Ever fall outside the box?

[Ravenetta]

Okay, so it's fun and all to see how ones personality and behavior fits inside all the neat MBTI, Enneagram, big five, etc. labels, but what can you tell us about yourself that is just too weird (excuse me.. unique) to make it into the manuals? It's better for this thread to just let the pieces land outside the box, rather than finding some way to stick them back inside.

My own self is based on many dichotomies that create a kind of stasis or balance. For example, my thinking is strongly iNtuitive, but my life is surrounded by endeavors that express the abstract in concrete, sensory ways: music, art, dance, nature, savory flavors, etc. I also have anxiety issues balanced with bouts of complete fearlessness when the situation calls for it.

What is often most interesting about people are the dichotomies that exist within them. It is the fact that they aren't just simply one way or another that makes them unique. It is the way in which different fundamental aspects of personality interact within the individual that creates their uniqueness. For example, a person may lean more towards a thinking or feeling preference. This could be compared to a wrestling match in which one opponent is stronger. Perhaps it is not simply this, but it is the strategy in the way the two interact that creates the dynamics and interest of the match, i.e. the personality. For one person, it could be like watching two highly trained martial artists, for another like watching two sumo wrestlers, and for another a haphazard Jerry Springer style smack-down.

So what dichotomies do you possess, how do these interact, and/or is there anything else about you they didn't include in the manual.

[nightning]

Hmmm I'm not sure if this fits... INFJ is associated with holding a consistent inner vision about how the world should/ought to be. However I frequently hold contradictory ideas in my head. That I can believe in two things that are at odds with each other and not question their validity. But I suspect other INFJs probably feel the same way too. I don't know.

[SolitaryWalker]

Okay, so it's fun and all to see how ones personality and behavior fits inside all the neat MBTI, Enneagram, big five, etc. labels, but what can you tell us about yourself that is just too weird (excuse me.. unique) to make it into the manuals? It's better for this thread to just let the pieces land outside the box, rather than finding some way to stick them back inside.

My own self is based on many dichotomies that create a kind of stasis or balance. For example, my thinking is strongly iNtuitive, but my life is surrounded by endeavors that express the abstract in concrete, sensory ways: music, art, dance, nature, savory flavors, etc. I also have anxiety issues balanced with bouts of complete fearlessness when the situation calls for it.

What is often most interesting about people are the dichotomies that exist within them. It is the fact that they aren't just simply one way or another that makes them unique. It is the way in which different fundamental aspects of personality interact within the individual that creates their uniqueness. For example, a person may lean more towards a thinking or feeling preference. This could be compared to a wrestling match in which one opponent is stronger. Perhaps it is not simply this, but it is the strategy in the way the two interact that creates the dynamics and interest of the match, i.e. the personality. For one person, it could be like watching two highly trained martial artists, for another like watching two sumo wrestlers, and for another a haphazard Jerry Springer style smack-down.

So what dichotomies do you possess, how do these interact, and/or is there anything else about you they didn't include in the manual.

There is no box to begin with it is all part of our self-imposed immaturity.

And as far as psychology that you've cited is concerned we have to keep the personality/temperament distinction in perspective. Personality is the way we are, temperament is what we were born with. Temperament is not what we are, but what we have.

[Eileen]

However I frequently hold contradictory ideas in my head. That I can believe in two things that are at odds with each other and not question their validity. But I suspect other INFJs probably feel the same way too. I don't know.

(at least one other INFJ feels the same way - that's me)

[Totenkindly]

Hmmm I'm not sure if this fits... INFJ is associated with holding a consistent inner vision about how the world should/ought to be. However I frequently hold contradictory ideas in my head. That I can believe in two things that are at odds with each other and not question their validity. But I suspect other INFJs probably feel the same way too. I don't know.

Well, there is the sense of a clear consistent vision at least in the holistic sense... although when I've been studying Ni lately, it seems to be more about recognizing that signs from the environment always have an angle on them and thus can't be taken at face value.

Where as Ne uses "signs" in the environment to follow patterns, trusting that the patterns are true and that the more patterns followed/recognized, the closer to truth one gets, Ni is associated with not really trusting the environment per se but knowing that every sign that one observes is someone's particular "spin" on something and has a slant, and thus one has to be able to step beyond it and look at the sign from many other angles. (Almost a distrust of the signs, rather than Ne's implicit trust.)

So when you say that you can hold two contradictory thoughts in your head and not question their validity, I see this as possible for Ni to do (at least if your comment is reframed a bit).

Just thought I would share that, since I'm currently reading about it and really trying to get a grasp of what "Ni" actually means.

[Littlelostnf]

Well, there is the sense of a clear consistent vision at least in the holistic sense... although when I've been studying Ni lately, it seems to be more about recognizing that signs from the environment always have an angle on them and thus can't be taken at face value.

Where as Ne uses "signs" in the environment to follow patterns, trusting that the patterns are true and that the more patterns followed/recognized, the closer to truth one gets, Ni is associated with not really trusting the environment per se but knowing that every sign that one observes is someone's particular "spin" on something and has a slant, and thus one has to be able to step beyond it and look at the sign from many other angles. (Almost a distrust of the signs, rather than Ne's implicit trust.)

So when you say that you can hold two contradictory thoughts in your head and not question their validity, I see this as possible for Ni to do (at least if your comment is reframed a bit).

Just thought I would share that, since I'm currently reading about it and really trying to get a grasp of what "Ni" actually means.

I'm an ENFJ and it is said that we MUST be around people or we suffer. That is inconsistant for me. I love people, I'm a teacher, I come from a big family yet there is nothing I like better than traveling on my own, eating out on my own and living on my own. I never understood my friends who needed to go "to the mall" with someone else or couldn't be alone for more than an hour or so. Spending a weekend with me and my books is lovely. If I connect for a moment with a 5 min phone call...that can last me for days. How come all the books say that ENFJ MUST have people around. That has never been the case for me...even in my super extroverted teens and early twenties.

[rhinosaur]

Well I thought I fit nicely into the INTP box, until I realized that I'm too reliable, and I enjoy closure and order almost as much as an INTJ.

I also exhibit a lot of risk-taking behavior and am as familiar with the "wild side" as I am with the typical INTP behaviors. That may be because I was raised by wolves.

[faith]

However I frequently hold contradictory ideas in my head. That I can believe in two things that are at odds with each other and not question their validity. But I suspect other INFJs probably feel the same way too. I don't know.

Add me to the list with Eileen.

I actually don't think this is outside the box for INFJs.

[SolitaryWalker]

I'm an ENFJ and it is said that we MUST be around people or we suffer. That is inconsistant for me. I love people, I'm a teacher, I come from a big family yet there is nothing I like better than traveling on my own, eating out on my own and living on my own. I never understood my friends who needed to go "to the mall" with someone else or couldn't be alone for more than an hour or so. Spending a weekend with me and my books is lovely. If I connect for a moment with a 5 min phone call...that can last me for days. How come all the books say that ENFJ MUST have people around. That has never been the case for me...even in my super extroverted teens and early twenties.

Fe is the most sociable function that there is. You found your salvation in Ni.

[Shimpei]

I'm not a typical ISFJ. Some people say I'm more like an INFJ.