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Grandmasterr

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Hi guys,
so, basically i've been doing a lot of stuff with an awesome INFP woman, from concerts over ice-skating to writing letters- and finally, after two months, my Ti has decided that now is the time to give my Fe the permission to feel love.
My question is: How would I actually approach an INFP best, if I were to start an actual relationship?
My ISTP-instinct would be to blurt out something like "I've decided to like you really really much, wanna be my girlfriend?"
But that seems to be about as romantic as an old can of coke and propably way too blunt. How do I do that best, ideally without fully ruining everything if it shouldn't work out?
Do I write a love letter?
Do I just, like, go in for a kiss in the hopefully right Moment?
So many questions :frustrating:
 
Troll the INFP forums.
Something like, " I have become fond of you, enjoy spending time with you and would like a. us to officially start a relationship and see where it goes or b. you to be my girlfriend ."
 
...identical post, oops.
 
Oh how my little INFP heart flutters xD Like @GentleLions suggested, stalking about the INFP forums might help quite a bit. Look under threads that discuss "perfect dates" or "INFP romantic relationships."
From what it sounds like, you're pretty well off in the romance department. Ice skating? :hearts:. I'm not so sure that you need help haha
Well, if she's been hanging out with you, it's probably because she likes your ISTPness. So my first piece of advice would be, just keep being you!
"I've decided to like you really really much, wanna be my girlfriend?"
hahah the "I've decided to like you" cracks me up. Absolutely adorable, who decides to like someone? xD

My question is: How would I actually approach an INFP best, if I were to start an actual relationship?
I would have to know a little bit more about her to be sure and a bit more about the dynamics of your friendship. Do you guys already have a "thing"? Unless you're pretty sure she's going to say yes, writing a love letter might not be the best option..just because then she'll just awkwardly have it forever. That might be a thing you do once yall are together. But then again, you've already written her letters? How has that worked out?

Walks are nice. I would try something romantic but casual like inviting her to stroll around a park or something and at some point put your arm around her. Her body language/reaction will give you a pretty good feel for for how she would react to you actually asking her out. If you're not confident enough to do that, then you could even go for something more subtle like bumping against her gently after one of you has said something humorous and see if she "bumps back". If she does, I would go ahead for the arm around the shoulders as you guys walk :) Either/both of those things aren't going to harm the friendship if it "doesn't work out" because they're pretty safe, but they're cute enough to give her butterflies.
As for the actual asking part, I can't help you there man. Just ask? heh

Oh, if you're not already, flirt.
 
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I would have to say... you need to be confident, initiate conversations, be a supportive figure, have some depth of character (in my experience INFPs tend to be well read and cultured individuals), be the first to flirt but back off if it is not well met, in general respect their space.

I have not been in a longterm relationship with one so I am not an expert.
 
I was in a 6 month relationship with one.
I'd say that the relationship will probably be rocky in several ways.
But rocky relationships are the norm, so I don't really care to be all you are incompatible and shit.
But you really are incompatible...
Not that I care, not my problem
I was probably a better match as an INTJ and it still didn't work.
Pro-tip...if you ever get over her and decide to pursue other women,
keep to NFJs and other STPs.
 
INFP's are suckers for people that are up-front. Be honest with her and tell her that you like her a lot and wanna start something with her, but maybe go more for something like "I really really like you and wanna start something with you." I don't know, I'm not good with wording what you should say verbatim. Just don't say the "I've decided to" part or else she'll feel like you're forcing yourself into this and run away. Be real with her so you can start a relationship with honesty as the foundation rather than trying to make yourself into a different person to better accommodate her "INFP-ness".
 
I'm an INFP ... and all I can say is I love romance.
Although... I'm very shy about saying that... I don't like to admit that I'm in love with love.
Back before my boyfriend, was my boyfriend he drove 120 miles in a near blizzard to deliver to me a love letter and a huge bouquet of flowers on Valentine's day to ask me to be his girlfriend... I remember I was smitten. Something romantic is the way to go when you're dealing with an INFP I guarantee. However, INFP you have to remember are very giving and forgiving people and even though you don't always say the right thing they can understand what you mean and how you feel pretty much without you saying anything so chances are she already knows how you feel.
 
Re: strontphite

@Strontphite

So, I agree with you partly.
For one thing as an INFP, I find S's in generally to be incredibly annoying and I don't understand them. However, just because I feel that way doesn't mean another INFP won't feel differently because everyone has different levels of self development and different levels and abilities to cope with other personalities.
For example, you mentioned you were in a relationship with an INFP and it didn't work out and it was very difficult. But I am currently in a relationship with an INTJ and we've been together for almost 3 years now and we get along amazingly. I think part of this might have to do with what level of S verses N you are some people can be like 99% S and only 1% N whereas someone else might be 45% N and 65% S which would be a whole lot easier to relate to than a full out S. So, just an observation I thought I'd point out that things aren't always just black and white with personality types.
 
I was in a 6 month relationship with one.
I'd say that the relationship will probably be rocky in several ways.
But rocky relationships are the norm, so I don't really care to be all you are incompatible and shit.
But you really are incompatible...
Not that I care, not my problem
I was probably a better match as an INTJ and it still didn't work.
Pro-tip...if you ever get over her and decide to pursue other women,
keep to NFJs and other STPs.
So, I partly agree with you.
On the first hand, I as an INFP generally find Sensors to be annoying tedious people, they just don't seem to get it, but perhaps this is because I am very highly N (intuitive). So I guess it probably depends on how much of an S (sensor) a person is because a person can be very close to the midpoint of the scale and I could get along with them just fine. However, if a person is on the far end of the scale in the direction of S I definitely do not get along with said person. My guess if these two people are already hanging out and having a good time together as friends they must be close enough on the S to N scale that they will be able to make it work, but that's just my conjecture. In addition to this, just because I as an INFP doesn't get along well with S doesn't mean that another INFP won't be able to because everyone has different levels of personal awareness and development and the further someone gets along this line the easier said person can get along with all types.
I am currently in a long term relationship with an INTJ and we have a lot of mutual respect and understanding for each other we get along wonderfully. So just because you had rockiness in your INFP/INTJ relationship doesn't mean someone else will.
 
Yeah, the words you choose matter, but You seem to have a solid relationship with her already, and that matters more than the way you ask her.
I want to tell you to stay away from the "I've decided to like you really really much".... but it's undeniably adorable and will make for a cute story for years to come.
Don't worry too much is my point.
 
So, I partly agree with you.
On the first hand, I as an INFP generally find Sensors to be annoying tedious people, they just don't seem to get it, but perhaps this is because I am very highly N (intuitive). So I guess it probably depends on how much of an S (sensor) a person is because a person can be very close to the midpoint of the scale and I could get along with them just fine. However, if a person is on the far end of the scale in the direction of S I definitely do not get along with said person. My guess if these two people are already hanging out and having a good time together as friends they must be close enough on the S to N scale that they will be able to make it work, but that's just my conjecture. In addition to this, just because I as an INFP doesn't get along well with S doesn't mean that another INFP won't be able to because everyone has different levels of personal awareness and development and the further someone gets along this line the easier said person can get along with all types.
I am currently in a long term relationship with an INTJ and we have a lot of mutual respect and understanding for each other we get along wonderfully. So just because you had rockiness in your INFP/INTJ relationship doesn't mean someone else will.
Sure people generally get along on the surface.
If that is your standard, great!
Every INFP I meet always think things are great,
until I leave them because I'm tired of them calling things great that are not.
Male and female equal.
Move along nothing to see here.
 
I can give you some pointers since my current girlfriend is an INFP (although a rather mature one).

First thing is to be honest and genuine. That's the best way to get your foot in the door. INFPs are extremely perceptive, more so than one may initially think because they value deep emotional connections so they kinda just "know" if someone is being upfront or not. There are some things that different types find deplorable and if a stranger does that thing then they may never be able to recover and dishonesty may very well be that thing for an INFP.

Second is to be understanding. That means more than just nodding your head and passively agreeing with what they're saying, it means being an active listener. They crave reassurance and so if you find that you like them then the best thing you can do is let your intentions be known through a subtle romantic gesture. Now every girl is different mind you, so use your judgment. My girlfriend does NOT take kindly to "romanticism" for instance, but that's just her.

Third is to have a little bit of fun. Not all INFPs are "goof-balls", but they do have a goofy side. I'm not saying that they don't mind more of a "straight-edge" person, as it could help balance them out, but they would find it hard pressed to connect with someone if they can't cut loose once in awhile. I took my girlfriend out on a date once and we ended up walking for 45 minutes and we were in a completely different and shady part of town. She loved every minute of it until her feet started to hurt.

Anyways, this is was a very basic rundown but this is what worked for me. But for us INTPs, we actually have a natural affinity to attract INFPs (if both are mature at least), due to how similar both types are at least during the initial dating phase. But types isn't the end all be all.
 
So, I partly agree with you.
On the first hand, I as an INFP generally find Sensors to be annoying tedious people, they just don't seem to get it, but perhaps this is because I am very highly N (intuitive). So I guess it probably depends on how much of an S (sensor) a person is because a person can be very close to the midpoint of the scale and I could get along with them just fine. However, if a person is on the far end of the scale in the direction of S I definitely do not get along with said person. My guess if these two people are already hanging out and having a good time together as friends they must be close enough on the S to N scale that they will be able to make it work, but that's just my conjecture. In addition to this, just because I as an INFP doesn't get along well with S doesn't mean that another INFP won't be able to because everyone has different levels of personal awareness and development and the further someone gets along this line the easier said person can get along with all types.
I am currently in a long term relationship with an INTJ and we have a lot of mutual respect and understanding for each other we get along wonderfully. So just because you had rockiness in your INFP/INTJ relationship doesn't mean someone else will.
Sure people generally get along on the surface.
If that is your standard, great!
Every INFP I meet always think things are great,
until I leave them because I'm tired of them calling things great that are not.
Male and female equal.
Move along nothing to see here.
Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say our style is at all surface.
And I wouldn't say INFPs as a whole always think things are great ...I've definitely worked through some challenges in this relationship.
But i think what makes or breaks a relationship is the maturity of both and their ability to be honest and communicate so that they can work through things.
When I have a problem I say so and when my bf has a problem he says so. I know there is a tendency for INFPs to not be assertive about issues but I've learned to just speak I stead of assuming the other person is going to just get it. So... Again I think you are wrong and are over generalizing.
 
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Well, I wouldn't go so far as to say our style is at all surface.
And I wouldn't say INFPs as a whole always think things are great ...I've definitely worked through some challenges in this relationship.
But i think what makes or breaks a relationship is the maturity of both and their ability to be honest and communicate so that they can work through things.
When I have a problem I say so and when my bf has a problem he says so. I know there is a tendency for INFPs to not be assertive about issues but I've learned to just speak I stead of assuming the other person is going to just get it. So... Again I think you are wrong and are over generalizing.
That's pretty much it. Any type can be compatible with another as long as they are mature about it. Sure some types might be easier to get along with than others, but just because something may be more challenging than you would have liked it to be doesn't mean that it's "wrong." Some people just love looking for the easy way instead of the better way.
 
For me, probably the strongest draw is a feeling of being sensed and understood. Usually, I dislike and shy away from questions about how I feel, but if I feel that someone genuinely wants to understand my feelings and is perceptive enough to sense even a bit of what I feel inside I open up immensely. That, and being open to what I say. INFPs tend to have a strong sense of individuality, their own moral compass and their own ideas of how things should immediately be, and having the things I hold dear invalidated is a great way to permanently get rid of me. The things I believe in have been put together through years of careful introspection and (self)observation. If others are like me then this is absolutely not something we take lightly. She might also be shy to expose her "true" self due to a feeling of being too different, of probably not being accepted. Try to draw that out. If she is like me, she will also expect you to touch her first. I'm usually seen as distanced and reserved, but this is not due to me not wanting to be close, but rather out of a feeling of getting too close being unwanted.

For me, as a man, it is also important to have my very deep emotionality understood and appreciated. It can be small things like listening to slow (others might call it boring) music that just touches and moves me emotionally. It can be things like having a room we meet in being illuminated with warm, unintrusive light. Or the feeling that the world ends where the walls begin. In a relationship, I crave these things. At times, I need to feel as if the world does not exist / consists only of me and my partner.

Maybe this helps? I find it a bit difficult to project my own personality onto others, but if there is truth to the types then it should give you a vague idea. However, I also firmly believe that if there are genuine feelings then the things you say or do are not that important unless you really mess up. INFPs are usually extremely sensible and will feel that, although, if they are like me, will doubt it to the last second.
 
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Discussion starter · #19 ·
Battles were lost, but lessons were learned. Well shit.

@Assisi
I, to my shame, had actually forgotten that in the moment of sudden unexpected emotion I had created this thread, but now I have found it again and shall give the desired Information xD

We actually met over OkCupid, and I felt immensily attracted to that cute sweetness of her stating "I found out that I can kindle a hearthfire!" as her description, since it seemed so incredibly soft and friendly, so Infp-ish sweet-cute; she also wrote there, that she writes Stories as a Hobby, so I asked her if she would send me one or two of them to read. She did, and gladly I read them and gave detailed answers. Praised her for the way she managed to form words, build stories not step by step, but by chaoticly arranging random footprints that somehow ended up being a story; enjoyed the way it actually improved my own style of writing tremendously. Like, seriously, before I met her you'd feel like staring at a not particularily well made brick if you looked at the things I wrote. We then met for a coffee and talked a lot about different things; I also had, as I have to evilishly admit, let her do the test rather early, so I was able to "cheat" and adapt the words I was choosing, from my direct and factual language into the more dreamy, the "maybe"- language that the INFP's I've met so perfectly use and cherish. Did it work? Well, yes, certainly. We made progress, she told be about the three boyfriends she had before me, about traumas, how she shut herself away from the world; meanwhile I did my "tests", as you could call them, to determine if, and if, what, I feel. You see, it takes a long time for me to feel at all, a feeling is kind of the pinnacle of a ridiculously long thought process, accompanied with trial-and-error gathering of data.
I mean, I even managed to organise a little event with several of my enfp friends, just to squeeze every tiny bit of information out of them afterwards xD
But, I suppose the, uh, problem kind of solved itself at this point. While I was on a snowboarding vacation, she mentioned something about leaving germany for several years rather acutely, since she didn't feel alright with herself, felt disgusted by anything potentially sexual ( not person-specific), and I realised quite drastically that I did not want her to leave. And this I told her in one of our long, long mails, and I wrote it as indirect, as open and as questioning as I somehow could. About questions I had asked myself, one of those being if she could possibly imagine our friendship to evolve to something higher one day; maybe formulated a tad more eloquent. Mainly because I lack the vocabulary in english, german is better suited for this kind of stuff in my opinion. Anyways, the answer came, with great care and empathy, that she could not possibly enter a relationship at this point, that it definitely is not my fault and that our friendship is even more valuable to her than the relationships she had, and that she doesn't even know. And that's the status at the moment, both of us, well, we don't know. I feel like there is a net of knots in her Fi, a connection of little things, connected by a bigger evil, stacking up to some kind of Gordian knot, that I have not the might of cutting on my own.
So, basically we are having a platonic relationship that we call friendship, in which I try to unfiddle those knots - knowing, that I, should I fail to do so, will leave her shattered more than she has been before, when my own feelings grow too strong and I have to retreat in order to not run into the eternal knife that is love.

Lawd, that's cheesy. Hope it got the job done though, thank all of you for your answers- hopefully you will have more luck in that matter.

*commits sepuku*:rolleyes:
 
im dating an INFP myself, i had a lot of luck with buying roses and favorite candies and stuff to make it clear of my intentions, then i actually asked if they wanted to date officially. in my experience an INFP will eat up anything romantic, but they also like the direct " i like you" sorta thing. just be yourself :) INFP people are so accepting
 
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