

Below you will find a list of statements with two options, A or B. Choose the one that best applies to you.

My trips tend to be:

Planned ahead Spur of the moment

I more often:

Stick to budget Spend more than I earn

Watching performances, I usually feel:

Engaged Restless

In general, my thoughts are:

Concentrated Racing

I tend to:

Live in the moment Plan for the future

Mainly As may suggest a tendency towards more self-restraint, and mostly Bs an inclination towards greater impulsiveness. Homer heaped praise on the self-disciplined: ‘How prone to doubt, how cautious are the wise’. By contrast, Abraham Maslow saw spontaneity as integral to the ‘peak experiences’ of the self-actualised. Without heed for consequences, however, impulsiveness can be problematic.

As Rollo May argued ‘creativity arises out of the tension between spontaneity and limitations’. While Heraclitus admitted ‘it is hard to fight against impulsive desire’, at worst, reckless abandon to impulse is related to a host of woes, from suicide attempt to aggression.

Victor Frankl said ‘between stimulus and response is a space. In that space is our power to choose.’