aisthēsis), "sensation," is a neurological condition in which stimulation of one sensory or cognitive pathway leads to automatic, involuntary experiences in a second sensory or cognitive pathway. People who report such experiences are known as synesthetes.

 In one common form of synesthesia, known as grapheme → color synesthesia or color-graphemic synesthesia, letters or numbers are perceived as inherently colored, while in ordinal linguistic personification, numbers, days of the week and months of the year evoke personalities.

The American Synesthesia Association (ASA)

Erica Goode wrote in the New York Times in September 1999, "Most people experience the sensory world as a place of orderly segregation. Sight, sound, smell, taste and touch are distinct and separate: A Beethoven symphony is not pink and azure; the name Angela does not taste like creamed spinach. Yet there are those for whom these basic rules of the senses do not seem to apply. They have a rare condition called Synesthesia, in which the customary boundaries between the senses appear to break down, sight mingling with sound, or taste with touch." Copyright © 1999 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with permission.

Now in 2005, we believe that this ability called Synesthesia is perhaps not as rare as it was once believed to be. Though synesthesia has been known for the past 300 years, it is only in the last two decades or so that it has been seriously studied by scientists.

(from the ASA website, About Us)

Here's how I see letters and numbers. Basically. There aren't enough shade choices, but you get the idea.

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

a b c d e f g h I j k l m

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

 

 

The color-grapheme thing was obvious to me at a young age, and when I went to school I was confused because I was being taught the letters in a different color than I saw them in. This was tough, but I kept quiet about it. The curriculum that was being used taught each letter on a large card with a colored letter and a corresponding animal.

I managed to convince myself that the letter was supposed to be the color that the teacher showed on the card. In trying hard to do this I became mixed up
and some letters that had been very clearly a certain color began to change or shift. I still to this day struggle with the exact shade of a few letters.

The first confusion was that the letter was "wrong".

After my first year of school the letters all "came right" again, or reverted back to the original color I saw them in. In thinking back, part of the confusion was because the letter color and the animal color seemed to collide, or not match.
For example, we learned the letter S with a sunfish. But a fish to me was dark blue or grey. And the letter on the card was yellow. And I saw S as cherry red. Also S was masculine and the sunfish was characterized as female. The meaning and the sound was a struggle, with these competing colors before my eyes. I learned fast though, reading at an early age, and I got over it.

The other interesting thing I remember about learning the alphabet was that I thought the color and the animal were just as important as the shape and the sound of the letter. I could not separate the animal and the shape of the letter from the sound and color; they were all mixed together. The letter M was always a mule, always, whatever word he happened to be in. Oh yeah and the letters have genders....and even personalities. An interesting phenomenon that I always assumed was normal for everyone.

So! How about you? Any other synesthetes out there? Don't want to admit it? Come on, it's a sign of genius.

Well, not actually, I made that up. But it COULD be, for someone!

Some famous or more well-known synesthetes were/are:

• Vladimir Nabokov (author)
• Franz Liszt
• Richard Feynman (physicist)
• Billy Joel
• Nikola Tesla (inventor)
• Tori Amos
• Duke Ellington
• Marilyn Monroe
• Stephanie Morganstern (director)
• Geoffrey Rush
• Eddie van Halen
• Michel Gagne (cartoonist - eg. Ratatouile)

 

Good company, I think!

 

I'm not ashamed of it anymore, I think it's awesome. Let the world be in colour.