[RememberWhenItRained]

any INFJ feel like their intuition (foresight, just knowing, etc.) is not as strong as the profiles would make it seem? Maybe i'm not Ni dominant?

 

[nikkii]

I feel that it is what guide's me through everything.

 

[RememberWhenItRained]

I feel that it is what guide's me through everything.

i suppose it could be possible my Ni is so subconscious (it is the most of any function, isn't it?) that i don't even realize i use it? But my intuition in the general sense is not that great, especially for a supposed INFJ.

 

[nikkii]

i suppose it could be possible my Ni is so subconscious (it is the most of any function, isn't it?) that i don't even realize i use it? But my intuition in the general sense is not that great, especially for a supposed INFJ.

Maybe, I can't tell you for sure.

 

[The Vizier]

I was late for my gym today and I decided to take the bus to get to the gym faster. Since I had always walked to the gym and never taken the bus for the short stretch, I wasn't sure what bus went to the gym. But since it was roughly a straight road, I assumed any bus would pass by the gym and so I hopped on the first bus that came my way; Bus 27. As luck would have it, my intuition or luck failed me and the bus went to the interchange. :crazy:

I guess I can intuit things better with people, but I suck at it when it comes to events alone. Kinda out of touch with how things go sometimes. So as and where I can when it comes to important decisions, I don't rely on my intuition alone. I am aware of its limitations. But I've been working hard to improve it. Hopefully one day I will be able to read the signs accurately with my intuition alone.

 

[MissNobody]

I feel this way too. I try to think of times when I may have used my intuition and I can't.

We probably use our intuition all the time! But don't realise it.

I read somewhere that Intuitors see the forest (the big picture) and sensors see the trees (details).

At work the other day my manager told me that I always see the big picture. That's only one example and I can't think of any other time.

 

[lauradee]

I know what you mean...

I a lot of the time we don't realize that we are using it though, because it's just second nature.
Like, when someone's talking about a relationship, and you know that's it's not going to work out.
Or the fact that you were one of the few kids keeping out of trouble in high school (maybe lol)

 

[Gaminegirlie]

I feel, I try to act more like a Sensor when it has to do with objects and events...
I don't trust my Intuition so much, that seems to be my issue

 

[spook]

Ni just makes me live in the head, focus on abstract, big picture topics and make connections between information/how everything relates to the whole. I use Ni a lot but I probably don't optimise my development of it in the sense of steadily working towards achieving long term goals. The profiles also falsely portray us as being borderline psychic which many infjs have expressed annoyance towards. It might be more neutral to say we're "perceptive" or not necessarily, but we are drawn towards figuring out the mysterious and contemplating the future. We would thus be aware of multiple possibilities of how a situation could unfold and multiple representations of truth so while it might seem as though self-doubt is sabotaging our intuition, it's probably a normal process of grounding our perceptions from becoming too convergent at the expense of other possibilities. My J not only wants closure, but to be "right"... infjs have this rep for being able to see right through people and read them so well. I don't think that's the case for me, I try not to assume things unless I have evidence. Should I trust a vague feeling I have which could be just paranoia? especially when I tend to have mixed feelings about many things :/
Even the cognitive functions tests use words like "metamorphosis" or "mystical realisation" to describe Ni which seems like misleading grandiose language compared to the common use of it.

 

[Slyke]

It's only ever let me down rarely. It usually kills me when it does because I put so much faith in it. It hurts.

Then I realise I misunderstood what it was telling me.

 

[Dalien]

I don't question intuition too hard; I roll with it! Yes, sir, I just know things. I have very strong intuition. What I am really trying to say is that I don't question why I am intuitive or how to control it. Yet, I do pay attention to the resulting outcome. Sometimes, intuition will slap me upside the head in a profound way. Sometimes, it quiety skips in to play. Somtimes, it lurks without revealing its' self. I have noticed that the more peaceful I am the stronger my intuition...slapping about the head in a profound kind of way. When I am agitated, I don't go with my gut feeling. I second guess myself. This usually kicks up an emotional whirlwind for me! I wear myself out. Below is a poem I wrote years ago showing acceptance of my intuition being what it is.


SOMETIMES ME
Dalien 1997

Sometimes she is too fast
She slips away before I can grasp her

Sometimes she makes me chase after her
only to lead me astray

Sometimes she will slyly sneak back & snap!
I know what she knows

Sometimes she just lets me see
Sometimes I am only me

 

[kateykinz]

Ni is a perceiving function, yes? So if you are an INFJ, everytime you perceive something you are predisposed to perceiving it through your Ni rather than, say through your Se. e.g You don't immediately notice the visual detail when you are walking through the woods, but you sense it more as the oneeness of nature, the forest as a whole rather than the bark on the individual trees, you get how the ecosystem is all connected, without actually studying it.

Or you see someone behave in a certain way, and know that what they are showing outwardly is not all that is going on. You make assumptions about what it causing them to act like that, you notice when someone is happy but the circumstances don't seem quite right and you just "know" that they are putting on an act and you wonder why. Or perhaps you don't understand a single word of a poem, but you get the meaning of the entire thing - you know the mood the author is trying to convey, even if the individual imagery is lost on you. Or you are having a conversation with somebody and instead of listening to each word and taking it all in, you faze out and use your intuition to get to what you think is the essence of what the other person is saying and reply accordingly, which sometimes makes them think you are an amazingly profound mind-reader, and other times makes them think "WTF? Have you not been listening to a word I just said?", and still other times they think you are just plain random and weird.

I don't get many "Aha!" moments with my intuition, it is all more subtle and everyday than that. So everyday, in fact, that I have to really think hard to realise that I am even using it.

 

[RememberWhenItRained]

Ni is a perceiving function, yes? So if you are an INFJ, everytime you perceive something you are predisposed to perceiving it through your Ni rather than, say through your Se. e.g You don't immediately notice the visual detail when you are walking through the woods, but you sense it more as the oneeness of nature, the forest as a whole rather than the bark on the individual trees, you get how the ecosystem is all connected, without actually studying it.

Or you see someone behave in a certain way, and know that what they are showing outwardly is not all that is going on. You make assumptions about what it causing them to act like that, you notice when someone is happy but the circumstances don't seem quite right and you just "know" that they are putting on an act and you wonder why. Or perhaps you don't understand a single word of a poem, but you get the meaning of the entire thing - you know the mood the author is trying to convey, even if the individual imagery is lost on you. Or you are having a conversation with somebody and instead of listening to each word and taking it all in, you faze out and use your intuition to get to what you think is the essence of what the other person is saying and reply accordingly, which sometimes makes them think you are an amazingly profound mind-reader, and other times makes them think "WTF? Have you not been listening to a word I just said?", and still other times they think you are just plain random and weird.

I don't get many "Aha!" moments with my intuition, it is all more subtle and everyday than that. So everyday, in fact, that I have to really think hard to realise that I am even using it.

this sounds quite a bit more like me.

 

[thegirlcandance]

any INFJ feel like their intuition (foresight, just knowing, etc.) is not as strong as the profiles would make it seem? Maybe i'm not Ni dominant?

I would bet money that you are using it, but you are simply just not realizing because its so natural.

Do you always see the big picture? Can you easily understand complex ideas? Then yeah, you're using it.

Just don't confuse being intuitive with being a psychic. Ni allows us to have some implications for the future, but we don't always know completely what will happen.

I heard a lyric once that I feel best describes it:

Even though interpretation's what I count on
This little picture to me seems blurred
The hard lines and the shadows come easy
I see it all just as clear as a bell.

 

[RememberWhenItRained]

I would bet money that you are using it, but you are simply just not realizing because its so natural.

Do you always see the big picture? Can you easily understand complex ideas? Then yeah, you're using it.

I try to, not really sure how well that works out though. And yes, I have always loved complex, intricate things. What seems to either confuse or disinterest some, I always enjoyed. Often, but not always, I would find that more complex things were not only more enjoyable, but fairly easy for me. (As opposed to the simple stuff, which could either take me a while to get, or just hold no interest..)

 

[byrd]

On any of the personality tests I've taken my intuition scores are low as well as my feeling.The feeling I can understand but intuition is what I believe to be my greatest strength . I can always see the big picture easy and see how the plan will work out. But could'nt care less about any detailed portion that im not directly involved in ever .That kind of information seems to clutter my mind .

 

[streetlightfancy]

Being Ni dominant doesn't mean our intuition is any more trustworthy than anyone else's; that's just silly, we're not prophetic.

When I talk to people they often tell me I am very intuitive, very good at understanding the big picture and what it is people want or need. This is something I don't necessarily notice in my behaviors, but I guess that is because it is subconscious. For me, conscious Ni use is how I am ALWAYS in my head. Always thinking about something, thinking about the future, thinking about people, etc. I am constant worrier and I blame it all on Ni.

 

[ShowMeWhatUrMadeOf]

I think a lot of times, people confuse Ni's abilities with both Ne and Se's.

For instance, Ni can only really go off what it's already processed and learned from. However, someone with strong Se or Ne, I think, is better at going off outward, immediate hunches in their surroundings, Se with situational vibes and Ne with situational outcomes. Not that we don't get hunches, but we get them more specifically from people. I can read someone like no tomorrow, but when it comes to the outside world, ehhhh.

For instance, a friend of mine's mother once had the roof almost collapse on her and her baby brother, but her mom had a "feeling" that something was wrong, moved herself and the child away from that spot, and then the roof collapsed right where they had been. Her mom is an ISFP, and I think it was her Fi-Se (a feeling that was created subconsciously through sensing a change in the physical environment) that saved them (thank God!)

But now, an example of my Ni at work would be when I was on a cruise with a buddy and we had a rather strange, funny couple that were members of our dinner table. I forget how we got on the subject, but my friend said (he's an ISFJ) he thought the guy's wife was gonna wear a black dress for the formal night, and I said, "No. She's gonna wear a red dress." He was like, let's make a bet, loser buys the winner a drink. I agreed. So the next night, she shows up, in a red-as-red-can-be dress. My friend's jaw almost dropped.

Later, (over my victory drink hehe) he asked how I knew that. And all I could tell him was that I just knew. She seemed to me (through my Ni-gathered perceptions of women I deemed similar to her personality) that she wanted attention, and red grabs attention! Red shouts: "See me, I'm sexy!" But I knew this b/c I pay so much attention to people and their motivations, so that kind of stuff is surprisingly easy for me to understand/predict. But I don't know if I could have predicted the roof was going to collapse on me! :bored:

 

[Jeffrei]

I've read somewhere that younger INFJs tend to explore their Se a bit. Maybe that's what is making you feel as though your Ni isn't as strong as others?

 

[JosiAtara]

I didn't even start this post yet I want to thank everyone for their input! I've been frustrated because I relate to almost every single thing about INFJ, but when it comes to intuition, I feel I am only 50% right. My husband knew I was pregnant and I adamantly disagreed, and even after the test came out positive, I still felt like it was too good to be true and was certain I wasn't REALLY pregnant. But there have been plenty of times since then that I was certain I was pregnant and totally wasn't.
Then again, I can find almost anything. He's constantly misplacing something and I can almost always find it with ease. I guess I didn't fully grasp what could be explained as a good intuition.