Lifestyle & Commentary Posts

Pursuing Goals: Ni vs Ne

Guest Writer 2 Comments

Guest post by whatisfreethen, INTP

Ni may be able to follow a single idea to completion, it wouldn’t be fair to say that Ne’s can’t. It’s just that Ne ideas tend to be either more short term or fantastical than Ni. Also if an Ne can’t immediately execute an idea, it tends to get overcrowded by a flood of new ideas and never gets reconsidered. Or it tends to build up and become even more implausible than it was.

INTJ friend: So, what have you thought about writing that book together?

Me: How about one of us leans an animating software, and one learns sound effects, get some voice actors, and instead we make an animated movie?

Him: Maybe I’ll just write it myself. Continue reading →

Let’s be Real: One INFJ to the Rest of Mankind

Guest Writer 35 Comments

Guest post by Heather, INFJ

I’d like not only to dispel some of the myth and mist surrounding the INFJ legend today, but to cast some light and provide some entertainment as well. There are some frequently repeated assumptions (aka stereotypes) regarding INFJs that have been circulating internet-land for years. These legends affect non-INFJs, it’s true, but they also have a tendency to inform INFJs’ opinions of themselves. It’s the power of suggestion. Particularly when there is a grain of truth to a stereotype, it is both easy and agreeable to say, “oh yes, that’s me,” so long as the stereotype is positive or comical or gives us an excuse for our bad habits.

One of these assumptions that INFJs love to claim for their own is being psychic, otherworldly narwhalicorns. It’s kind of an attractive idea to have about oneself. Particularly when one has felt like something of an alien amongst other humans for most of one’s life, and when one is actually quite clever at reading people. So, let’s be real: INFJs very often know a substantial amount of information about you that they don’t let on to, because first and foremost, they want you to be comfortable with them. No one feels very comfortable if they think you’re aware of their motivations and inner life. So then, where did this mysterious cache of information come from, you may ask. First, INFJs are simply very attuned to people in general. Se is our inferior function, but it is still a function. Because we are sort of ‘set’ to the people wavelength, that is the information we tend to pick up a lot of. This information is fed into our Ni (dominant function), which recognizes patterns and themes and can extrapolate accurate readings based on very little data. Add to this that I at least (sorry guys, I don’t know any INFJs in real life besides myself) amuse myself by studying personality theory, graphology, and Chinese face reading so that I can know even more about every specimen that crosses my path unsuspectingly. Continue reading →

Defying INTJ Stereotypes: Anon

Guest Writer 17 Comments

Guest post by Anonymous, INTJ

I’m artistic.

To a fault, I admit. Ever since I was a child I’d either be playing mind-games or writing, drawing, or outwardly narrating a story. When I was in first to third grade, we had to keep journals. The teacher would put up a prompt (Ex: Do you have any pets?) and we had to write a few sentences about it. I thought this was boring, so I asked the teacher if I could just write, and she allowed me to. So, for the next three years, I would develop new little stories and illustrations to accompany them.

I was obsessed with drawing, back then, too. I’ve always been told I’m creative and a good artist, even though I’d like to think the comments didn’t affect me, I think they’re why I began to do it more often. That, or boredom. I still think it’s more of boredom. So, now I’m, as far as I’ve seen, the most experienced artist I know. I don’t even really like it. It’s passive. It just happens.

I have a large group of friends.

Continue reading →

Can INFJs use Ti more than Fe?

Arvid Walton 5 Comments

Subscribe to continue reading

Become a paid subscriber to get access to the rest of this post and other exclusive content.

INFJ: How I Write

Guest Writer 14 Comments

Guest post by annesophie, INFJ

writer-waiting-for-ideas-inspiration-writing-animated-gif

As a budding novelist, I spend a lot of time thinking about my characters’ minds and how they work. It seems fitting that I also take the time to look at my own mind and ask myself, with regard to the cognitive functions, how it goes about creating stories. This is my take on how being an INFJ influences my writing.

Being an INFJ, I find that my preferred method of communication (for my sake and for everyone else’s) is of the written sort. Give me a pencil, paper, and some time and I can organize my thoughts in an eloquent fashion, and even perhaps at a rapid pace. Ask me to speak in front of more than two people and…well, results may vary.

Mix this with a preference for fictional friends Continue reading →

Se-users: Do you talk with your Hands?

Arvid Walton 29 Comments

ComradeJocasta asked: Is it possible that upper-Se users might be more likely to gesture a lot when they speak?

I haven’t actually found much research on this topic. However, I’ve given it a bit of thought, and I’d like to hear everyone else’s thoughts as well.

My ESFP sibling definitely is NOT a hand talker. However, he does have a strong need for touch and physical contact with people he’s comfortable around. Same goes for my ISFP roommate.

Out of anyone in my family or friend group, I’m actually the one who talks most via my hands. However, I don’t necessarily attribute this to my Se function so much as to the fact that I’m relatively fluent in Sign Language. Before I learned Sign Language, I didn’t gesture at all when I spoke, but now talking and gesturing practically go hand in hand for me (wow, that was a terrible pun).

It’s the same with any language. As soon as you’re fluent in more than one language, and especially if you know more than two, it’s hard to force yourself not to blend the elements of each. At the same time, you also keep many elements very separate as well (for instance, I swear a lot more in German than I do in English).

Upper Se-users. Now is your time to talk! I’m interested to hear whether you talk with your hands.

INTJs: Uncomfortable with your Inferior Function?

Arvid Walton 24 Comments

Pasa Fino asked: I have a question which regards Se in a social setting. (I am an INTJ btw). This and the other Se post were helpful in a general sense, but here is a problem I personally encounter.

Whenever I am around people I don’t know well or consider as a friend, I behave in the way I am most comfortable with: distant, observant, serious, quiet, etc.. but when I am with the few people I consider my friends my Se seems to take over my brain in a most distressing manner. I begin to goof off, talk loudly, I become quirky and playful, and overall, much unlike myself. I go home feeling like a total fool. The worst thing about it is that I have little to no control over this while it is happening.

Otherwise, I integrate my Se via art, music, karate, and watching comedies on YouTube, and can control it decently well when I am in my normal environment or interacting with friends over the internet.

I am in my late teens, so I am hoping that in my twenties my Se will be somewhat tamer. Has anyone else encountered this problem? If so, is there a solution for an immediate solution for it?

#1 Yes, many INTJs experiences this:

In order to illustrate to you and others, that discomfort with the Se function is not something that any of us are alone on, I’m going to share an experience that is deeply personal to me. This is not just for you, Pasa Fino (though it is for you), but for all the people out there who may be struggling to connect with the more frightening, more human parts of themselves. Continue reading →

Why You should Stop Saying you were “Traumatized” by a TV Show

AsideArvid Walton 6 Comments

Why you should Stop Saying you were Traumatised by a TV show...

Anon asked: “You’re the first MBTI expert I’ve come across who’s typed the characters from Unsere Mütter, Unsere Väter, and since you’re an INTJ, I must know. Were you emotionally traumatized the first time you watched it?”

Continue reading →

Is it possible to have 2 Personalities?

Arvid Walton 8 Comments

Izzat asked: Based on your research, Is it possible to have 2 personality types?

Are you familiar with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID)? How about…Multiple Personality Disorder? The answer is yes, but not under normal circumstances.

Unless you have gone through massive levels of trauma– the answer to your question is no.

Continue reading →

INTJs: How to develop your Se function

Arvid Walton 24 Comments

Bryony asked: I am an INTJ with an unhealthy Se function. Out of curiosity, is it possible to change this?

Yes it is.

I had a very unhealthy Se function at one point in my life –so unhealthy in fact, that I wasn’t using it at all (I’ll let your imagination fill in the connotations of that happenstance). Here are some tips for developing an unhealthy Se function. Continue reading →