Do you really understand your personality and why you embrace some situations and run from others?

Have you ever met a friend for coffee and listen to her explain about a situation that she is struggling with and offer her solutions that you feel are simple and would resolve the situation? And a while later find yourself in a similar situation expressing stagnant areas of your life that need change, but you feel you can't, or you just feel stuck and the person listening offers practical solutions that you know sound logical yet you feel resistant to?

As humans we react to similar situations based on our individual 'situational personality'. Edward Hall in his book "The Hidden Dimension" describes the situational personality as being adopted from our experiences from intimate, personal, social and public experiences. Individually we may respond to these settings quite differently. Some may experience difficulties being in public spaces and therefore may find it difficult to engage in public speaking while others may find intimate and personal spaces difficult, rendering closeness to people difficult for example in a crowded room or in a small space.

When asked to describe our personality we may opt to use the terms introvert or extrovert unaware of another aspect of personality - the 'situational personality'. Gaining a greater understanding about our human behavior may provide insights as to why we experience what we experience and why we struggle to engage in the advice of our friend, as described above. There may be a 'situational personality' dominating our experience. Because some situational experience may leave us feeling less than joyful, or we simply cringe and run from engaging in certain events, gaining a better understanding of the space we inhabit and the impact it may have on us can unlock some significant personal insights about ourselves and what we can actively do to begin to change our experience.