Intestinal Alchemy

In a 3.5 hour interview yesterday I was asked if I was a thermometer or a thermostat.

I paused, I had to think what the differences were...A thermometer measures fluctuating temperatures and a thermostat establishes and maintains a desired temperature. A barrage of opposite word pairs came into my consciousness: control, ego, affected, infected, passive, aggressive, transformer, transformed, leader, follower, new, old...

The interviewer saw that I was taking my time, but about to speak, I guess it was too long of a pause for him and it was probably a rhetorical question anyway, b/c the interviewer told me what the differences were. He said, "That the person being affected by someone else's ideas/thoughts is like a thermometer. While the other person, impacts others with their ideas, is like a thermostat."

I didn't say much then, he let me know that questions are interruptions...but after thinking about it....I'm betting most people do both metaphorical roles.

But do I do them equally well? Measure and establish are the operative verbs. Am I aware when am I doing one and not the other?

Do I act in a leadership role by spontaneously doing the right thing?

It is very important for me to know when I am influencing or being influenced. I know I resist being influenced but love to influence others, give out information, new ideas. How do others respond to this?

Thermostats control/change environments...environments change people/people change hearts? Do thermometers only measure ideas of popular opinion? Which is easier to do? Which is more important?

What is the intestinal alchemy that changes a thermometer into a thermostat?

If I'm full of ideas without action, I'm a thermometer. But if I'm full of good and useful ideas and take action to bring them into fruition I'm a thermostat.

If I've been hurt, and forgive with expanded unconditional love, I'm a thermostat.