“I am the world. The world must obey me. I can never be wrong. I know what is to be done and how. All of you must follow what I say without any protest, because I tolerate no dissent. I am the storehouse of all the knowledge and what I do not know is not worth knowing. I am the most intelligent person going around and though I don’t show it clearly, I know that all of you are much lower than me in intelligence. I am the boss.”

Does anyone immediately come to mind?

“Please be with me. I do not know how to face the world. I will do what you say, but please protect me from this world. I don’t know much and please guide me at every step. I need you. Please help me at all the times.”

Does anyone immediately come to mind?

These are two ends of extreme personalities. The first one – aggressive and the second one -passive. Psychology is as complex as the human mind and as the time passes more discoveries and more theories get propounded. But I am not talking about clinical psychology. I am talking about what we observe in our everyday life and what it teaches us.

As you read the descriptions above, you will agree that both the types are not healthy. The healthy personality has respect for its strengths and acknowledges its weaknesses without feeling bad about them. The healthy personality respects others for their strengths and does not show any disdain for their weaknesses. He/she knows that all of us are imperfect in some way. The healthy personality does not try to overwhelm others with knowledge, but helps with guidance. The healthy type is equally not overwhelmed by more dominant people but acknowledges that they are good in some areas and respects them for that. But does not behave submissively.

In this world, none of us is perfect. We all should be ready to learn new things without feeling inferior. All right, I do not know how to play the piano. Please teach me. If I find out that I will learn it and like playing I will continue learning, otherwise I will try my hand at something else. For a healthy person, the qualities do not make a person inferior or superior. He/she treats all as human beings first and says that some one is good or not very good at doing something.

If a healthy personality has to express his/her opinion about someone’s shortcoming, it will not be – that person is a fool, but that person has certain deficiencies but the deficiencies can be taken care of by proper learning.