Each one of us is born with inherent personality traits, meaning our biological genetic coding, which determine the way our brain develops and how our personality expresses itself. That is our core part. Our personality traits reveal themselves at a very early age and remain constant throughout our entire lives. They direct the way we act and how we think, and they establish our learned personality characteristics. Traits create our involuntary habits that determine the course our lives will take. They decide our preferred way of gathering information and how we draw conclusions from the information we take in. Personality traits influence the choice of words we use to communicate with others, as well as how we learn. Our personality traits are responsible for our brain functioning and its normal neurobiological and biochemical reactions. They establish the electrochemical dialogue that takes place between the brain, the endocrine system, and the physical body.

The learned parts of personality are called characteristics. Characteristics are the behavioral patterns that we develop as a result of what we have learned. They reflect our biographical history, and they are what makes us unique. They are the distinguishing qualities that differentiate us from others, and they establish our identity and how we express that identity to the outside world. Characteristics are responsible for the formation of habits, comfort zones, quirks, and idiosyncratic behavioral patterns. In the human energy system, our personality characteristics are reflected within the emotional layer of energy. They provide the biographical information that reveals itself through our emotional reactions.

Traits + Characteristics = Personality Type

When you combine personality traits and characteristics, you define personality type, meaning the consistent, predictable patterns that drive the way we live and why we act the way we do. Personality type represents the orderly arrangement through which we form our perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and values. Using the premise of personality type as a categorical formula makes it easier to understand and identify why people are different.

Think of your personality type as your automatic pilot. It creates the involuntary behavioral patterns necessary for you to function and survive. Its inherent traits create your own personal road map, which guides the outward direction you take in life. Its characteristics influence what you become. It affects your self-image, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-worth. It motivates you, creates your irritations, and controls stress and how that stress affects you. Personality impacts the way you face life's challenges and the coping mechanisms you develop. It is the organizing principle that affects your sense of reality and spirituality. It greatly impacts your health and overall sense of well-being.

The History of Personality Type

For centuries, psychologists, psychiatrists, and physicians have studied personality. They have provided conclusive evidence that human beings do have distinct personality traits and characteristics that make them different from one another, and that personality affects both mental health and physical health. The first person to classify personality by type was Hippocrates, the father of Western medicine. He proposed that there were four distinct personality types. His theory was that a person's personality type determines their vulnerability to mental dysfunction and their susceptibility to illness. Ever since he declared his findings, there have been many others who have formed their own theories around personality and illness.

In the 19th century, psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud developed his own detailed theory of personality. His underlying assumption was that the body is the sole source of mental energy. He approached personality only from the mental perspective. Soon after Freud's theory was made public, psychiatrist Carl Jung proposed his own comprehensive theory to explain how personality type affects every aspect of a person's life.

According to most of the personality theories, we each have within our own personality type both strengths and weaknesses that are primarily determined by the genetic neurological hard-wiring found within our personality traits. The more we function within our inherent traits (strengths), the stronger and more confident we become, the stronger our sense of reality, the more control we have over our lives, and the better equipped we are to make the choices that create the life and health we want. We are in a stronger position to take advantage of and maximize the opportunities that life sets before us.

If we function outside our core traits and work from our underdeveloped psychological functions (weaknesses), then life loses its synchronicity. We become energetically drained, mentally confused, and experience physical discomfort. Our lives feel as if they are out of control, and we have a strong sense of being detached from life. We feel emotionally numb, and our thinking becomes fuzzy. We become mentally immobilized and chemically out of balance. These chemical imbalances create a fight-or-flight stress reaction in the physical body, and that stress response hinders our ability to think clearly to an even greater extent. As a result, we find ourselves caught up in a vicious cycle of psychological and emotional behavioral patterns that prevent us from getting where we want to go. In the end, we leave ourselves vulnerable to the creation of illness.

Edgar Cayce stated, "The spirit is life. Mind is the builder. Physical is the result." Cayce, like many others, believed that what we think is what our body generally becomes.

To better understand the mind-body connection, it helps to remember that the human brain is electrical in nature. It communicates its messages to specific sites in the body by sending electrochemical impulses via the central nervous system. These electrochemical impulses and the information they contain activate cellular memory and tell the cellular structure within that specific area of the body how to reorganize itself according to the information being received. If a person is thinking a negative thought, that consequently creates a negative emotional reaction. Then, the brain responds by changing the chemistry in the electrical impulses it sends to the body's systems. These changes in chemistry are what alert the physical body that there is a problem.

It is important to note that not all thoughts -- even those that have a slightly negative undertone -- cause illness in the body. If our thoughts are positive and produce positive emotional reactions, then our physical body will continue to function as a healthy, vital unit. It is only the thoughts with strongly negative charges that affect the body and make it susceptible to disease.

To show what I mean, let's use cancer as an example. Psychoneuroimmunology, the study of how emotions affect the immune system, indicates that people who are consumed with negative thoughts or who have a negative outlook on life are more susceptible to the formation of cancer. The same holds true for people who are consumed with negative emotions such as fear, anger, or frustration. Negativity wears down the immune system and leaves the body more susceptible to the creation of disease.

On the other hand, people who are optimistic and view life from a positive perspective have stronger immune systems and are able to resist infection and the formation of diseases such as cancer. What has been discovered is that when it comes to good health, positive thoughts play an important role. It also appears that a happy-go-lucky attitude can go a long way in fighting off disease and keeping us healthy.