There are some things that a Shaper needs to be a healthy Shaper. The bottom line comes down to attitude.
A Shaper should be shaping from the moment they wake up till the moment they go to sleep. There should never be a second they're not shaping, in the same way that they're always breathing and always keeping their balance. They should never not be shaping, it's like grounding, centering and breathing: GCB-Shape all the time. If there are 5 seconds when they're bored, they should be saying "What can I do? What can I change? What can I affect in my world?" And that's physical shaping, that's making things happen, that's emotional shaping, that's artistic and creative shaping... When they are working on one, they should have four or five ideas in their head of things that they could be doing. Their problem should be learning how to focus, because they are too distracted with all the things they could be doing, not getting off their fat asses because they're too lazy. This is how a Shaper should be wired. A Shaper who is sitting on the couch just watching TV, should feel wrong in the same way that a Senser nor feeling feels wrong. A Shaper doing this, would be very graceful and athletic, because they would always be running.
This is the Shaper attitude: every moment, every second of every day, they should be saying "What should I do now" And as they get better, they should always have a big list of things to do, so that while they are doing one thing, they have the next thing already jumping up and down in their heads, saying "What else can I do, what next!" They should be whining that there aren't enough hours in the day to do all the cool things that can be done, not that there's too much to do. "No matter what I'm doing, I want to do more, I want to be busy, I want to be active, I want to do." It should be such a fundamental attitude that they don't have to think about it.
In addition, they should be very physical. They should be in better shape than anybody. They should be more aware of their body than anyone. In order to do all the time, they are constantly tuning into their body and using that body. They are constantly having to practice and develop, gain new muscles, gain new skills, because they have this intense fundamental attitude of the Shaper that drives them to constantly be doing and growing. They should be incredibly strong, with a stamina that's more impressive than anyone's. This comes naturally out of the Shaper attitude.
Finally, they should be very graceful. It's not a physical movement grace, it's a tactical grace: how do I get the right pieces in the right place, at the right time and in the right amount? Because they don't have enough hours in the day for all the doing, they're always scheduling: "How can I get more done in my day, how can I do these things together, and save time there, and line this up so it works more efficiently", just to try and get more doing into their time. This kind of tactical grace should be instinctive to Shapers. Since childhood they've been having three jobs while trying to learn the ukelele and scuba dive and mountain climb and herd goats and twenty other things at the same time. They do it because of this tactician skill, of which logistics is a component. There is no waste, no clumsiness, no having to re-do it or being at the wrong place at the wrong time.
These are the things every Shaper should have. Doing, from the moment they wake up till the moment they go to sleep. The intense physical health from all the doing. And then the grace, the ability to do and do and do effectively and do well.
Angel, 2014-10-30
