How many personality tests have you taken in the last three years?

For many North Americans, the honest answer would take two (or more) hands to count. We’re hungry to know more about ourselves. And we feel like we’re prepared to dig under the surface and unearth what lies beneath.

That’s why we jump at the chance to discover our Myers-Briggs Type, or our DiSC profile, or our Enneagram number.

Is there anything wrong with taking those assessments? No, of course not! They can and do help us understand how we have been wired. There’s a reason, after all, that PLUMLINE offers the SPIRITUAL + RELATIONAL HEALTH ASSESSMENT. We can use these outside tools to learn about ourselves.

However, I always offer a strong caveat to people when I talk to them about these assessments.

While they are useful, these assessments do not actually measure or tell you who you are.

Rather, personality tests measure who you had to become.

Your personality is simply the predictable pattern of thinking and behaving that you took on to feel safe and/or experience meaning in the world.

And that is precisely why personality assessments work. When life happens, you tend to have the same kinds of thoughts, relate in the same kinds of ways, and respond with the same kinds of reactions. Because your personality is hard at work keeping you safe and giving your experience meaning.

However, your true essence lies underneath all of those predictable patterns.

So, what exactly is that true essence?

At PLUMLINE, we describe that as your soul system—the part of your spiritual anatomy where your true identity lives.

Sometimes, talking about your soul can feel very abstract and removed from reality. And there’s a good reason for that. Your soul is a vast

ocean. It’s where you commune deeply with God. More than that, it’s where he teaches you about who he is and who you are.

There’s something undeniably unsettling about that depth. And yet, your soul is where your visions and dreams are born. It’s where your purpose and calling come alive.

That’s why being disconnected from your soul is so devastating. In those moments, the path of your life becomes clouded. Real meaning and purpose elude you.

However, when you nourish your soul and work to stay connected to it, you experience intimate communion with God. Communion that illuminates your purpose, your calling, and the very meaning of your life.

Soul work is crucial because it helps you dig through all those layers of personality that you’ve accumulated in your life.

And when you move past these layers, you get to rediscover and reclaim your true self.

Is it safe and easy work? No.

But it is good work, and I invite you to consider it.

If you’d like, you can learn more about the soul course here.