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Old 09-01-2007, 09:09 PM   #4 (permalink)
ptgatsby
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I just want to mention that a great deal of "healthy and unhealthy" in MBTI comes from the degree of emotional stability that one has. Think of this as the degree of reactiveness to negative factors - how controlling one becomes when they are a T, but how yellingish one becomes when E, how "silent treatment" one becomes when I, etc.

Working on the opposite functions is more about taking a situation in which your normal method of thinking isn't suitable. I don't recommend thinking in functional views for this, but regardless, it would be good for Es to learn to apprectiate the inner world - to essentially be less happy and contemplative, just as it is good for Is to learn to deal with "overload".

Every part of who we are is both "inherent" and imposed. A great deal of who we are comes from how we learn to cope with the inherent issues... as such, there should never be an issue with not "fixing the weakness". Learning to deal with different situations is critical for all personality types. It doesn't matter if it's an ESTJ learning how to show emotion to their mates, or just to themselves... or an INFP learning how to be be a project manager and thus tougher... It doesn't mean one should immerse themselves into that role, but understanding what is involved, how it works, why it's needed - it brings perspective... and more importantly, allows you to actually use those same skills when you need them... (as above, for a healthy personal relationship and the second for dealing with tasks that require less of a personal touch - a recent example being banking for me.)
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