Cross Balance

Hundreds of Traits

There are a range of associated strengths and weaknesses
that tend to characterise each temperament.
Some of these are shown on the next page
(taken from a test my son got at school!).
Note how the strengths (bold) of one type
are paired with corresponding weaknesses (italics) in the opposing type.

For example,
a strength of the phlegmatic is to be diplomatic,
corresponding to a weakness of the choleric to be tactless;
and the organized melancholic will be countered by the disorganized sanguine
- and so on.

There were many other traits that can been used,
but I have used here the ones that naturally have opposites.

One can tick off the strengths and weaknesses
in each temperament type that any person exhibits
and then  use them to determine where a particular temperament lies.

However,
this does not mean that temperaments at the same point will be the same,
because there will usually be different combinations of traits.
Nobody is entirely one temperament type or another, but a mixture.
And usually one's personality will move about the quadrants
depending on circumstances.

I think that a balanced character is not necessarily in the middle,
but someone who that can move in different directions
as required by circumstances.
Remember that the traits given are only examples
of those that tend to be typical of the temperament types
– not all the weaknesses and strengths
will be shown by a particular temperament.