At a recent book signing, Sheri, an introverted training manager, told me she holds onto an image from nature to comfort her when she feels overpowered by extroverted team members.
As a proud introvert, Sheri relates to the great blue heron. This bird will stalk prey slowly and deliberately. They are solitary or small-group foragers. While the geese are loudly squawking, or doing what geese do, she thinks about the blue heron and it gives her a sense of peace.
I mentioned this in my recent newsletter and received some interesting reactions. Here is sampling:
From Bob Cady: ” Read your newsletter and enjoyed your jottings. Keep it up. The Blue Heron story reminds me that each of us believes in the stories that feature US. Isn’t it the truth. The eagle is shaking its head about that slow old bird. No wonder he’s so thin. Doesn’t eat much…the ‘tortoise and the hare’ is supposed to be a fable about sticking to it and relentless pursuit of goals. The Intros love the tortoise. We are supposed to reject the hare because it is reckless and thoughtless. However, each has its good and bad points, as we all do. That Blue Heron…..is just doing its thing. The extroverted, fast acting eagle also has a nature….The Heron is not, after all the symbol of our country. In most of the stories you read, the character that is the quiet, introverted, slow, low voiced speaker when the President needs someone to solve the world crisis, is the one chosen to lead the exercise….”
From Kathy Greider: “Thanks for the great blue story — made me think about when I worked in an office. I always surrounded myself with as much nature as possible (plants, sea shells, round beach stones and lots of photos) when I was upset I would find myself rubbing the shells and stones to calm down. It always worked — and still does….Thanks for sharing this — maybe it will help others.”
There is nothing quite as nerve-racking as walking up to the stage to expose your every weakness, physical and mental, before an audience who is all too familiar with the repertoire. You think you will make a mistake, then you do, and everybody knows when it happened. Continue reading the rest of this article...
“They (Introverts) just didn’t place a larger weight on social stimuli than they did on any other stimuli, of which flowers are one example,” said.
“[This] supports the claim that introverts, or their brains, might be indifferent to people — they can take them or leave them, so to speak. The introvert’s brain treats interactions with people the same way it treats encounters with other, non-human information, such as inanimate objects for example,” Inna Fishman said.
They concluded that, “The results strongly suggest that human faces, or people in general, hold more significance for extroverts, or are more meaningful for them.” Continue reading the rest of this article...
What’s mystifying to Stewart—and likely to anyone with either a shred of empathy or a tendency to clam up in public—is the looking- glass reality in which her manner, rather than eliciting sympathy or mere shrugs, has made her a figure of derision. “I think it’s funny that when I go onstage to accept an award, they think I’m nervous, uncomfortable, and awkward—and I am—but those are bad words for them,” Stewart says. Continue reading the rest of this article...
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