, as a sanguine person, you're a true connoisseur of bittersweetness: the place where light and dark meet.
You tend to move between Sanguine and Bittersweet states
Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world.
It’s also about the recognition that light and dark, birth and death – bitter and sweet – are forever paired. It’s highly associated with “high sensitivity” and with another trait that predicts creativity; it’s moderately associated with a tendency to awe, self-transcendence, and spirituality. It also has a small association with anxiety and depression.
Some of us inhabit the bittersweet state instinctively, have always done; some of us avoid it as much as we can; some of us arrive there when we reach a certain age, or after facing life’s trials and triumphs.
Understand your temperament more deeply, by reading Bittersweet: How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole
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About the Bittersweet Quiz
The purpose of the Bittersweet Quiz (and the Bittersweet book) is to help you assess whether you tend to be more sanguine or bittersweet in your orientation - and to gain insight into your way of being. The Bittersweet book also delves into the often-overlooked powers of bittersweetness.
Bittersweetness is a tendency to states of longing, poignancy, and sorrow; an acute awareness of passing time; and a curiously piercing joy at the beauty of the world. It's also about the recognition that light and dark, birth and death - bitter and sweet - are forever paired.
There is no right or wrong way to be. There is only who you are, at this moment in time. (Some of us become more bittersweet with age, or after facing life's trials and triumphs.)
Also, no matter where you fall on this scale, you are never all one thing! Here I am at my most sanguine--and in my more customary bittersweet mode.
Note to psychologists and other scholars interested in exploring the bittersweet construct: this quiz is in preliminary form. The pilot studies conducted by Yaden and Kaufman did not yet include traditional steps such as focus groups, expert review, larger sample exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis, and so on.
Understand your temperament more deeply.
Read Bittersweet
How Sorrow and Longing Make Us Whole
An exploration of the power of a bittersweet, melancholic outlook on life, and why our culture has been so blind to its value.