Video Transcript: Phlegmatic Temperament

Are you or someone you know characterized as a phlegmatic temperament?  This teaching video, we're going to talk about the general characteristics, the  strengths and the weaknesses of that particular temperament. The phlegmatic  temperment is one of the five temperaments of the Arno profile system. It's a  temperament analysis tool developed by doctors Richard and Phyllis Arno of the NCCA. Important to understand, it is not a personality profile. We see  personalities as masks that people can put on, but it's really looking at the way  God made you. And this model, this tool, if you like, is used by Christian  counselors all over the world. And basically it looks at a person's needs in three  different areas. One is the need for inclusion, or social orientation. How social  are we? The second is in the area of control, our need to maintain and establish  relationships, rather with respect to power and control. Basically, Are we one  who likes to be in charge of relationships, or are we much more dependent? And the third area is in the need for affection, our need for love and affection and  need to establish and maintain deep personal relationships. There's much more  information on this on our website and certainly other places on the internet. But just to help you understand a bit about the Arno profile system, it really does  measure our in Born temperament, not a personality, as I mentioned. And what it does, it's helpful, alerts us to tendencies that people can have strengths,  weaknesses and general characteristics. It's not an excuse for sin or bad  behavior, we just can't say, Well, gee, that's just how God made me. There are  no better or worse temperament types. They're just different and associated  strengths and weaknesses. And in the areas of weaknesses, there are areas  where we can be working in the cooperation with the Holy Spirit for the Lord that changes and transform us. And the idea is that these needs must be met in  godly ways, or sinful and personal behavior problems rather, and sinful  behaviors are going to result. Just briefly, here are the five temperament types  characterized by the responsive needs and the Express needs given in each  area. Once again, much more information on this on the website, but you can  see the five temperaments there. And today we're talking about the phlegmatic  temperament kind of the one there that's in the middle. And generally this type of temperament type is characterized as peacemakers. Phlegmatics in general,  are peacemakers and low energy folks. And you can see the characteristics for  the other temperament types. And there's certainly other videos and other  teachings available on those Okay, one of the key traits, or typical traits, of  somebody who has a phlegmatic temperament, or at least in one of the three  areas. And it's important to emphasize that when you say somebody's  phlegmatic, they can be phlegmatic at all three areas, or maybe just one. And  that's the depth of this tool. You see, we can look at a person on three different  levels, not just one blanket term. So somebody can be phlegmatic in a general  area and but the typical traits are characterized as someone who is low energy,  gets tired easily, very stubborn, very stable people and tend to be observers, not

participants. They're better at standing back and watching what's going on.  Typically don't not, typically getting involved heavily. And kind of the the key  phrases that they would use is they really because they're peacemakers.  They're looking for peace at any price. Some of the strengths of the plegmatic  temperament are that they're very they can be task oriented and people  oriented. They do well performing tasks, but they can handle being around  people as well. Tend to handle rejection well, don't typically let that bother them  too much. Very stable, peaceful, stable. Emotionally people for the most part, as you might expect, very good at negotiators and bringing peace to situations. So  make good, very diplomatic and negotiators, and tend to be easy, going non  demanding in terms of needs for love and affection. So pretty much even keel  describes them. What are the weaknesses of this temperament? Well, because  they're observers, many times, there's an unwillingness to get involved. They  can just kind of let life pass them by and frustrate their loved ones many times,  because they don't get involved sometimes in situations that require attention,  they will use a very dry sense of humor many times to keep people at a  distance. Kind of helps them maintain their energy level, keeps them from  draining their energy. So they'll use that verbal with, if you like, as a kind of a  defensive tool. Can tend to be very indecisive and procrastinate, and can take a  lot of time to make decisions. Once again, very difficult to motivate. Tend to be  pretty stubborn. And once again, part of it is because of the low energy typically  that they have. And once again, that stability comes at a price, they're very  typically unemotional, very rarely self sacrificing, so just kind of go with the flow  observers of life, and that's characterized some of the weaknesses of that  temperament. If you've never had your temperament analysis done, you should  find a counseling center or somebody that does that. You'll find it very, very  helpful. You can look at our website for more information on this temperament  and others. We do them as well. We do them over the internet. Online, we can  get your profile done with us. Involves a counseling session in your own  personal profile report, so I encourage you to get your person your temperament analysis done. It's very helpful for you and helping you grow in the Lord. Thank  you for watching this video.