Introducing a revolutionary new approach to personality typing focusing on today’s modern traveler. It’s the premise for Unpack Your Personality©️, a book that uses a field guide approach applied to each of the 16 personality types to help you get your Thoreau On.
What do I mean by this?
Thoreau was a transcendentalist, he was best known for his reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings, an intention I seek for many travelers, through spiritual personality typing. Why can’t we become travel transcendentalists? Aren’t the simple things in life the best way to ignite your Soul Self? I believe the time has come for less reliance on the material world and more reliance on the bounty of Mother Nature.
We should come home from adventures, and perils, and discoveries every day with new experience and character.
Henry David Thoreau, Eassayiest, Poet and Philosopher
Please know this new theory is not about changing you. In fact, it’s about embracing all of you, your personality, and your spiritual SELF in its totality. My idea of personal growth is about accepting all of you are, not changing who you are. The duality of you, the female/male aspects, your introvert/extrovert attitudes, right brain and left brain; it’s all one utterly gorgeous YOU!
Have you ever met a person who’s in touch with their soul-self? They have a contagious joie de vivre. Lost luggage, mix-ups, delays, or whatever life throws at them doesn’t seem to bother them. They enter each situation, knowing life’s showing up with a love lesson.
Physical and Nonphysical is the New Approach to Personality Typing
A year-long spiritual retreat in the mountains of North Carolina is where I had an ah-ha moment. I studied various spiritual modalities; personality typing, meditation, breath works, kundalini yoga, clean eating, and more. When we started discussing personality types, I was annoyed that personality typing seemed to focus heavily on one’s career – where’s the soul in that? A Divine thought entered my consciousness, why aren’t we utilizing the extraordinary works of Carl Jung and Myers-Briggs®? Jung tapped into the nonphysical ideas, tarot, astrology, and outer-worldly aspects that bring truth to oneself. He didn’t focus solely on careers. I happen to agree.
Unpack Your Personality™️ centers on new ways to engage with your personality, your personal reality. We live in a hectic, fast-paced world, connected yet disconnected. Or, if you’re like me, you have, or you’re experiencing a life tsunami, divorce, death, financial issues, job loss, health issues.
We are born at a given moment, in a given place and, like vintage years of wine, we have the qualities of the year and of the season of which we are born. Astrology does not lay claim to anything more.
Carl Jung, Swiss Psychritrist founded analytical psychology
Recognizing Another’s Personality Traits
Today I embrace personality typing beyond the work environment where many of us have been conditioned to wear social masks with pride. Can you relate? Do you have a deeper knowing there’s more to life than just work? I believe we are more than our careers, and I think you already know we live in many different worlds, romantic, family, friends, community. And we put on various social masks; mother, wife, lover, caregiver, sister, to meet worldly expectations. Ask yourself whose expectations are you living for, your’s or someone else’s?
So how do we get beyond our put-upon social masks? I believe it starts with exploring our personality type, accepting type differences, and using spiritual practice to support personal growth. When we do this, we get closer to our true Self, which allows us to shed social masks.
How Differing Personality Types Show Up
I love the SpongeBob episode, Opposite Day. It’s a beautiful example of how different personality types show up in the world. Many of us typically become attracted to a person with opposite personality functions. We think, ooh, this person is so cool. What typically happens is this person is showing you the opposite side of your dominant personality trait, that trait that is most influential. Of course, it’s attractive. At first, you only see the upside. Again, we know this to be true – remember falling in love.
Wondering Were I’m Going with this New Approach to Personality Typing?
I’ve been in the travel industry for the past two decades. Part of my job as a marketing communications professional was to ask a lot of questions. Why did you pick this resort, destination, attraction, or accommodation? Will you book a group tour, or are you more likely to enjoy independent activities.
What happened?
Travelers would start sharing personal stories. They’d talk about their families, their vacations, and then little, by little, they’d begin to unravel their underlying unhappiness. They would complain about returning to the same resort year after year. Speak to their frustrations with a partner who’s too busy to pay attention to you. Or complain about ungrateful kids who didn’t appreciate the time and energy it takes to plan a globe-trotting holiday.
In essence, travelers were sharing frustrations that reflected something within themselves. They’d mirror their frustrations, anger, anxiety, and stress outward, blaming a spouse, a child, in-laws, or whomever. I kept asking questions, and hundreds and hundreds of travelers echoed similar comments. It made me sad to think that many smiling travelers were experiencing travel malaise. Yet they kept smiling behind their social masks of ego-conditioned personalities, unhappily. Do you see why I’m so passionate about launching a revolutionary new approach to personality typing?
You Can’t Achieve Enlightenment on a Deadline.
Nina Zapala, Founder of Spiritual Personality Typing™️
A Revolutionary New Approach to Personality Typing is Needed Now.
Here’s why I think a revolutionary new approach to personality typing is needed now. Will most of you agree you’re more open-mind when you travel? Would it be accurate to say when you plan a vacation, you’re not goal-oriented in a sense that you’re striving (forcing) to achieve; a win or lose mentality?
In speaking with travelers from around the globe, I believe these things to be true. It’s why I love the idea of using travel as the environment to discover aspects of your true Self. Classrooms and even the modern-day masterclass have preconceived notions of accomplishment.
Of course, I want you to learn about yourself, awaken and become a more evolved human being. But what I don’t believe is the idea that in 30-days you’ll become awakened? Or, if you use a “guru’s” formula, you’ll reach enlightenment. Sorry, I’m calling #bullshit. I believe these programs have their place, but I don’t think you can achieve enlightenment on a deadline. It’s a lifelong process, and it has to speak to who you are, not what another person believes you to be.
Enlightenment comes from real-world experiences and adversities. You know the kind of experiences that happen when you travel to an unknown place, unsure of yourself and what you’ll face. It’s the unknowingness of it all. How will you react? Will you rely on your unshakable YOU? It’s in these situations that micro-moments of change arise. My idea is to show you how to dedicate a part of your vacation, pre, post, and during, for personal growth.
A New Apporach to Typing: Say Hello to Your Inner Travel Guide
What if I told you, your inner travel guide, aka your higher self, is a guide that can help you discover both healthy and unhealthy traits? These traits are always with you and get packed right along with your sunnies and sunscreen. :). It’s about tuning in and learning to recognize personal characteristics—things like your attitude, decision-making style, and how you show up in the world. Your inner travel guide also unveils untruths you believe are real.
A Few Fundamentals: The Tip of the Persona Iceberg
The teaching of Carl Jung, Myers-Briggs,® David Keirsey, and others state that everyone on the planet exhibits these essential personality functions:
- Extroverts vs. Introverts ⏤ How does your energy flow, and how do you gain energy? Is it from the outer world people, places, activities, which would indicate you’re an extrovert or do you gain energy for your inner world; reflection, time spent alone, or solo activities? This indicates an introvert characteristic.
- Sensing or iNtuitive ⏤ These are the information gathering functions. As a sensor, you gather information through your five senses; hands-on, active, in the hear and now, and trusting what’s worked in the past. Or when you gather information using your five senses do you immediately pull in your intuition? Do you look at the grand schemes, possible meaning, patterns and relationships between it all ⏤ you’re likely to have an intuitive trait.
- Thinking or Feeling ⏤ These are the decisions making functions. Are you more objective or subjective? Thinkers tend to be more objective, logical and detached. While feelers are more subjective, harmonious and more involved with how the decision makes you feel.
- Judging or Perceiving ⏤ These traits bring into focus your lifestyle orientation what you rely on more; information gathering or decision making. If you like things controlled (who doesn’t😉) scheduled and organized your lifestyle orientation is related to judging. If on the other hand, you like to collect ideas, are spontaneous and flexible your lifestyle orientation is perceiving.
Do You Believe Personality Traits Can Influence Vacation Outcomes?
Knowing just this teeny-tiny bit about yourself, do you believe these personality functions could affect vacation outcomes? Just think about what they can do for you in your daily life? And I’d like to point out we’ve not even discussed ego conditioning, things like childhood, personal life tsunamis, societal expectations, and country cultures.
Many of these unconscious behaviors remain hidden behind your social masks. Typically because your life gets disrupted or midlife, questioning hasn’t begun. Please don’t judge yourself or anyone about wearing social masks. We all do. Know some of them are tattered and torn, while others are held firmly in place. Nonetheless, can you see how travel malaise is an issue? It makes the saying; I need a vacation from my vacation, easier to understand.
Unpack Your Personality©️: A Peek Inside My Upcoming Book
So are you ready to commit a small slice of your vacation to spiritual growth and getting to know your personality? I believe in my heart making this one small step can help you become a worldly-wise soul. Take a look inside the book at a few chapter highlights:
- Identifying your: pilot, co-pilot, gate agent, and air traffic controller,
- A New Travel Paradigm; Discover Your Inner Travel YOU!
- Fasten Your Seatbelts,
- A Stacked Deck, Your Favored Functions
- Where in the World,
- Travel Typing 101,
- Your Five-Star Rating,
- Your Unique Magic
- What’s a Travel Trigger,
- Vacation Planning Tips: USA/Internationally,
- Opposites Attract,
- Romancing Your Type,
- Your Type on a Family Vacation: Trip/Ideas,
- Plus travel hacks, celebrities, cultural characters, travel style, fashion, hotel, and destination choices…
It’s Always My Intention
It’s always my intention to help you realize different aspects of yourself. To inspire you to show up in the world better than you were the day before. Every day is a gift. You’re a gift, a gift with great potential. That’s why the Universe assigned you a distinct personality type and embellished your soul with your own brilliant DNA blueprint.
You’re here to remember and share your beautiful self with the world. We are all different. After a seven-year life tsunami and years of reflection and learning, I now know spirituality doesn’t come in a pre-labeled box. It comes from your higher self, supported by your personality type. Many don’t realize that your personality dictates your spiritual approach to life, just like it dictates your travel style, lifestyle, and career.
Does any of this interest you? If you said yes, join the revolution.
Join The Movement.
Will you join me on this journey? I believe spiritual personality typing was Divinely timed to hit the planet during this awakening time. Do you want to be part of a community bound by grace, encouragement, and truth? Then please subscribe to my email list. You’ll get front-row seats to new courses, my upcoming book and workbook, and monthly freebies! It’s shenanigans on steroids!
It’s Time to Discover; Spiritual Personality Typing ™️ — Nina Zapala, a Curious Type, ENTP. I’m a certified Myers-Briggs® instructor with an intuitive side ready to introduce you to a new paradigm in personality typing supported by a spiritual understanding.
Plane Photo Credit: Randy Blum
