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Our individual differences and unique expressions all fall into seven major categories related to the seven chakras. Indeed, each category defines a world unto itself comprised of tendencies, attractions, and passions. A closer examination of this principle convinced me that each of us identifies with one major chakra and, to a lesser degree, with one or two other chakras.
This insight enabled me to appreciate the hidden elements behind all personalities—a sort of “soul design”—based on profound inclinations that, when fulfilled, make each of us feel happier and more complete than in any other possible condition in life. This is the system I present to you here.
1st Chakra type: the builders; lovers of details, foundations, and structures
2nd Chakra type: the artists; lovers of life, experience, and feeling
3rd Chakra type: the achievers; energetic pursuers of ambitions and heights
4th Chakra type: the caretakers; emotionalists who wish to help
5th Chakra type: the speakers; charismatic leaders and guides
6th Chakra type: the thinkers; keen observers and idea-makers
7th Chakra type: the yogis; silent and reclusive meditators
Being You, Not Them
It seems that everyone thinks all others should be exactly like them. When another person advises you to stop doing this or to start doing that, what they truly mean is, “Start being like me! If you only stopped being you and started being me, I would be so much happier!”
Builders may hear “Don’t sweat the small stuff. Life is too short!” while Artists may hear “Stop being so lazy. Life is not just about enjoyment.” Achievers are often told to “Stop doing so much! You are a workaholic,” while Caretakers are told to “Grow up! What is all this sensitivity? And why all these tears?” Speakers are warned to “Stop dreaming so big. Do only what you can and that is enough,” while Thinkers are encouraged to “Stop thinking so much. Start enjoying life in the body!” And Yogis are ordered to “Stop escaping life. You are always running away.”
We all hear what we should stop being or doing all the time, and this is when we begin to feel that something is wrong with us and that we had better adjust. When, for example, a fifth type is constantly told in childhood to stop dreaming and be practical, they may suppress their tendency to dream on a large scale.
Of course, all these statements are half-true, since people do point out our excesses in a kindly way as well. And when we receive loving reflections on our more destructive excesses, we should generally welcome them. However, these encouragements are only relevant when you are clearly doing something destructive to yourself or to others.
Jim Morrison, for example, could have benefited from hearing, “It is wonderful that you are so wild, but please stop with the alcohol and drugs so that you can live to more than thirty!” Unfortunately, most remarks from most people are not meant to help us balance ourselves; they are intended to make us stop being ourselves and to start being like them. Partners and parents in particular are quite diligent at trying to shape their lovers or children in their own image.
Knowing your type can give you a profound feeling of yourself that can withstand criticism and manipulation. When you are confident of your true values, you can be more awake when you are criticized because you don’t share someone else’s values. You feel able to say, “No, now you are just talking from your own world. This is what you believe in, and I respect that, but I am not going to be a different person just for you.”
Accepting Yourself
The first step on your path to inner and outer peace is self-acceptance, learning to love and celebrate your soul design.
We live in a society dominated by the first, third, and fifth chakra types. They run the governments and the educational systems, control the money flow, and make the laws. They define the values on which our society is founded.
The first type values building, creating stability and security, contributing to the system, and being like everyone else. The third type values achieving, becoming “someone,” succeeding, and reaching the top. The fifth type values self-fulfillment, free expression, and becoming your own individual, including frantically trying to “go viral” and to gain global recognition.
This type of society is not interested in cultivating our talents, but rather in making use of them. When you cultivate a talent, you don’t know exactly how it will flower. But society knows exactly what direction it wants it to take. So when your talents begin to serve practical and success-oriented ends, you begin to forget who you are and what your real inclinations are, because your talents are already being directed in service to something else.
Such a society is not an ideal environment for second, fourth, sixth, or seventh types. In terms of values and a genuine space for expression, these types tend to feel completely excluded. Of course, they have their public spheres of influence—comedy clubs or academia—but the general atmosphere dictates that we all fall under the power of the first, third, and fifth types, who simply don’t consider the values of the other four as being significant enough to further the progress of the social machine.
Not Fitting In?
When those with these chakra types are unable to fit into their surroundings, they begin to doubt their own values and to become a type that is not their own. As a result, even while reading this book, you may not be sure what your type really is, because you may not know how to separate your authentic self from your own self-image and the external voices that are shaping you.
Your personality type may be deeply buried beneath commitments and pressures, upbringing and conditioning, and sometimes even deeper karma—different forces that have made you choose and do certain things that suffocate you instead of allowing your type to flower.
This makes self-acceptance an intense process, especially for second, fourth, fifth, and seventh types, because it is difficult for them to declare their different and independent values. Naturally, not sharing the values of the general society presents a serious challenge. However, this is the lesson of self-acceptance: “I want to be like me.”
Remember, as long as your life doesn’t follow the pattern of your type, you are like a fish out of water, struggling to swim on dry land. You must learn to relax into your own soul design, live your own values, and remain authentic—even when your family resents your type, or your partner is determined to remold you, or your workplace demands that you change. After all, this capacity is what makes you a real individual.
Feeling your major chakra type means not only recognizing it as a truth about yourself—as an accurate description of your personality—but, more deeply, feeling it as your own innate soul design: “This is what I am.”
Loving Yourself As You Really Are
Now turn love toward this design. Love yourself as this design. Taking into account both its gifts and its limitations, tell yourself, “This is how the divine reality, life’s infinite intelligence or the universe, made me—beautiful and flawed, balanced and unbalanced, and sometimes even beautiful because of my limitations.”
We never think of one flower as being better or more important than other flowers. In this context, we are like flowers. And not accepting your own soul design is like not accepting the universe as a whole. Surrendering to your soul design means surrendering to the higher will.
It is all perfect. You are in your right design—in your right role in the universe. Remember that only when you accept yourself can you ever hope for a real flowering of the gifts inherent in your design.
Accepting Others
The second step on your path to inner and outer peace, which is necessary for achieving harmonious relationships, is to eliminate the pride of your personality type. It is rather ironic that, with all the difficulty we have accepting ourselves, every type has a tremendous sense of self-importance and superiority when it comes to its own perception of reality.
Each type looks down on all other types, thinking, “How could they miss the whole point?” Caretakers wonder why others can’t understand that only love and caring matter. On the other hand, Thinkers are amazed that others don’t understand that intelligence and knowledge are all that matters. Builders are puzzled because people are so ungrounded. And Artists laugh at all three, wondering how they could be so serious and boring and miss out on the whole experience of life.
Let’s just admit it. We are all quite arrogant. That is why it is not enough to free ourselves from self-rejection and allow ourselves to be who we are. We must also free others from rejection and let them be their own true selves as well.
When you begin to observe the way we judge others all day long, you quickly realize that what we judge is their type. This is what we don’t like about others. We scrutinize their excesses and limitations and judge them from within our own type.
Our task is, therefore, to expand the acceptance we have turned toward ourselves to include others. When we accept ourselves, we begin to feel our type as part of the complete cosmic puzzle. But this means that all others are an integral part of it as well. Rather than criticizing either ourselves or others, we must learn to use our personality as a way to highlight our own unique role, as well as the unique roles of others.
Think of one person who clearly belongs to a completely different type, someone who is intensely different from you in values and perspective. This could be anyone you know—an acquaintance, your partner, your child, a parent, a friend, a coworker, or a famous or perhaps historical figure. Take a look at this person and try to see their beauty of perception and experience. Recognize that this person’s values are just as valid as your own and reflect a complete and perfect perspective on reality. Finally, think of this person as your teacher. What can this person give you that you cannot give yourself, even if you wanted to?
Now try humbly approaching this person, even if only internally, and admit, “You have something I don’t have.” Acknowledging that someone’s perspective is as complete and valuable as your own is a key to harmony in all your relationships. In reality, there is no hierarchy—those who are intelligent are not “better” than those who are joyful, and those who are joyful are not “better” than those who are loving. We are all growing as one field of flowers, and each blossom in that field is indispensable. Humility and acceptance of others makes us capable of receiving their gifts.
Achieving Harmony
When we know how to accept ourselves and, at the same time, how to accept others’ different values and gifts, we are ready to accept the entire world. As soon as we agree to remove the arrogant judgment of our type, we are ready to bring harmony to our relationships with all other types and with the world around us. The principle is simple: just study each type and then learn to focus on its gifts, not its challenges—on what others can bring to your connection with them.
Ordinarily, all the clashes we have with others occur because we are different types with different values. Try emphasizing the very same differences that make you collide as gifts and consider the possible result. In other words, learn to view the source of conflict as the key to union.
With a deep mutual understanding and conscious work, any combination of types can achieve harmony. In the end, relationships are only what we make of them.
©2018 by Shai Tubali. All Rights Reserved.
Reprinted with permission of the publisher, Conari Press,
an imprint of Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC. www.redwheelweiser.com
Article Source
The Seven Chakra Personality Types: Discover the Energetic Forces that Shape Your Life, Your Relationships, and Your Place in the World
by Shai Tubali
Chakras are energy centers in our bodies through which we experience life. Each one holds a different energy, purpose, and meaning and examining these qualities can help us use the chakras as a tool for understanding ourselves and coping with change. Understanding our chakra type can help us better understand our own unique structure and reveal why we have certain tendencies and are attracted to specific things. We can use this information to help us make the right decisions in our careers, lifestyle, and relationships and to fulfill our greatest potential in life. (Also available as a Kindle edition, Audiobook, and MP3 CD.)
About the Author
Shai Tubali, chakra expert, spiritual teacher, authority in the field of Kundalini and the subtle body system, lives in Berlin where he runs a school for spiritual development and holds seminars, trainings, satsangs, and retreats. Since 2000 he has worked with people from around the world, accompanying them on their spiritual path. He has written 20 books on spirituality and self-development, including Wake Up, World, a bestseller in Israel, and The Seven Wisdoms of Life, winner of the USA Best Books Award and finalist for the Book of the Year Award. Visit his website at https://shaitubali.com
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