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Do you catch your habits?

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
2,331
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Have you started to recognize your own habitual thought processes and patterns of behaviour, and break free from them? I think this is the most fundamental step towards integration, once you know yourself, and know how your 'system' works, you can then work on controlling it's energy (that's obviously the 5 in me speaking, oh the irony)

I am sure now that all 9 types do this (I've been listening in to concioustv, which has been very enlightening), all of the types have described in some way that they have habits, which can sometimes be beneficial (like for example an 8 acting without thinking too much). Other times it may be best to break out of that habit and make a concious effort to do what you are not familiar with doing.

I'm just in the process of doing this now. At first, without guidance I just tried to break free from my own type, without realizing the importance of embracing it when it is working effectively. I can snap out of it, but more often than not, but often I can't help but indulge in the patterns, and I get an intense fear in my gut when I do sometimes.

This morning, while on the bus, I noticed a guy caught in multi-lane traffic pushing his broken down car. Normally, I would watch, but not engage when things like this happen, but this time so I got off the bus and headed towards him to offer help, but he was already gone. I couldn't help feel that fear, and I had so many doubts, typical of 5s, but I pushed through it. I don't know how the 8s can do it so easily, but I could kind of feel what drives them to do it, I just had to quiet my damned head and do it.
 

VagrantFarce

Active member
Joined
Nov 19, 2008
Messages
1,558
I'm getting better at it, for sure. :) Trying my best to be emotionally receptive and available - it's growing on me!

I guess this is what maturation is all about - catching the extremes of your behaviour before they take hold of you. You taste the entire spectrum, instead of gorging on one part of it.
 

Bamboozle

New member
Joined
Aug 29, 2009
Messages
68
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
3w2
Instinctual Variant
sx/so
I think you're right. I've started getting in the habit of saying, 'This is a 3 thing to say but…'. It's my way of acknowledging my instinctive reaction to a situation and then weighing it up from there so I can take a more measured approach. I think changing habits is all about little things like that—changing it one bit at a time.
 

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
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5
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sp/sx
I think you're right. I've started getting in the habit of saying, 'This is a 3 thing to say but…'. It's my way of acknowledging my instinctive reaction to a situation and then weighing it up from there so I can take a more measured approach. I think changing habits is all about little things like that—changing it one bit at a time.

Well, to every one habit, you can learn a counter habit of snapping out of it :D

Interesting to see an INTP 3, I heard that it's somewhat common, and I've seen one on INTPc, but I can't imagine what the mix would be like precisely.

It is said that we learn these habits to tackle the world as children, and when we grow up, we keep them with us where they might not be so applicable. But I think that suggests that we don't adapt as quickly to the world as we could when we grow older.
 

gromit

likes this
Joined
Mar 3, 2010
Messages
6,508
Have you started to recognize your own habitual thought processes and patterns of behaviour, and break free from them? I think this is the most fundamental step towards integration, once you know yourself, and know how your 'system' works, you can then work on controlling it's energy (that's obviously the 5 in me speaking, oh the irony)

Yes because how can you change if you don't know how you are? Sometimes just take a step back and realize that you sometimes do the same thing over and over. I'm working on confrontations (9 here - haha).
 

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
Joined
May 6, 2009
Messages
2,331
MBTI Type
INTP
Enneagram
5
Instinctual Variant
sp/sx
Yes because how can you change if you don't know how you are? Sometimes just take a step back and realize that you sometimes do the same thing over and over. I'm working on confrontations (9 here - haha).

You can change towards what other people tell you to change into, you try to become 'normal', or you try to become a super star etc.. Sometimes people expect you to be extraverted, and they value that quality, so you value that quality too. There are plenty of spiritual guides out there that have their own ideas and values, even if they are not thought out very carefully. I think the main difference between those guides and the enneagram, is specificity. I think the enneagram at heart is subjective, I suspect that there is a point where certain valued traits are picked based on how happy or useful people report they are. This is probably why the system can't be used in psychology, it's foundations are spiritual, like a religion. So it is a religion, disguised as science, that's not a bad thing at all though. Shit, I'm rambling, lol. But this is what I've been clasping at in the other thread I made, something wasn't settling quite right.
 

mujigay

Intergalactic Badass
Joined
Jun 9, 2011
Messages
532
MBTI Type
INTJ
Enneagram
1w9
Interesting point.

Once I saw all of the little habits that I had locked myself into on print or in type, it became a little easier to recognize my little 1-ish pitfalls and step back from them. So perhaps there's something there, in this spiritual improvement concept. One thing's for sure, it's not a science. But that doesn't mean that it can't be useful once in a while.
 

rav3n

.
Joined
Aug 6, 2010
Messages
11,655
Yup, which is why I've deliberately moved 5 from 8, rather than band-aiding with 2.
 

Forever_Jung

Active member
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
2,644
MBTI Type
ESFJ
Unfortunately, one of my worst habits is constantly monitoring my habits and then I just get trapped in this cycle that makes me cripplingly self-conscious.
 

Asterion

Ruler of the Stars
Joined
May 6, 2009
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5
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Interesting point.

Once I saw all of the little habits that I had locked myself into on print or in type, it became a little easier to recognize my little 1-ish pitfalls and step back from them. So perhaps there's something there, in this spiritual improvement concept. One thing's for sure, it's not a science. But that doesn't mean that it can't be useful once in a while.

Religion and spirituality are both very important anyway. :) I wouldn't have thought so before recently though.
 

Qlip

Post Human Post
Joined
Jul 30, 2010
Messages
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4w5
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sp/sx
Yeah, this is something that I've mastered. Seeing habits and changing them are very different things, though. It is more frustrating knowing something exists and is holding you back than to be ignorant of it. I am constantly strategizing against myself. That phrase sounds like I'm conflicted. Maybe it's better to say that I'm always hacking my OS. :D
 

Morpeko

Noble Wolf
Joined
Sep 20, 2017
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LEFV
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461
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Yeah, I've come to the point where I notice a lot of my habits, both from introspection and others pointing them out. However, I am rather unknowledgeable when it comes to changing these bad habits. I'm trying, though.
 

Peter Deadpan

phallus impudicus
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
8,883
Yes, very little gets by me, both internally and externally. It's strengthened by a remarkable factor in the last couple years. Frankly, it's maddening at times to see so much of the unseen. I analyze much of what I do and why I do it in real time, like this constantly running background program overlayed between all the other programs. I'm also doing the same thing with people I'm observing around me.
 

Peter Deadpan

phallus impudicus
Joined
Dec 14, 2016
Messages
8,883
Poor metacognition is a hallmark of personality disorders, except of course in the psychopathic who are well aware of what they are doing.
 

Maou

Mythos
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Jun 20, 2018
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6,117
MBTI Type
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Enneagram
5w6
Instinctual Variant
sx/sp
Yes, very little gets by me, both internally and externally. It's strengthened by a remarkable factor in the last couple years. Frankly, it's maddening at times to see so much of the unseen. I analyze much of what I do and why I do it in real time, like this constantly running background program overlayed between all the other programs. I'm also doing the same thing with people I'm observing around me.

This is pretty much what I do as well.
 

Luminous

༻✧✧༺
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Oct 25, 2017
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10,235
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Iᑎᖴᑭ
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952
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I do more in a way related directly to enneagram now. Which is helpful in becoming healthier. And why enneagram is my favorite system.
 

RadicalDoubt

Alongside Questionable Clarity
Joined
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1,848
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TiSi
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9w1
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sp/so
Unfortunately, one of my worst habits is constantly monitoring my habits and then I just get trapped in this cycle that makes me cripplingly self-conscious.
Oh same here. I'm also currently trying to break that one, with varied degrees of success of course.

Since realizing that I wasn't that introspective, I've constantly worked on ways to be more cognizant of my negative habits and break out of them. By default, I've always had a tendency to work against myself and counter my own behavior (kek my 1 wing is not my favorite feature), but when I began to introspect more I also realized that was another habit in need of breaking as well that distracted me from paying attention to my more "comfort" related habits. I've slowly been putting myself in situations which, alongside my own motivations, forces me to break those habits and press myself into a new state of being in order to create a self that I am happy with.
 

Forever_Jung

Active member
Joined
May 23, 2009
Messages
2,644
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Oh same here. I'm also currently trying to break that one, with varied degrees of success of course.

Since realizing that I wasn't that introspective, I've constantly worked on ways to be more cognizant of my negative habits and break out of them. By default, I've always had a tendency to work against myself and counter my own behavior (kek my 1 wing is not my favorite feature), but when I began to introspect more I also realized that was another habit in need of breaking as well that distracted me from paying attention to my more "comfort" related habits. I've slowly been putting myself in situations which, alongside my own motivations, forces me to break those habits and press myself into a new state of being in order to create a self that I am happy with.

That's great that you're breaking out of your comfort zone! Honestly just try random shit and see what sticks, as long as you're not committing unspeakable acts of evil, there's generally no wrong moves.

I can honestly say that I no longer relate to the part of myself you quoted. I don't even really remember that "problem", but I guess I wrote about it when I was 21, and I'm 30 now haha I gues at some point I stopped obsessing over what was wrong with me.
 

RadicalDoubt

Alongside Questionable Clarity
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9w1
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sp/so
That's great that you're breaking out of your comfort zone! Honestly just try random shit and see what sticks, as long as you're not committing unspeakable acts of evil, there's generally no wrong moves.

I can honestly say that I no longer relate to the part of myself you quoted. I don't even really remember that "problem", but I guess I wrote about it when I was 21, and I'm 30 now haha I gues at some point I stopped obsessing over what was wrong with me.
That's been my plan. Honestly that's great to hear, because it's sort of a shitty problem and if you no longer relate to it, it means that overtime perhaps maybe I won't either!
 
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