Tag: forward

Human Art vs. Other Personality Tests: The Point of All This is You

Posted on February 25, 2019May 30, 2023 by Brook Thornley

*Painting by Donna O. Kearney, one of the original researchers of Human Art, and mother of Brook Thornley*

Just like anything else that is worth diving into, knowing and understanding one’s personality is a critical part of building a good, strong sense of self. It is an important part of learning how to support oneself. I love the business of personality profiling. It brings me an incredible sense of joy. One of the biggest reasons for that is, with every interaction or discovery of someone’s personality, on the other side of me and my responsibility to work hard for an individual to put their equation together is a human being. A person with many layers, with a story or perhaps many stories. A person with some level of independence and a functioning autonomy that is where I see the human spirit. We all have that in common. We all seem to be hungry for more clues into who we are, how we are made, and what authentically rings true to each of us in a way only we, as that individual, understand.

That responsibility is what I would like to focus on. Once you understand at any level who you are, it is your responsibility to move forward in life from the inside out. Keeping the good in and the bad out. Going into each day with those traits as a security and using them to the best of your ability. I see far too many times we human beings forgetting to look inside for our worth and instead looking to others to give it to us. It leaves us feeling lonely; lonely for someone. That someone is you – your authenticity.

I remember discussing this very thing with my father when our book, Human Art: Understanding your own Personal Design* first came out. My family is a large family of artists. My dad was a painter but a commercial artist by trade. Beautiful art was so important to him but so were words. He talked about the emotions that came up when he read the “forward” of the book. It was a plea of sorts to move “forward” as a human race. He said he had discussed this with some of his friends. He talked to me about how someone of his age could take these words in and look at each individual in that way.

I have a beautiful piece of white paper with one word on it that my father scribed with ink and pen by hand, hanging in my home. It is one word and to me it really does tell a story of each human being if you look deep enough. INCREDIBLE.

I, like my father, did believe every human is incredible. We owe them a deeper look—to find authenticity. We also owe ourselves that courtesy. Stop looking from the outside in with a script of what you think you should be. Start looking from the inside out and find your place in this world, your place authentically.

Find a word or an attribute, a simple trait that you believe about yourself—it could be anything—and hold on to it. Move FORWARD in a way only you can. Live in that way, love with understanding for each other, discover new things with an attitude of celebration and tolerance for others’ authenticity. We all deserve that because everyone is a masterpiece.

Brook

To learn more about Human Art, the history, and where it came from, visit our website: https://theoriginalpersonalitytest.com/about/welcome

*The book “Human Art: Understanding Your Own Personal Design” by Brook and Rod Thornley is currently out of print. We are hoping to offer a 2^nd Edition in the future. We will keep you posted!

Projected Perfection–How Fast Did You Get There?

Posted on November 13, 2018May 30, 2023 by Brook Thornley

One of my little family’s favorite vacations in the past was going with a group of extended family members to our cabin near beautiful Jackson Hole, Wyoming. It is approximately 5 hours by car. This distance is very important because it is a 5-hour journey through some of the most beautiful country you have ever seen. The brilliance in this journey is that there are 4 different routes that you can pick from, each one with a different menu of landmarks, historical sights and, for us, even family history. There are also eating places to stop and experience in a way that you can’t experience anywhere else. The question is which one to take each time. It sounds a bit like Heaven and has the potential to feel that way, but it is not; and let me tell you why.

With this particular group of family, the speed in which you arrive is equal to how perfect you are in the family relationship. Let me state this again: your arrival time added to the route that you took, yes how fast you got there, is how you find value in this family dynamic.

As each group of cars arrives at the beautiful cabin, the driver’s first item of business is to announce the route he took and how quickly he has gotten there. Some have even boosted their credibility in this family system by adding stories of getting pulled over because they were driving so fast. The more people you have in your car to cater to or the more adversity you experienced on the drive, like a flat tire or terrible slow drivers, just seems to add to your credibility. There is usually little mention to the beautiful scenery.

As silly as this might be, it is a dynamic that is played out daily in our families and close relationships. It is perfectionism at its best.

I feel as if we as humans also get in our vehicles of navigating relationships and decide which route we are going to take and go full throttle forward in a quest to arrive at this projection of perfection; to say, “I AM PERFECT AND NO ONE CAN BEAT MY TIME.”

The danger in this is that though we have the right to make this decision for our self—the right to navigate relationships this way, running for a projection of perfection in the way we think will make us look or appear to be a perfect human (it’s not healthy but we still can choose that way)—we often enlist our passengers (those around us that we love) to come along for the ride and ask them to project the same narrative of perfection.

We see it all the time. The parent that has an idea of what their projection of perfection might look like and the speed or rate in which it is supposed to be obtained. When the child or loved one does anything to mess that plan up, everyone pays. How about the significant other? Once the partner deems them “theirs” they start the process of going through their journey, or route, through life in the mindset that that spouse is now somehow a direct reflection on them and their perceived projection (do not expose or slow them down!). We are all guilty of this to some degree. That is just how we are as humans.

Stop…I promise it does not work.

I’m calling it for everyone, including myself, once and for all. Stop this narrative of performing to belong. Don’t get me wrong, performing is good. Significance is good. It is critical to evolving and becoming better. It’s how we propel forward and it is where progression lives. Achieving is great! It is about how we are going about it and about getting our significance through the correct source.

That source should be our authenticity, our learning, and our process. It is all about getting significance through our uniqueness, and our talents, and character. The best part of that is that we don’t have to be perfect—we can be human. We can make mistakes and not all is lost. We can slow down and look at the scenery and decide what we like and don’t like. We can take back roads and detours and learn from them. And the place we arrive at is perfect in who we are; filled with what we have learned, what we like, love, or dislike. It is our autonomy and we write it. We don’t project it. It is not a narrative, it is a story that unfolds daily, and we can’t wait to see what happens next. We are partnered with those we love and curiosity to see what the next chapter is, and we all have the right to choose a route and see what we get from it; with the right to back up and choose another route with the support of others to see what we get from that one.

It is critical to drive forward in our authenticity, our design.

If you are Saturated, find your one most important thing that you want to see from the route you take. Pick your version of quality and communicate it to those around you, then move forward with the ability to change the route if you are not achieving the quality you need. Don’t get stuck in being unmovable.

If you are Whitened, make it social and thrive in change. Make it about the people you are with. Anticipate needs, enroll others, and make it safe. Avoid the urge to get random if you are not getting enough spontaneity. Communicate your intent and keep the environment safe and neutral. That is what you are good at.

if you are really pondering this article then I would suspect you are Grayed. Start the process of connecting and romancing the details of this trip through life. You have a beautiful flexibility that can process ahead as to all the can be’s might be’s, etc. You are brilliant at possibilities. Yes, you can create more routes. Four routes will never be enough for you. Drive ahead but resist the urge to avoid if it doesn’t look good. Stay engaged, ask questions. When you feel like avoiding, stay in for a few more minutes. It will serve you and all of the others involved.

If you are already lining things up to fix this you are Blackened. The “get ‘er done” people. You are the ones that are prone to stop and help someone with a flat tire or a broken down vehicle, so stop. Serve, love, and listen. There is so much more to fix if you will listen. You can still be moving forward and working while you listen. Just stay open as you move, don’t get forceful. Casualness is your hallmark; you can enroll and influence anyone if it is neutral and casual.

So let’s once and for all on this great earth stop this destructive dynamic of performing to belong. We are better than that. We are to intelligent. Let’s perform to be human.

And remember, everyone is a masterpiece.

Brook

Forward

Posted on May 29, 2018May 30, 2023 by Brook Thornley

Yes, I spelled “foreword” in my book forward.

Let me explain.

For starters I concede that the appropriate spelling is "foreword" when used in a book. If you Google "how to spell foreword for a book” it tells you that many people misspell foreword. It is before the word and is usually written by someone other than the author.

Here are my thoughts on why we did it differently:

1. When we wrote the book we really saw it more as a manual. One for the individual to navigate life in their own attractiveness. A “how-to” of sorts; but the “how-to” is how to be me in this big world where the individual is the author of it. Therefore the forward is my thoughts to the author of life "you."

2. I really do want you to move forward, and my hope is that learning about your authentic self will move you forward. When Rod and I meet with people there are a large number of them that dispute how beautiful I see them; they are stuck because they just can’t quite see it for themselves. Our message—whether you read it in our book, view it on the website, or attend a live class—is still the same. Everyone is a masterpiece and it is time to move forward in that.

So read it again (the text is below). This is truly how I see the world. Put yourself in that lane and move forward in your authentic way.

Everyone is a masterpiece.

Brook

Human Art: Understanding Your Own Personal Design by Brook and Rod Thornley, “Forward”, pg. 7

“As I walk through a museum of fine art, I enter each room anticipating the beauty I know I’ll encounter there. I feel a tingle of excitement. Which piece of art will I love? Which will I appreciate? Will I see some that I won’t understand? As I am strolling by each piece, I realize that the great thing about art is that it’s a personal experience. People choose the pieces that speak to them on an emotional level. I wonder what piece, in each room I enter, will speak to me. When I find it, I know the lines and color of the piece will communicate what I need emotionally. My response will resonate deep inside me.

For some reason we have forgotten to look at each human being in this same way. People are masterpieces that we come upon or experience in life as if we are entering their space in a museum. They touch us on an emotional level. The lines and colors in their bodies—their unique compositions—communicate to us. Have we forgotten to look at them with the same open eyes that we have when we pass through the doors of an art museum? Do we feel the anticipation of finding that connection deep inside in response to each person’s own beauty? Or have we learned in some way to pass by and discount them in a search for that ultimate personification of “beauty”—as if all humans were pieces in an exhibit, but only one truly great piece of art existed? We need to open our eyes to see the art and beauty in every human being. We are each truly unique, a masterpiece. We are all imprints of many frequencies, and we leave that emotional imprint of our beauty wherever we go. No one will ever experience anything just like us again.

When I see someone new, perhaps I’ll love and appreciate her beauty. Or maybe I just won’t understand it. I am not alone. Most of us don’t understand the beauty we find in others. We don’t recognize the masterpieces we encounter each day. We lack the information, skills or rules to interpret them. We don’t know their “equations.” Just as solving math or chemistry problems is impossible without understanding the rules, in art—especially Human Art—we as a society have reached a point of discounting what we can’t comprehend merely because we lack the tools and rules to do so.

I love walking through the “exhibit” of life! I relish observing this beautiful world and these intriguing pieces of art—humans—that I encounter daily. Using the “rules,” or the science of color and line, I am able to grasp people’s beauty in a way that extends far beyond the physical surface. My experience of your beauty starts the moment I first get a glimpse of you. Your communication, the lines in your nose, the way you walk, the way you talk, the way you process your information, are all pieces of the equation, and I start summing them up, emotionally. Without fail, each time I say, “Yes, this is the piece for me!” You touch me at that level because, unlike a painting or a piece of pottery, you are alive, and you use your “equation”—your beauty, talents and strengths—to act and interact with me. I’ve yet to find the sculpture that can do that. Understanding the right rules and using the right tools to unlock the mystery of human composition has enabled me to stand back in reverential, open-mouthed awe as I contemplate the greatest beauty of all: you.”