P = Perceiving

[and I'm back!]

Perception is the fine art of acknowledging a fact. A person who is more perceptive than judging can see, hear, taste, feel, smell ... and just let the knowledge, sensation, and "being" of the observed state or thing or action "be" exactly what it is, in that moment, without feeling a need to change it. Perceiving persons have a heightened sense of awareness, but a weaker drive to use that awareness to do anything but observe.

Perception can be easily mistaken for indecision. In fact, I myself am frequently caught in vicious cycles of indecision. However, perception is NOT an inability to act on knowledge. It just likes to keep things open and flexible. A perceiving employee hesitates to make conclusive statements until all options have been explored. A perceiving student exhausts all possible research before writing a paper. A perceiving romantic partner craves spontaneity and open communication, and is reluctant to "box in" his or her love interest to a set standard.

Perceiving is both frustrating and illuminating. Open-endedness can result in shoddy workmanship (the project is never complete) or valuable progress (the project is constantly evaluated against new data, in order to form a more accurate plan of action, relevant to current standards).