Br Paul Noonan Formation Centre, Tamale: The Myers Briggs Workshop

Friday, July 25, 2008

The Myers Briggs Workshop

The Myers Briggs has been a wonderful experience for me to widen my knowledge of self especially on this spiritual journey in so far as it has provided a platform by which I can reflect on myself. It has also given me an opportunity to understand the way I act and respond. Ignorance is not a defense for the lack of my awareness of behaviour patterns.

Since I attended the MBTI workshop with Sisters Mary Kay and Dorez, I have gradually continued to grow into a realization and understanding of myself. All temperaments are important in the sense that I have to be more accepting and positive in my interaction with my brothers and myself.

I realized that we are very different in our preferred temperaments and as a result sometimes I face difficulties because of this. What the workshop brought to me was the realization of the difference in each of us which can be good in the community if acknowledged and recognized. In understanding the strengths and weaknesses of myself and my brothers it is imperative that I focus not on the negative aspects but on the positive ones for it will not only help the person and me to grow but also nurture the well being of the community. Realization of my strengths and weaknesses allows me to work on my weakness and nurture my strengths. This gift of realizing my limitation is one that I have been developing here in the novitiate in so much as it enables me to acknowledge the giftedness of my brothers who can contribute to my life.

Self-knowledge is important for it will shape my image of God. As I grow in the awareness of my own self I enter more deeply into the mystery of God who is within me and accepts me the way I am.

Finally, I appreciated how I respond to situations by sensing, intuition, thinking and feeling. Being an “ESFJ”, my Sensing and Feeling are stronger than my Judging. It has been a gift for me to become aware of this. I strongly believe that I will continue my self-discovery in order to widen my own understanding of who I am that will in turn help me to be accommodative and appreciative of the differences which exist between the members of the community. This will allow each of us to enter and share the others sacred stories creating an environment for holistic growth.

It was wonderful for me to attend this workshop for it has shaped my life and brought me to believe strongly that seeking God must include deeper self-knowledge.

(Mubela Mwika Jackson)

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What do we want this novitiate to be?

There is a saying that goes something like this: “If we don’t do what we believe in, then we’ll end up believing in what we do”. Without a vision that is authentic and alive to guide our actions, then we can settle for rationalizing the status quo or what is convenient and comfortable.
One of the first things the new team in Tamale did was to spend time beginning to articulate its vision of a novitiate beyond the basics laid down in our Constitutions. Here are some elements of what we came up with:
Novitiate is a journey, a process that involves KNOWING, EXPERIENCING and CHOOSING.
It is an INITIATION into Christian Brother religious life, so a “rite of passage” into a new identity, a time of learning and testing.
Novitiate confronts the novices with the Brother’s vocation as a call to brotherly solidarity and community, not to privilege, status and security.
It involves exploration of the basic values of faith and vocation, and the challenge to embrace these out of personal conviction and free choice.
Novitiate means understanding that a religious vocation makes a claim on the whole of the person and his life, including his inner life, his relationships and his professional activity (ministry). Furthermore, it challenges the novice to see the dynamic inter-relationship of these areas and to learn what their integration means.
Novitiate is a time of DISCERNMENT. The novice learns more deeply who he is, and what this Christian Brother life is. There is a constant back-and-forth movement between these two poles as an answer is sought to the question, “Is this where I am meant to be? Is this the life that will enable me to find my true self in God?”