SBTI THAN-K Personality — 5 Chinese Idioms for the Thankful Type
SBTI THAN-K is the optimistic, grateful soul who finds warmth in recovery. 5 Chinese idioms for this bright personality.
THAN-K on the SBTI test means you're the Thankful One — the person who bounces back with warmth and sees silver linings. Chinese wisdom literature is rich with idioms (chengyu, 成语) about optimism and gratitude. Here are 5 that embody the THAN-K spirit.
塞翁失马
sài wēng shī mǎMisfortune might be a blessing
Literal: Old man loses horse
The Huainanzi tells of a man living out by the frontier, known ever since as the Old Man of the Frontier — 塞翁, from 塞, a border pass, and 翁, an old man. His horse (马) was lost (失), simply ran off. His neighbours came to console him and he asked how they knew it was not good fortune; the horse return...
Example
Losing his job led him to find his true calling
失业反而让他找到了真正的使命
福无双至
fú wú shuāng zhìGood luck does not repeat
Literal: Blessings do not come in pairs
Liu Xiang's Garden of Persuasions has the older form — 福不重至，祸必重来, blessings do not come twice, misfortunes certainly come again — which settled into the pairing used today: 福无双至，祸不单行. The Water Margin puts it in characters' mouths at exactly the moment their luck turns. The asymmetry is the whole po...
Example
He realized that good luck is often fleeting and rare.
他意识到好运往往是短暂而稀有的。
春风满面
chūn fēng mǎn miànLook happy and content
Literal: Spring wind fills the face
A face (面) filled (满) with spring breeze (春风) — the look of someone whose good humour is visible before they speak. The comparison is to weather rather than to expression: the warmth is taken to be radiating outward rather than performed. It is also written 满面春风, with the halves reversed and the sen...
Example
She returned from vacation looking refreshed and happy.
她度假回来春风满面。
得天独厚
dé tiān dú hòuUniquely blessed with natural advantages
Literal: Receive heaven unique favor
To have received (得) from heaven (天) a uniquely (独) generous portion (厚). What the phrase specifies is that the advantage was there before anyone did anything — soil, climate, position, constitution, family — so it is not a comment on merit either way. Regions with natural resources and people with ...
Example
The coastal region's ideal climate and natural harbor created exceptional development advantages
沿海地区理想的气候和天然港口创造了特殊的发展优势
柳暗花明
liǔ àn huā míngHope appears in darkness
Literal: Dark willows bright flowers
This comes from Lu You's Visiting a Village West of the Mountains, of the Southern Song: 山重水复疑无路，柳暗花明又一村 — where the hills fold and the streams double back and there seems to be no road, the willows darken (柳暗) and the flowers brighten (花明), and there is another village. The turn arrives at the mome...
Example
After months of setbacks, they finally had their breakthrough
经过几个月的挫折，他们终于取得了突破
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