[INFJ] Do you relate to this? (General portrayal of INFJ)

[Forever]

I guess I would use it as a tool for better understanding myself. That's actually a good question because it probably makes little difference whether or not I know my type accurately.
I'm trying to figure out what I want to do with my life. I have no job satisfaction and I'm wondering what I should shift my focus to.

I can tell you knowing your type does not help you find what job you should do. Coriolis one of our mods stresses that type shouldn't dictate what one must do. (This is paraphrasing her roughly).

Like I want to be a musician but I don't have enough proficiency in an instrument. I studied a bit of music theory though and I made a few songs. Yet I need money to buy more equipment to make my own studio own a room. Everything and college can help me find a good job along the way or at least opportunities.

Just do what you're interested in. Know that anything will have boring phases to go through. Ni doms tend to be those kind of people who will just research anything they're going into, so if that's your type. Research lol, it'll keep you with the times and stay on top of things even though it will be predictable for a while.

 

[Forever]

No it's okay, don't be sorry, thank you for the feedback. How would you tailor it to fit INFJ specifically? And since you say anyone can relate, are my definitions of the functions in my portrayal incorrect?

Kind of you to ask, but I wouldn't be willing to. Just read some type profiles. Let each one impress on you and sit with them for a few days. It's going to take time and being technical with you won't help.

 

[OrangeAppled]

Fi recreates the experience due to his or her own experience. You relate to others because you've been in similar pain. If you see an Fi dom counselor usually their methods are like very hands off approach. They listen understand and totally validate your experience and ask what can you do?

Where as an Fe counselor wants to take more action and steps for you to grow. Make sense?

I can't say I relate to this. I do a kind of spiritual mentoring as part of my volunteer work, and I teach/tutor, and this is not my style as an INFP.

I often empathize with things I've never experienced and would never react to in the same way if I did. Instead of relating to someone because I've been in similar pain, I simply identify it as "pain", whether or not I've experienced that kind of pain. With Fi, it is kind of funneling things down to their basic value in the human experience, seeing the overlap between these different responses and how at core they're coming from a similar place.

I also will so vividly imagine what it is to be someone else and feel how they feel, that I can almost feel like I feel their kind of pain, a pain I've never experienced myself & maybe wouldn't experience in the same situation. I don't absorb their emotions directly though. I would describe it as instantly intuiting their essence as a person (their life experiences, their psychology, etc) and my brain concocts this simulator of them, and I step inside it and feel what it is to be them, and I separate it from how I might feel in such a situation or how I would rate such pain. That's a metaphor though... in real time it is just something I understand or realize.

I also don't only listen to understand, and I definitely don't always validate (IMO, understanding is not necessarily a matter of validating). I tend try and guide people to realize solutions, plans of action, etc by asking questions, telling stories, etc. I think if someone feels like they came up with it on their own, they are more inclined to do it. If they feel like you are dictating or criticizing, then they will get defensive and come up with reasons why they can't do it. This doesn't mean I don't have things in mind I am guiding them towards. I will definitely offer direct advice if solicited, but I tend to offer it as "ideas" because of the aforementioned stubbornness in people.

I also motivate people with encouragement by expressing my belief in their abilities or relating how it may have worked for someone else (ie its possible).

 

[Jellyfish1234]

Here's a question for [MENTION=31348]RareBird[/MENTION] and [MENTION=28184]Jellyfish1234[/MENTION]

If you found your true type, what would you do with it?

Well I mostly want to know my true type out of curiosity so I'd use it to quench my thirst I suppose. It'd be nice to be able to think about it with some confidence, being able to reflect on points in life and contemplate whether it was a manifestation of one of my functions or not. It'd also be nice to have enough confidence in my type to be able to spread information for people to gain an insight into what people that type is like, like Yamato does with ISFJ. And I'd also use it as a tool to explore parts of my personality that I probably wouldn't have thought about without MBTI - a way to discover parts of my identity I suppose.

Kind of you to ask, but I wouldn't be willing to. Just read some type profiles. Let each one impress on you and sit with them for a few days. It's going to take time and being technical with you won't help.

Ah alright. I've read many profiles on INFJ, I'm just aware there's a lot of garbage out there and I don't know which ones to trust, which is why I decided to post here - to get the viewpoint from a forum of people who've likely discussed what parts of profiles they relate to and what they don't and maybe have a better collective understanding of the type. I don't suppose you could point me to some decent, trustworthy profiles could you please, aside from the Jung one you told me to check out? I understand if not of course, you've already spent your time helping me by posting here, so thank you for that.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

I can tell you knowing your type does not help you find what job you should do. Coriolis one of our mods stresses that type shouldn't dictate what one must do. (This is paraphrasing her roughly). Like I want to be a musician but I don't have enough proficiency in an instrument. I studied a bit of music theory though and I made a few songs. Yet I need money to buy more equipment to make my own studio own a room. Everything and college can help me find a good job along the way or at least opportunities. Just do what you're interested in. Know that anything will have boring phases to go through. Ni doms tend to be those kind of people who will just research anything they're going into, so if that's your type. Research lol, it'll keep you with the times and stay on top of things even though it will be predictable for a while.

It's just that I've spent 11 years in a career ill-suited for me. It's completely soul-sucking and that fact compounded with the fact that I haven't had lasting success with romantic relationships has led me to a place of total dissatisfaction with my life's purpose.
I've been reading about INFJs a lot today, and a couple other common mistypes, as well as the functions, and I've concluded that I am in fact an INFJ through and through. Any area that I've strayed in is likely a reaction to high stress levels and is not permanent.

 

[Siúil a Rúin]

I don't really see myself as a fixer of people unless doing small things to cheer them up or otherwise make them feel better counts.

I think that comes from observing people well enough. It isn't possible to 'fix' someone else, but only possible to provide a little support so they can fix themselves if they want to and need to.

I don't enjoy imposing my will on the people around me. I know some people control what others eat in the family, and I can't do that. i want people to be healthy, but if someone eats a lot of sweets and gains weight, I'm not the person to tell them otherwise. One big foundation of my interaction with the world is respecting that inner boundary of self and personal choice. When people presume to cross that line, I find it offensive. I've sometimes been too rude probably when I see someone disregarding that sacred inner boundary of self. If someone disregards a person's sense of self, or choice of who to be, who to love, or how to live, it triggers some anger in me. I also get angry when people cross into my inner self. Any person doesn't control much in the world - we all live with continual uncertainty, but surely if there is just one thing a person is actually entitled to, wouldn't it be their sense of self - the right to define oneself in the world? Take that away and no one has anything at all. Trying too hard to fix people can threaten that boundary, especially if one tries to fix them on their own terms which may not work at all for another person.

 

[Fidelia]

I relate to the description. I don't know if I'd say I "fix" people, but I do analyze anomalies and patterns and try to create theories based on that for why people act as they do and which course of action I could take that they would respond best to. It certainly is true that if I understand why people are acting the way they are, how they are acting doesn't bother me in nearly the same way. I think this is because it allows me to feel that I am perceiving the world correctly and therefore have the tools to navigate accordingly. I find satisfaction in trying to meet people's needs or wishes in the way that works best for them, and value information that allows me to do so. I usually am looking for unifying themes or patterns when looking at human behaviour and then test them for exceptions to the rule. If they seem to hold up, that principle becomes a part of my philosophical framework for how I understand the world. Once it's in there, I will change it if needed, but will need to be convinced that is necessary, because the initial process is very involved and time consuming and usually quite thorough.

 

[Jellyfish1234]

I probably shouldn't have used the word "fix" as I think people are misinterpreting what I was attempting to communicate. I basically just meant, help to heal I suppose. Not as in change them to suit you, or how you think they should be changed to suit them, but to support them with problems they face. If they're upset, to understand why, and to use that understanding combined with the understanding of the individual person and human beings in general to help them through it. But not to impose on them and control them, like trying to change their diet or their actions.

Thank you for the responses [MENTION=14857]labyrinthine[/MENTION] and [MENTION=7111]fidelia[/MENTION].

Fidelia, so do you consciously and purposefully go about testing people's reactions to things to see if your theories on how human behaviour in general works, or am I misunderstanding?

 

[Fidelia]

Usually I notice a principle emerging or a pattern and then look to see if there are exceptions to it before I assume it is correct. But yes, I also store a lot of information specific to each person about likes/dislikes, common reactions, theories about them and so on and then do try to use that info in how I relate to them.

 

[Jellyfish1234]

Usually I notice a principle emerging or a pattern and then look to see if there are exceptions to it before I assume it is correct. But yes, I also store a lot of information specific to each person about likes/dislikes, common reactions, theories about them and so on and then do try to use that info in how I relate to them.

That's interesting. I think I just see a principle or pattern and just assume it isn't correct for everyone, but keep it as a principle I can recall for use should I think it applies to the person in question - I don't really try to find out if it doesn't apply to someone, I just assume it won't apply for everyone, but will for some or most people (depending on how long I've known the pattern/principle). But I relate completely to your second sentence.

 

[Fidelia]

Well it's not something out of the air. It's a general enough thing that keeps cropping up for me to wonder if it's universal or universal within a certain subgroup. Not just an idea that I decide must be true for everyone because I think it should be.

 

[Jellyfish1234]

Well it's not something out of the air. It's a general enough thing that keeps cropping up for me to wonder if it's universal or universal within a certain subgroup. Not just an idea that I decide must be true for everyone because I think it should be.

Yeah, that's what I thought you were saying, I didn't think you were just randomly deciding things to be true for everyone haha, sorry if it came across that way.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

I relate to the description. I don't know if I'd say I "fix" people, but I do analyze anomalies and patterns and try to create theories based on that for why people act as they do and which course of action I could take that they would respond best to. It certainly is true that if I understand why people are acting the way they are, how they are acting doesn't bother me in nearly the same way. I think this is because it allows me to feel that I am perceiving the world correctly and therefore have the tools to navigate accordingly. I find satisfaction in trying to meet people's needs or wishes in the way that works best for them, and value information that allows me to do so. I usually am looking for unifying themes or patterns when looking at human behaviour and then test them for exceptions to the rule. If they seem to hold up, that principle becomes a part of my philosophical framework for how I understand the world. Once it's in there, I will change it if needed, but will need to be convinced that is necessary, because the initial process is very involved and time consuming and usually quite thorough.

This.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

[MENTION=7111]fidelia[/MENTION]

You just put my thoughts into words better than I can do myself.