[MBTI General] INFJs-how developed are your 'sensing' skills

[karenk]

(I mean extraverted sensing) I miss a LOT and wonder if other INFJs have a problem to the same extent. Has anyone tried to develop this side? Did it improve?

 

[Wyst]

^^ Same here.

I do a lot more introverted sensing, which I'm pretty strong at but I probably tend to miss a lot when I'm in the moment. I, too, would love to develop my Se.

 

[cascadeco]

Well, since I've only recently been enlightened on the Ni and Fe that is prevalent in myself, and I hadn't really understood my supposedly primary processes very well, I'm pretty hesitant at this point to start talking about Se!!! I doubt I really understand what it entails either!!

But, just based on your post, if you're talking about external details/objects in our surroundings, I actually think I'm pretty aware of them.

I'll have to back up to my childhood. One of the things I became very interested in when I was about 10 was birdwatching. I think the act of birding is an Se activity. You're constantly scanning your surroundings for bird movement - amidst all kinds of other moving things - leaves fluttering, squirrels rustling, etc. So it's a totally sensory activity. Now there are other skills that come into it too, but the *act* of birding is Se, I think. I would assume Si is the memorizing of plumage details and vocalizations?? There's also a lot of pattern association and distribution associated with it, which come into play when you're debating the liklihood of a particular bird being somewhere, habitat, etc - which is perhaps Ni or something like that, with Si too. ANYHOW.

I'm thinking all of my time outdoors, and my love of those details, probably heightened my Se. From birds, I grew interested in flowers, and then I started noticing all sorts of other details while I was out -- and now I find myself even noticing insects and fungi and moss growing on trees...

Also, I may be more Se-oriented because I was pretty solitary/alone growing up, and most of my teenage years, when I wasn't doing something extracurricular, were spent in thought or observation. Since I was super self conscious and didn't have many friends to speak of, I spent most of my time just observing. Watching everyone around me. Maybe I picked up on it then too.

As for developing it? Well, maybe you could just make it a point to develop it, you know?? Just consciously take yourself out of your inner world for a bit, blink your eyes, and really look at everything around you, and focus on what's around you. Take it in. Maybe do that for 5 minutes. Maybe that's a start. And I'm sure there's some sort of hobby/sport you could pick up that could exercise your Se a bit more. I do climbing now, too, which is pretty sensory.

 

[Kyrielle]

I'll have to back up to my childhood. One of the things I became very interested in when I was about 10 was birdwatching. I think the act of birding is an Se activity. You're constantly scanning your surroundings for bird movement - amidst all kinds of other moving things - leaves fluttering, squirrels rustling, etc. So it's a totally sensory activity. Now there are other skills that come into it too, but the *act* of birding is Se, I think. I would assume Si is the memorizing of plumage details and vocalizations?? There's also a lot of pattern association and distribution associated with it, which come into play when you're debating the liklihood of a particular bird being somewhere, habitat, etc - which is perhaps Ni or something like that, with Si too. ANYHOW.

I did the exact same thing when I was around 8 or 9. At one time I knew the name of every single bird that ever visited our birdfeeders. And then I learned how to spot humming birds when they were flying away into the trees. But instead of going on to flowers it went onto snakes and lizards. And then I got the crazy idea into my head that I should draw these things I see...and that sort of opened up an avenue of paying attention to the minute details of life. Sometimes they're very beautiful.

I wonder if INFJs (or maybe just me) have a sort of binocular focus to the outer world. It always feels like that for me--like it's too much of a sensory overload to take in everything at once, so the outer world is mostly comprised of very focused snapshots that adhere themselves to my memory.

 

[entropie]

I sense boobs here wrong thread xD

 

[LadyJaye]

My twin is an eNFJ, our father is an INFJ. They both call themselves the "bicycle helmet wearers" in the family because they have almost zero utility with their sensing functions. My sister has had to learn to be aware of her environment, otherwise she would be sitting obliviously in a giant pile of dirty clothes, and not register it until she realized she was out of clean socks.

 

[sciski]

*waves from my giant pile of dirty clothes*

It turns out that I'm pretty helpless without my ISFJ mum and ESFJ sister to shake their heads and sigh after me!

Just this morning I noticed that there are two very large hills (they might be mountains) behind my work place... I've been travelling to work via this route for a year. :-/ It's kind of good though, to be continually surprised and amazed at your surroundings. Bad when you end up being surprised and amazed because you forgot you had hips/shoulders and walked into another doorframe.

 

[karenk]

*waves from my giant pile of dirty clothes*

It turns out that I'm pretty helpless without my ISFJ mum and ESFJ sister to shake their heads and sigh after me!

Just this morning I noticed that there are two very large hills (they might be mountains) behind my work place... I've been travelling to work via this route for a year. :-/ It's kind of good though, to be continually surprised and amazed at your surroundings. Bad when you end up being surprised and amazed because you forgot you had hips/shoulders and walked into another doorframe.

HA! A while ago I was looking out a window at work (I had been looking through for months) and noticed a house in the view. Also I had been driving on the same freeway for a few weeks and suddenly noticed if I look ahead I could see the city/buildings/outline. It's really sad.....

 

[redacted]

horribly developed.

horribly.

 

[wedekit]

Since I'm not particularly athletic (though I have had my moments) I usually experience Se in the form of arts and crafts, cooking, etc. It allows for me to use my imagination (Ni) and then draw it out into the physical world by making it (Se). It's not always the easiest thing for me to do, but when I finish a project that uses Se I usually feel great about myself.

 

[sciski]

It's not always the easiest thing for me to do, but when I finish a project that uses Se I usually feel great about myself.

In total agreement on that point! I LOVE using Se skillfully! Wonder if that's how ESxPs feel most of the time? Or maybe they feel awesome when they use their Ni with finesse...