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[SJ] SJ's: When You're Lost in Thought, What Are You Thinking About?

coconut

New member
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
136
MBTI Type
INTJ
Something I learned here is that, the more you know people, the less you can assume.

Yes, I'm finding that, too, and it's throwing me.

When I'm lost in thought and wonder about things and what the world really is, and my place in it, that's when I feel most who I really am. Everything else--eating, getting dressed, paying the bills--is just routine, mundane necessary business that has to get taken care of to get to what really makes me a person. If it's true that we're all basically the same underneath, then what's most true for me should be true for everyone. And if what makes me feel most who I really am is not the case for everyone else, then it makes me question if feeling that what makes me who I really am is not true. So if it's not that that makes us all the same, then what is?

And this thread isn't the place to be asking that.
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
4,602
Ooh ooh. I also think a lot about myself. I must be self-centered. :laugh:
 

swordpath

New member
Joined
Oct 24, 2007
Messages
10,547
MBTI Type
ISTx
Enneagram
5w6
We think about all of the things in life that require thought and processing, just like any other type.
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
19,129
MBTI Type
ESTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
Do you ever wonder if heaven will be everything you've experienced here, only better? And what 'better' might mean? If there's such thing as truer colors than there are here, and what that might look like? Is it possible to hear color?
Do you think about the influence that art/music has over mankind, and whether it makes them better people? Can hearing a variation in a scale of musical notes really influence morality?
I definitely don't wonder stuff like this. The deepest questions I ponder are about religion - anything else, the Sensor part of my brain will shut it down.

Although sometimes I do ponder art and society, just when I want to figure out what the "point" of art is. But that doesn't happen all that often.
Do you wonder if there's something inherent in you that prevents you from being as good as some other MBTI type?
No, because I'm 100% sure that no type is better than any other. We all balance each other out for a reason, and we're all needed in order for society to function, in my opinion.
Do you come up with a methodical plan for improving who you are in some way? Like, promising yourself you'll study for an hour every day for the next five years, and then calculate whether that's enough of a chunk in a life to make a difference?
Absolutely yes to the bolded, but no to the rest. I'll often plan that sort of thing out (i.e. fixing something I regularly do wrong), but I won't think so far ahead.

Examples of what's going on in my brain when I'm zoned out:
- Crap, I've got to catch the bus to get to my haircut at 3...
- That was embarrassing! Why did I do that?!?
- I hope my test goes well...
- What the hell is that thing doing there? Someone ought to fix that.
- That billboard is awesome! I've gotta tell my friend about that - she'd love it.
- *taking someone's recent quote and going on an Ne-ish hypothetical continued conversation in my mind*
- *singing along to a song in my head*
- *reliving a memory or movie/TV scene*
 

coconut

New member
Joined
Jul 11, 2010
Messages
136
MBTI Type
INTJ
- anything else, the Sensor part of my brain will shut down.

What does that mean? And what happens when the Sensor part of your brain shuts down? Do you stop paying attention to what you're doing and risk an accident/mistake?
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
19,129
MBTI Type
ESTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
What does that mean? And what happens when the Sensor part of your brain shuts down? Do you stop paying attention to what you're doing and risk an accident/mistake?
Crap - confusing typo. I meant "shut it down". As in, "shut it up". I'll fix that.

It's actually a fairly conscious thing. Kinda like this:

"I wonder if the universe -"
" -Dude. That question is pointless and unanswerable, and there are more pressing things to be considering right now. Stop while you're not ahead."
"Okay."

And that's it. Though it doesn't take much time at all for me to go through that - maybe three to five seconds.
 

EJCC

The Devil of TypoC
Joined
Aug 29, 2008
Messages
19,129
MBTI Type
ESTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Instinctual Variant
sp/so
^ I agree. They annoy me, too.

Like . . .?
I'd say a more pressing issue might include a homework assignment due the next day. Can you imagine - "I'm sorry, Professor, I didn't have time to write the paper because I was contemplating the mythology of 'LOST'."

Plus, like I said before, I just don't see the point. Probably because I'm not necessarily a cerebral person - i.e. I'm not someone who enjoys sitting and thinking as a hobby - so I have a hard time thinking of that sort of thought as an intellectual exercise, or as something with a benefit to me. It's frankly not on my priority list.

Edit:

When I'm lost in thought and wonder about things and what the world really is, and my place in it, that's when I feel most who I really am. Everything else--eating, getting dressed, paying the bills--is just routine, mundane necessary business that has to get taken care of to get to what really makes me a person. If it's true that we're all basically the same underneath, then what's most true for me should be true for everyone.
Being the same underneath doesn't mean having the same priorities. I also think that people are people and have many inherent similarities that I've seen in scientific studies or simply believe in. Sure, I care about broader things. Sure, I care about having a purpose to my life. But I enact my chosen purpose through action, and not through pondering. I'm an ESTJ - I get stuff done, and that's what I was made to do. But we all have different skills.

See? SJs really do think about stuff like that! :D

Another edit:
That last quote makes a lot of sense considering your enneagram type. You feel most at home enacting your type by gaining inner wisdom - which I respect - and I feel most at home when I'm doing things that I feel like make a difference in the world, and to other people, which reflects my Enneatype (1) and wing (2).

/derail
 

Thalassa

Permabanned
Joined
May 3, 2009
Messages
25,183
MBTI Type
ISFP
Enneagram
6w7
Instinctual Variant
sx
When I was about eighteen, I once asked my extremely introverted ISTJ grandfather - who raised me, who spent very close to the entirey of the first 18 years of my life around me, more like a father than a grandpa - what he thought about all the time. It really threw him off. He was like, "Oh I don't know, sometimes I think about nothing, how does that grab you? What do you think about?" and he said it really defensively.

He used to give me a lot of books though, and ask me to watch television programs with him, so that's how I got to see somewhat inside his head. However, I really think this had more to do with him being such an extremely introverted IxTJ and not so much with just being an SJ.

It appears to me that he thought a lot about religion and war, and politics, and self-improvement, and the past.

I think about the past a lot too. I swear to god I have Si, I don't care what type I am.
 

rurounimon

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Jul 13, 2010
Messages
9
MBTI Type
ISTJ
I think a lot about what I want to do in the future: going on trips, paying off debts, wedding, etc.

I need to learn more about how to live in the moment.
 

swordpath

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Oct 24, 2007
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10,547
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ISTx
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5w6
I think a lot about what I want to do in the future: going on trips, paying off debts, wedding, etc.

I need to learn more about how to live in the moment.

I suffer from this problem pretty severely as well.
 

Malice

Boldly Gone
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
738
MBTI Type
ESFJ
Enneagram
2W3
Things I've done.
Things I'd like to do.
Things I wish I could change and their potential outcomes.
Things I'd like to improve.
Things I have to do.
Things that bother me.
Things that make me happy.
Things that make me laugh.
Food.
 

coconut

New member
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Jul 11, 2010
Messages
136
MBTI Type
INTJ
Two ISTJ's posted that they need to learn to live in the moment -- I thought that was something ISTJ's were good at?
 

/DG/

silentigata ano (profile)
Joined
Mar 19, 2009
Messages
4,602
Two ISTJ's posted that they need to learn to live in the moment -- I thought that was something ISTJ's were good at?

Ahh close. You're thinking of SP's. It's Se that makes people "live in the moment." SJ's have Si, which is more about the past.
 

raz

Let's make this showy!
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Nov 11, 2008
Messages
2,523
MBTI Type
LoLz
Two ISTJ's posted that they need to learn to live in the moment -- I thought that was something ISTJ's were good at?

I have a hard time with that too. My thoughts usually either involve the past(recalling something I did before) or the future(planning).
 

Donna Cecilia

L'anima non dimora
Joined
Mar 19, 2010
Messages
1,219
MBTI Type
INTJ
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1w9
Ahh close. You're thinking of SP's. It's Se that makes people "live in the moment." SJ's have Si, which is more about the past.

Yes, SPs do that. I can´t.

Despite having Si, I think more about the future.

I only reacall the past in order to avoid repeating mistakes.
 

Chaotic Harmony

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Jul 13, 2009
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ENFP
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9w1
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sx
Recently, when I've been lost in thought, I've been thinking about what colors to paint the kitchen and living room of the house we're buying... Or dreaming about the wedding and honeymoon. Okay, okay.... So rather than dreaming about them I've been planning out details in my head. I'm so obsessed with planning. :blush:
 

Saslou

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Feb 1, 2009
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4,910
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ESFJ
Depends on the mood i suppose. I've come to realise i'm in my own little world far too often (that explains the bruises, lol)

I can get that gaze in my eyes and not be thinking of anything.
I can look over my past and see perfect timings and connections.
I try to see beyond the obvious in front of me, i try to use more than my 5 senses and think what it would be/feel like.
I try and become a receptor (not sure if thats the right word) so information can come to me.
I talk to myself often so the walls know my secrets :yes:
 

HezCoz524

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Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
5
MBTI Type
ISTJ
Enneagram
1w2
I tend to do a little bit of what everyone is saying. When I'm alone with my thoughts I tend to think very creatively, I suppose "daydreaming" is the appropriate word, where I come up with intricate stories or places and play them out in my mind.

I also think about tasks that I have to accomplish in the context of time. I reflect a lot on myself or others in my life, either trying to figure out certain problems or analyzing scenarios.

It is really interesting to see what people prioritize while they're thinking, though! Good topic.
 
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