Monday 5 April 2010
Standing in the large room in my paint splattered jeans and T-shirt, I surveyed my blank canvas, 4 walls waiting for the caress of my paint brush to be coated in colours that would entice lovers to sink nightly into each others arms. 

Everyone loves blue, dark, light, powder, bright, royal, mystical, exciting and calming. A colour for nights of love or sleep after the hectic torment of a day in work.

The pot in front of me was pale, fresh and new, gentle like the emerging spring morning.  The label declared powder blue.

Hands on hips I smiled.  The bright sun was streaming though the windows, I turned my face upwards, closed my eyes, the warmth kissed me, it was a beautiful day.  Outside the tall leafy tree hid me from the passers by, alone in my world. Screw driver in hand I opened up the paint.  The smell permeated my nostrils, I sniffed deep, acrid chemicals crept up my nose and lingered just a moment too long at the back of my throat.  As I placed the lid on the bare floorboards I imagined how the room will look once finished, carpeted and adorned with our bed covered in new linen, selected to match the style being created.

Only this weekend this room would know my spite, no colours for sex but soft powder blue, the colour he hated, a colour that would remind him of his childhood. The lazy man that I had chosen to buy a house with had decided once again that he had better things to do.  At the suggestion that our bedroom needed completing he had donned his black leathers climbed aboard his fast motorbike and sped away to friends in London.

I sighed.  Paint brush in hand, I dipped it into the thick goo, coated, I was ready for the attack.  A lunacy came over me as I ran at the wall, slapped the brush hard against it and watched paint being splattered everywhere.  I snarled. I jabbed like a sword fight using the brush as my rapier into the wallpaper.  The wallpaper that I had single handedly put up only the week before.  Only to be criticised for air pockets as he strutted around the room, spitefully pointing out my mistakes.  Well take that, I cried as I jabbed again.  Hysterical laughter filled the air, I looked around to see where it was coming from, it was me.  I stopped and took a hold of myself, deep breath I had a room to paint.

The off white wallpaper slowly disappeared and became cool calming blue pages, blank waiting for the rest of the story to unfold.

Sitting in the doorway, Jonesy, a black and white cat kept me company.  I didn’t know until years later that this cat belonged to someone else, he became my permanent companion as I created a home from the mess.

My stomach rumbled it was time for tea and biscuits.  I put down the loaded brush and wiped my hands down my already crusty jeans and clomped down the bare stairs to the old cream kettle.  Minutes later I was back hot steaming cup in hand to survey my work.  Sipping slowly as I reviewed my art.  Powder blue, colour hex code #B0E0E6, just a number not a spell, nothing to symbolize and strengthen this relationship.

Slurping the dregs of the tea, I inhaled deeply, I was satisfied with my efforts.  The light was now fading from the window, hours had passed in the now tranquil room and a soft shadow fell.  I packed up and made for home, certain that tomorrow would bring another deluge of comments about my handy work.  Who cared?

Allegedly I am an......... 




Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self -- always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the "not visible" or the "not yet" that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a "soulmate," someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are relatively rare, making up no more than 15 to 20 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

Idealists at Work
Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. They are naturally drawn to working with people and are gifted with helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potential both on, and off, the job.

Because you live in anticipation of an exciting future, in your ideal job you will be asked to stretch your imagination on a continual basis. Existing ideas, individuals and groups of people, products, services, and the relationships between these things can trigger flashes of insight about how "what is" might unfold into "what might be." You feel rewarded where you feel free to share your insights with people who encourage your creativity and who support the unpredictable process by which you narrow down the stream of ideas into innovations that are meaningful within the scheme of your personal values. You are likely to be comfortable taking on a leadership role, so long as it doesn’t place you in an arbitrary hierarchy.