MRS AYO: A MULTI-TEMPERAMENTAL PERSONALITY

MRS AYO: A MULTI-TEMPERAMENTAL PERSONALITY

          Mrs. Stella Mojisola Ayo, Principal of Lagos State Junior Model College, Kankon, Badagry is one of the best leaders that have traversed the Lagos State Educational Sector. This is as result of her multi-temperamental personality.

          Undoubtedly, the concept of temperament influences everything one does:  the sleep habits to study habits and through eating style to the way one gets along with other people. In fact, there is no other influence in a person’s life that is more powerful than ones temperament or a combination of temperaments.

          There is no doubt that knowing ones temperament enables you to analyse those of others for the purpose of all-round potential maximization rather than for condemnation or stigmatization.

          WHAT TEMPERAMENT IS?

          Before I begin to analyze and explore Mama’s various temperaments. It is essential to explain what temperament is. Temperament is the combination of traits we inherited from our parents. Temperament resides somewhere in the minds or emotional centre known as HEART. From that source it combines with other human characteristics to produce our basic make up.

          As its residual in Mrs. S. M. Ayo, Temperament is not the only influence that defines her behaviour. Her early home life, education and motivation all have powerfully influenced on her action and disposition toward life.

          For the purpose of clarity, I will briefly distinguish between temperament, character and personality.

          As explained above temperament is the combination of inborn traits that subconsciously affect man’s behaviour. These traits are arranged genetically on the basis of nationality, race, sex and other hereditary factors.

          These traits nevertheless, are passed on by the genes. It is for this reason that some psychologists suggested that we get more genes from our grandparents. That could account for the greater resemblance of some children to their grandparents than to their parents. Maybe this accounts for stature, movement and oral control of mama that are nearly masculine.

The alignment of temperamental traits is just unpredictable as the colour of eyes, hair or size of body.

CHARACTER: is the real you. The Bible refers to it as “the hidden man of heart”. It is the result of your natural temperament modified by childhood training, education, basic attitudes, beliefs, principle and motivation.

PERSONALITY: is the outward expression of ourselves, which may or may not be the same as our characters, depending on how genuine we are.

KINDS OF TEMPERAMENTS: Hippocrates, the father of Temperaments study divides temperament into four categories over twenty-four hundred years ago. He named them SANGUINE, CHOLERIC, MELANCHOLY and PHLEGMATIC. Because of space I will not go into details on the characteristics of the four temperaments, I will however pick those that are relevant to our great mother as she cuts across the four temperament and those she evolved another temperament known as SANCHOMEPHLEM. Please come with me.

          Mama picks from SANGUINE the following temperaments; she is a warm, buoyant, lively and enjoyable person. She is so receptive by nature. Her external impressions easily find their way to her heart, like other sanguine, Mama has an unusual capacity for enjoying herself and usually passes on her fun-loving spirit.

          She is a fascinating story-teller and her warm emotional nature always helps one to relay the experience as she tells it.

          Mama never lacks for friends. She can genuinely feel the joys and sorrows of the person she meets and also has the capacity to make him/her feel important, as though he/she were a very special friend.

          From choleric temperamental point of view, Mama is hot, quick, active, practical, strong-willed, self-sufficient and very independent.

          She is decisive and opinionated, finding it easy to make decisions both for herself and other people.

          Mama thrives on activities. She does stimulate her environment with endless ideas, plans and goals. She does not engage in aimless activity, for she has a practical, keen mind, capable of making sound, instant decisions or planning worthwhile projects. She does not vacillate under the pressure of what others think, but takes a definite stand on issues.

          Mama is not frightened by adversaries. In fact they tend to encourage her. Her dogged determination usually allows her to succeed where others have failed. There is no impossibility in her dictionary. Her strong belief in God makes things work in her favour.

          Picking from the melancholy temperament, you find her very analytical, self-sacrificing, gifted and a down-to-earth perfectionist. Mama seldom pushes herself forward to meet people, but rather she lets them come to her. She is highly diligent and dependable.

          Disappointing experiences make her reluctant to take people at face-value; thus, she is prone to be suspicious when others seek her out or shower her with praises and attention especially sycophants.

          From the phlegmatic angle Mama picks being calm, easy-going and getting angry easily. She settles issues right there and then and she doesn’t hold grudges.

          She feels more emotional than she appears on the surface; she breaks into tears at the loss of loved ones, this trait was noticed when we lost one of our staff, Mr. Topozin in 2015. Mama is empathetically concerned when someone is in trouble. She is kind-hearted and sympathetic.

          You can see that she is a special breed, a very “distinctive” mother. For those of us who worked closely with her, she is a leader, a motivator, an authority in practical administration.

          She is like a book, which we consult daily in our administrative works. We thank God for her unique and impactive life. - By Mr. Ogunsanwo A.A. (V.P. Admin)