Introvert or Extrovert: How Do You Connect to God?
A couple weeks ago, I wrote the following on my Facebook wall:
I am such a homebody. I could be satisfied staying home all day, every day, with occasional trips to Starbucks to spice things up a bit.
A good friend of mine wrote the following response:
Both sound terrible to me. I’d be depressed from being alone all the time and then adding in burnt & over-syruped coffee would put me over the edge.
As much as his comment made me laugh, it really crystallized for me the difference between an introvert and an extrovert. And it got me wondering:
How do extroverts and introverts experience God differently?
This is a website about formation. We talk often here of the inner landscape of the human experience, which is such natural fodder for introverts to think about and discuss (see this article). We talk a lot here, too, about stillness and contemplation and rest — again, such natural preferences and ways of being for introverts.
What I’m learning is, this site is quite biased toward the introvert’s experience of life and of God!
Again, my friend’s comment got me wondering. How does an extrovert experience God in different ways than I do? Are still moments of contemplation ever helpful for him or her? What kinds of things draw them nearer and close to God than the things I usually do? Do extroverts reflect on their spiritual life and experiences the way introverts are prone to do?
Which naturally leads me to want to ask you:
Are you an introvert or an extrovert? Do you find that your introversion or extroversion influences how you best connect to God? What are the ways you prefer connecting to God?