Hi! I’m really enjoying your page and was wondering if you might help me to find my sorting? I can’t settle on Chill Lion Primary or Snake Primary.
I seem to be able to leave friendships really easy
Not *Badger,* maybe? Because Snake can be friends with people who aren’t Inner Circle. Depends on what level of loyalty we’re talking about here… need more data.
if the choice is a stranger in need vs. my closest friend, it would be a stranger I would feel worst for abandoning, but I probably only deeply care about my family members, and friends only to some extent and helping someone in need would make me feel as a better person than just not turning my back on a friend.
… THAT is not a Snake primary answer, I can tell you that for sure.
When I was a kid and my mom would have a fight with my stepfather, I would always side with my mom, even if I knew she was not really right. I did not want to hurt her, but now when I am older, I know how important it is to stand by what you see as right, so I try to d talk about seeing things from both sides, even though I will still stand by her side in the end, probably. There is not much I can do for the people I care about, but when I am given an opportunity to protect and fight for them, I will.
There’s something interesting going on here. Because clearly you acted in a super Snake way when you were younger (‘they might be wrong, but I’m still going to defend them’) but… you felt bad about it. And you definitely *feel* bad about it, in retrospect.
Especially with that situation you gave me right there… I would not be at all surprised if you were expected to model Snake, or even forced to model Snake when you were younger.
But I deeply believe ‘the root of all evil’ is only caring about your own. I think that is selfish and cold.
Yeah. I think you may have an unhealthy Snake influence in your life. The conflict between Loyalists and Idealists is very near the heart of this system, and they do go back and forth, with Loyalists seeing Idealists as ruthless and cruel, Idealists seeing Loyalists as… yeah, selfish and cold. The way I see it, both are beautiful and expansive and know things the other needs to learn - and both can also be warped, and unhealthy, and scary.
I think I would be a better person if I had something to believe in, if I would fight for something bigger than me. I have not found it. Or maybe I did, but there is not much I can do about it. I can not incorporate it into my life apart from personal small actions, and I want to do more
This is very much a Lion primary dream. And I just want to say that the Lion dream does not have to be huge and all-encompassing in order to be meaningful, and real, and fulfilling.
Or maybe I just want an easy and lazy life, just doing what I like and just a bit more and that’s it. Sometimes it is like that too, I believe.
And you know what, that’s kind of a Lion primary mood too :)
I wouldn’t say standing by people you most care about is morally right, but it is a damn strong force.
Still Lion. Like OF COURSE if you can stand by both your morals and your people, that’s IDEAL.
As much as I can remember, I never had anything big and idealistic to believe in, apart from not hurting others, and a lot of what I believe in now is based on that.
You *want* something big and idealistic to believe in, to be happy and fulfilled. That’s still Lion, even if no Cause has clicked with you yet. (I suspect you’re a little burned, which can’t be helping.)
So I was always really harsh to people who I thought were selfish.
Again with this negative Snake influence.
I thought I was a Lion Secondary, but more and more I keep noticing how much I am using honesty as a tool.
Hmmm. Could be a Snake secondary tactic, but Birds do like their tools….
Sure, being yourself is the easiest thing in the world
… everyone does not feel this way. You’ve got strong Lion in your sorting somewhere.
but it also allows you to be seen as readable and trustworthy in your words. I know how much I can shift words or tone just a bit. Sometimes it feels like I am watching from inside, going “oh, you’re doing this now?”
That’s interesting. The way you’re describing thing - the slight arm’s length, knowing the mask is a mask, but also not planning the mask - is making me think more Snake. Although Actor Bird *is* possible.
I am very emotional, and I find it hard to distinguish my morality and moral choices from just general things I do and want.
… so you’re a Lion primary.
So the only other primary on my list could be Lion, which I find hard to understand. How can things turn from some tug of the heart to a full-fleshed ideal? My belief – trying not to hurt people and all that is related to it, in my mind, still comes from a grounded reality, from the fact that it hurts me to see someone being hurt. It’s not because it was idealistically formed somewhere. I think I probably don’t understand this correctly.
Lion primaries aren’t jedi. Their ideals don’t get magically beamed into their heads from some outside force. Lions reason just the same as Birds, they just use a different part of their psyche to do it. The fact that your morality (at its core, at its base) comes from the way things make you feel… that is what makes you a Lion. Birds don’t process things that way.
Maybe this sounds a bit like a Badger Primary, but there is no place for a group in my morality, in my life. Neighbors? Pffft, just let us live in peace and leave us alone. Groups are unpleasant usually. Maybe if you could choose people you like and click with them. Of course, acceptance is important, but it will never be the basis of anything. Have I never had an important group in my life? Maybe, but that would either mean I have been burned for a long time or I am just not a Badger Primary.
You’re not a Badger primary. And while it’s not a universal thing, I would say that Lion primaries tend to be the *most* comfortable with being loners, or spending extending periods of time as loners.
Of course, I use my brain and prioritize in the moment and use logic. I am not a sweet and nice badger girl, although I will be nice and smile and act my part, and sometimes you do hurt someone by telling the truth or putting yourself first, because I also don’t want to hurt myself if I have a different choice.
This is all starting to sound very snake secondary. The practicality, and twisting, and changing in the moment. Although maybe there’s a Badger performance in there?
Even if I can’t feel what others are feeling, I have something informing me about what they might be feeling. Do I care about not hurting my neighbor? It’s more like I care about not hurting myself by getting into a bad situation with them, being shouted at or having other kinds of problems with them, but that’s still some kind of motivation
Move around the problem, be like water.
Honesty is an idealistic value, and I like it, but I think it probably just makes my life easier, easier to read people and be read.
Snake secondary.
I think I also strongly believe in persons’ right to be and express who they are, that’s why I grew up hating gender stereotypes and not really playing into social rituals. I just want to be seen and liked for who I am.
Lion primary.
My Secondary? It probably burned to ashes. Thinking about how I am doing stuff, improv vs build, it just gives me a headache. Improvisation gives me stress, it gives me hell, but it’s the easiest way.
I mean, all the stuff you’ve been talking about - reading people, putting on the right face, changing direction - absolutely counts as improvisational.
Planning, preparing? Lovely, usually - access denied. I just go head first just because I don’t know any other way and have no interest or energy to search for it. I am easily bored, so even if I wanted to work, prepare, research, I would lose interest so fast that there would be no use in even trying.
I don’t think you’re a Badger secondary - but it’s just hard to tell because you are so down on your secondary in general. You’re telling me that prepping in theory is lovely but you don’t know how to do it? (not that you don’t LIKE it. That you CAN’T do it.)
I always thought I would finally find something I wanted to work on, something I would enjoy putting time and energy into, but that does not seem to come true.
That’s some more of the angst of your charred/unfulfilled Lion primary coming though.
I am disappointed in myself. You know, it would be very nice if I could be witty and smart and improvise in the moment, but I’m not,
So you *like* Snake secondaries at least.
so I just gave up some time ago and now usually go straight with my head first. At least I’m getting the experience I would never get any other way.
Your secondary is burnt, for sure. But just reading between the lines here… I think you’re much smarter and more capable than you give yourself credit for.
I think if I were to be a Lion Secondary and constantly do this, I wouldn’t feel the heaviness over my secondary.
That’s another big sign of a burnt secondary. Doing things isn’t fun, it’s heavy, it’s a chore, it’s a slog.
Okay, let’s talk about recipes and cooking. I will follow the recipe, at least until I get what is going on, which flavor does what, why is this and not that. Then I can ditch it. I can add whatever I want later on. If I know which parts are the most important, I might not even need the recipe.
… okay, so this suddenly sounds a LOT like a Rapid-Fire Bird
Imagine a world where they give you a recipe for an apple pie and say make a pie. You follow it, your pie looks fine. Then, when they taste it, they tell you, Oh, you didn’t know, you needed to use sour apples. You didn’t figure that out on your own? No, dagnabit, I was concentrating on making an apple pie for the first time in my life. I had no experience of this thing. I didn’t know what it would be. Then they tell you, Oh, maybe you needed to use coconut sugar or something else, or maybe should have figured out yourself that it’s too sweet or that you hate cinnamon, or maybe your oven is not working properly, so you need to deal with that. Yeah, that’s how I feel about life and its problems and people.
Oh that’s interesting. Because what *this* bit is sounding like… is the angst of a Built secondary dealing with a lot of Improvisational secondaries. I’m think you’re a Bird… with a lot of Snakes and Lions in your life.
Every chance I get, I try to tell people these little small things that you somehow supposedly had to figure out on your own. You need to crack the system first to know how you can break it the best way to achieve your goals. Life, problems, people are systems I will never be able to crack. There is nothing to grab onto, so that’s why freefalling headfirst is the best and the easiest option.
OH. Burnt bird secondary. Snake model.
Btw, I am reading other submissions while writing this, to not go completely out of the path and get any ideas that would be valuable. I do like to have a net behind me to catch me if I fall, ha.
And another little detail that sounds very Birdy.
So I’m reading you as a Lion primary with a Rapid-fire Bird secondary. Your primary is burned a little, and your secondary is burned a lot. And a big part of the reason for that is that you’ve got people around you expecting you to use a Snake model all the time, and you *do* have one, you do. But it feels heavy to you right now. You don’t hate it, but you’d rather use Rapid-Fire or maybe Actor Bird. And that might be feeding into the general Anti-Snake sentiment I’m seeing here.
Your blog has been enjoyable regarding the Sorting Hat Chats! I've been trying to figure out my own sorting. In terms of primary - I would rank most likely from Bird>Snake>Lion>Badger.
I do place a high level of loyalty and value for the people who I consider most important in my life like a Snake primary. I know there are some people who are more important to me than others [basically I don't have the Badger mindset]. However, I think I'm fundamentally guided by what I think makes sense and what is most logical like a Bird primary. I tend to get anxious when things aren't making sense but I work hard to dig out solutions from the madness.
Okay, that's sounding like Bird primary angst to me.
I am also focused on attaining towards an idealized world - something I have dreamt out for myself
I don't think English is your first language, so I don't want to read crazy-much into the word "ideal" - but that is something that I hear Birds talk about, the goal of an "ideal" world (at least for ourselves) that we could get to if we just made the flow charts work correctly.
basically goals that I hope to achieve some day and I take action to do my best to get there. I know ambition is mostly classified as Snake but from the way SHC defines the houses in primaries, I can honestly see any of the primaries being highly ambitious. Not sure.
Yeah, we've grown out of our parent system :)
On the whole - I see Bird or Snake being the best fit but I could be a Burned Lion given my idealism
I'm not seeing Burnt Lion. So far you've written about what *you* think and what *you* want (and that's a good thing.) Burnt Lions tend to go with ready-made external value systems. And be a lot more stressed :)
I consider my beliefs to be logical
The huge stressing of "logical" means you *like* Bird primaries at the very least. 'Logical' is associated with Birds, but it's also kind of a loaded term (because no one wants to say, "oh yes, I am Illogical.") Everyone's primary is logical... to them.
but I do follow my gut sometimes and it's often right.
The question is not 'do you follow your gut ever,' the question is 'would you still feel good about following your gut even if you weren't sure why you were feeling something.'
Secondary is tougher for me to decipher. I don't really know on this except that I think it would be cool to be a Snake secondary but not sure how likely that is for me.
So you like Snake secondaries. Very good.
I am the kind of person that works hard and is good at planning ahead for things. Badger secondary is a possibility because I am good at showing people that I am dependable/reliable particularly at work, basically the person that won't let you down.
So a Built (Bird + Badger) secondary, or a Built secondary model.
I place a lot of value on using my skills to make my way through life which seems Bird secondary. My tendency is to plan for contingencies and follow those plans to the best of my ability until it no longer makes sense.
Sounds pretty Bird.
But I also can improvise when needed and I know when something bothers me that my temptation is to act and charge which is more Lion secondary. A part of me has a belief that I am smart enough to adapt if needed but I do feel a lot more comfortable with having a detailed plan to help me with a situation rather than winging something.
Unfortunately there's not really enough for me to go on here. This could be an Improvisational secondary (and I'd go with Snake before Lion, because of the emphasis on *adaptation,* and the fact that you really like Snakes) with a Built (probably Bird) secondary model.
But this could also be a comfortable Bird secondary who is in the process of building a fun Snake model. Ultimately, that's going to be your call.
