[Up and Away]

I've got a new roomate that tested ENFP. We enjoy talking about picking up women, and analyzing the situation, and we also make crazy decisions like, we went to the beach and were on such a rush that we came back the next day, signed an apartment lease together at the best place in this small town, and recruited a fun girl to come live for free in exchange for cleaning the house.

Point 1) dont make decisions at the beach/

Point 2) The analyzing and pursuing weird interesting possibilities I can see Ne with, but, he doesn't let it loose like I or some on here do. Do all Ne people go crazy like me? Perhaps I'm just wayyyyyyy outside of the box.

But, secondly, hes in a masters in counseling program, yet, he isn't huge on emotions.

A) Can ENFP's easily hide their emotions?

B) Can ENFP's not need to access Fi very much?

My theory is that, someone like a stereotypical guy that is ENFP, will have so much success just using Ne and extroverting, for example.. because of their.. well. "white male privilege in society" that they might not have had experienced the trauma and failures of many other people.

So, he is just generally confident, and perhaps... actually now that I think of it. He seems like I was in 9th grade before I had the trauma of being an outsider in 10th grade followed by depression etc..

Hmm.

Well, so I was sort of a sometimes shy ENFP in 9th grade then turned INFP after trauma.

So lastly and sort of unrelated to the original question:

Some people would say that makes me ENFP, but, most of you would disagree that I'm anything like you, and its obvious I resemble INFP.

I suppose I've figured out what I was trying to figure out now, but, I still think its interesting so I'm interested in hearing your comments etc..

I guess the question on my mind is, as I keep getting more and more social success (which started increasing greatly and fast about 6 months ago and also honestly when I started studying MBTI), will I start resembling my more natural form of "shy sometime ENFP?"

I mean very simply, I think we introvert when we need to plan and reflect, but, if we understand our purpose and have "control" via continued success to to speak to some degree, then, we need to plan and reflect less and less.

Buddhist monks for example, I would say are usually extroverting when they are meditating. They are simply feeling the environment and being one with it. They might focus on internal things initially, as beginners, or at the beginning of a session though. But like Buddha, it seems like he found an answer, and just stuck with it and never wavered after it. Jesus too (except when he was crying out on the cross).

Didn't mean to throw out the J word and bring everyone down! Pump it back up baby!

Really though, is anyone actually naturally an introvert?

People don't naturally just reflect etc.. unless they are dreaming in my opinion.

Introvert= processing failure.

The only way introversion would be someone's preference is if they

A) enjoy thinking on failure more than success

B) enjoy imagining interacting more than actual interacting

But come on, we all know having a dream come true is better than having a dream.

So I guess

C) Imagining dreams that couldn't possibly be true.

But I mean, I still honestly believe all my dreams can come true. I believe in true love, I believe in having a group of amazing people, I believe that pain is necessary and good, and I also believe that trying to do our best, sometimes avoiding pain etc.. is good. I'd ultimately like to look at life with the magic that I had as a child, and sometimes I do. Like when I focus on the artistic perspective of looking at life, that, I'm here for a purpose to grow even though i dont quite understand it, and, I'm being watched over and things happen for a reason. I mean that is an amazingly magical perspetive, literally, where everything within my field of vision, right now, is part of a matrix sort of game, but ran by some higher power that loves and cares for me.. how awesome is that!

So yea If an introverts dreams aren't realistic, that sucks, but I think there are real life perspectives out there that offer everyone a chance at looking at life like it was magical, and therefore not giving up hope of those magical dreams, and a magical life.

Magic.. magic.. magic.

 

[Up and Away]

Totally not embarassed

 

[avantgardearmy]

Introvert= processing failure.

The only way introversion would be someone's preference is if they

A) enjoy thinking on failure more than success

B) enjoy imagining interacting more than actual interacting

But come on, we all know having a dream come true is better than having a dream.

That was a lot to process, lol!

Anyway, the stuff you wrote, that I quoted, about introversion sounds exactly like an ENFP who is in inferior Si mode. Though we are the most introverted of the extraverts, we can't fully identify with true introversion. So we may have some skewed ideas of what it's like.

For example, introverted processing of failure is exactly what ENFPs do when they are under stress or have gone through a traumatic experience. Inferior Si takes over, but since it's only our inferior function, it doesn't work in the same way that it would for a person who is Si dominant.

Long story short: for introverts, introversion is always pleasant. For extroverts, it can be uncomfortable and unnatural.

 

[The King Of Dreams]

Wow, these long posts tire me out. *whew*

As far as ENFPs go, think of the ORDER of functions..... Ne Fi Te Si.... Our Ne is HUGE so yes you're going to have a huge burst of Ne with that guy.... But our Fi is our secondary function so we don't show it as much.... Plus Fi is INTROVERTED so it will be a little difficult to see anyways. So emotion doesn't show as much.... I hope I answered some of what you were thinking.

 

[Tulipgarden]

Still...processing...lol

 

[Tulipgarden]

Ok, first of all I still don't understand the Se Ne si ni or sentuswzyzlmnop anything, yet. One of these days, soon, when I am not having to study all my other jazz then I will be able to sit down and comprehend.

I just wanted to respond to "can ENFP's hide their emotion?", that I am indeed an ENFP that is not overly emotional and don't relate to overly emotional people. I can try to empathize but its hard to sympathize. I like to say I am logically emotional. If I am upset, there is a logical reason behind it. I am not terribly dramatic. Make sense?

This is me: I am a function with my daughter and I try to fix her hair and she sas "stop, you are going to mess it up" and I just naturally back off without even a thought.

This is my husbands ex wife: She is at a function with her daughter and she tries to fix her hair and her daughter says "stop, you are going to mess it up" and then Mom huffs off because her teenage daughter is rude to her and doesn't want her there. So, then all the other mother's have to run after her to console her because it ends up she is in her car crying. Mom comes back in, but then comes in and says to her daughter "I can't handle this, I have to leave...you didn't make me feel welcome" so she leaves her daughter's awards banquet. I guess the point was that she expected my step daughter to lay down the red carpet when Mom walked in. Does any of that make sense?? It didn't to me either.

That type of emotional doesn't make sense and I can't relate to it. Now if your dog died and you are really hurting, I get that kind of emotion. Even if you ran over a skunk and felt bad, I could understand that.

I definitely introvert when I am under an extreme amount of stress.

So, for real, did this chick come live with you in exchange for cleaning the house? I don't think I like cleaning that much. I would rather be homeless. lol

 

[Empurple]

Hahahaha! That was so funny, even the part where you apologized for using the "J word" and had to "pump it back up, baby." What could possibly be more "Up" than the J-word? Then again, you got a Christian on your hands here *thumbs pointed at self*. You seem very ENFP to me, and I can't help but love you people. Concerning introverted feeling and ENFP's, I have noticed it seems a little bit more thick-skinned than the 'F' of other NF types. Maybe this has to do with Te being just below in the function order. So you have sort of an intertwined, boom-boom combination of judging functions: Fi, Te - boom-boom. INFJs would tend to have this too, except I don't think we're quite as thick-skinned. Maybe an extravert's extraversion purges some of that intense F, whereas introverts don't come by expressive purging quite as naturally. I don't know. But Te is usually pretty apparent to me in an ENFP, maybe masking the intensity of Fi.

 

[Ntuitive]

Wow, these long posts tire me out. *whew*

As far as ENFPs go, think of the ORDER of functions..... Ne Fi Te Si.... Our Ne is HUGE so yes you're going to have a huge burst of Ne with that guy.... But our Fi is our secondary function so we don't show it as much.... Plus Fi is INTROVERTED so it will be a little difficult to see anyways. So emotion doesn't show as much.... I hope I answered some of what you were thinking.

My sister's SO could plausibly be ENFP. He's very Ne, but he's also extremely Fe as well - automatically attending the needs of others. It makes me wonder if maybe he's an ENFJ. Another reason why I think he's so Fe is that he cries a lot. I have not seen this but my sister has told me. He also has these panic attacks and stuff and cries in front of her. It kind of bothers her because she sees him as weak and unstable. What do you think?

 

[avantgardearmy]

My sister's SO could plausibly be ENFP. He's very Ne, but he's also extremely Fe as well - automatically attending the needs of others. It makes me wonder if maybe he's an ENFJ. Another reason why I think he's so Fe is that he cries a lot. I have not seen this but my sister has told me. He also has these panic attacks and stuff and cries in front of her. It kind of bothers her because she sees him as weak and unstable. What do you think?

I used to have panic attacks and I still cry (well, tear up) pretty easily. It has a lot to do with stress, being a young adult in an uncertain economic time, and probably PMS. But, don't confuse emotionality with weakness or instability. It can be, of course, but for me, I may be emotional but I'm tough and tenacious. I won't fall apart when things are hard, give in to reckless impulses, or abandon someone.

 

[The King Of Dreams]

My sister's SO could plausibly be ENFP. He's very Ne, but he's also extremely Fe as well - automatically attending the needs of others. It makes me wonder if maybe he's an ENFJ. Another reason why I think he's so Fe is that he cries a lot. I have not seen this but my sister has told me. He also has these panic attacks and stuff and cries in front of her. It kind of bothers her because she sees him as weak and unstable. What do you think?

I really can't say. But I do have strong Fe but that's influenced by my mother (ENFJ) My Fi is much stronger but it has NOTHING on my Ne!

 

[Essay]

The analyzing and pursuing weird interesting possibilities I can see Ne with, but, he doesn't let it loose like I or some on here do. Do all Ne people go crazy like me? Perhaps I'm just wayyyyyyy outside of the box.

All Ne people most definitely do not "go crazy" like you. ;D We don't exactly live in a world of absolutes, after all.... Take me, for example: maybe I could act "crazy", but I'm a pretty image-conscious guy and I don't see the use to "let loose" in a variety of cases.

But, secondly, hes in a masters in counseling program, yet, he isn't huge on emotions.

A) Can ENFP's easily hide their emotions?

This depends what you mean by being "huge on emotions". I had the pleasure of being raised in an introverted-Feeling-only household, with an estranged sister who was essentially kicked out of the house by my xxTJ parents for extroverting her Feeling too much. If "hiding your emotions" means not making emotional displays, then, yes! It's easy as heck for me. Hell, it's the most natural thing on earth. Western gender roles push males towards Fi over Fe anyway, which makes things even easier.

B) Can ENFP's not need to access Fi very much?

I'd say we need it for direction and to relate to people on a case-by-case basis. It's my Fi that makes me value honesty, genuineness, originality and compassion. What it doesn't do is motivate me to make a display of it, because it doesn't need external reinforcement. It just means that I assess it internally by my own standards, and, as long as I fully believe I'm not indelicately letting my intentions stray from my values, I won't get emotional about it. As such, as long as I'm on top of my internalized feeling, I'm free to just put myself in other people's shoes with Ne-Fi, and apply my Te and Si to troubleshoot their problems.

My theory is that, someone like a stereotypical guy that is ENFP, will have so much success just using Ne and extroverting, for example.. because of their.. well. "white male privilege in society" that they might not have had experienced the trauma and failures of many other people.

So, he is just generally confident, and perhaps... actually now that I think of it. He seems like I was in 9th grade before I had the trauma of being an outsider in 10th grade followed by depression etc..

Hmm.

Well, so I was sort of a sometimes shy ENFP in 9th grade then turned INFP after trauma.

I don't really see the point of trying to weigh something open to subjective interpretation as "trauma" on an objective scale. Trying to determine the "degree" of something like that is an exercise in futility for something as infinite as suffering. No one is free of it. For me, that's the humbling thing: to know we all share the concept, even if we don't share the specific details. No matter how individualized, horrific and specific my own traumas have been, they're ironic too thanks to that fact and knowing what I know now.

So lastly and sort of unrelated to the original question:

Some people would say that makes me ENFP, but, most of you would disagree that I'm anything like you, and its obvious I resemble INFP.

I suppose I've figured out what I was trying to figure out now, but, I still think its interesting so I'm interested in hearing your comments etc..

I guess the question on my mind is, as I keep getting more and more social success (which started increasing greatly and fast about 6 months ago and also honestly when I started studying MBTI), will I start resembling my more natural form of "shy sometime ENFP?"

Of course an INFP can resemble an ENFP in the heat of the moment. We've got the same tools. We just favour them differently.

I mean very simply, I think we introvert when we need to plan and reflect, but, if we understand our purpose and have "control" via continued success to to speak to some degree, then, we need to plan and reflect less and less.

I'd argue that xNFP's don't exactly excel at introverting so much when they plan. Planning is future-focused and based in the objective by nature, so it's going to involve intuitive foresight, and working through ideas logically. I mean, look what you're doing right now. You're using your Ne and Te to test partially formed ideas on the outside world. Tell me, if you didn't have people or a forum to bounce these ideas off of, would you still approach your planning as a potential dialogue in the hopes you'd get to eventually bounce it off someone or something? This is natural for a Ne+Te user.

But of course, reflection and introverting go hand-in-hand for for us NFPs. We're motivated to check up on ourselves, and self-monitor thanks to Fi and Si. This is different than planning though. This is how we work out subjective, feely things, and go back over the details of our experience.

The difference between an ENFP and INFP is that the ENFP is going to do slightly more of the first, compared to the second, and vice-versa for the INFP. For the INFP, the reflection is always on the mind, and the future-thought and planning comes in an effort to work it out.

Buddhist monks for example, I would say are usually extroverting when they are meditating. They are simply feeling the environment and being one with it. They might focus on internal things initially, as beginners, or at the beginning of a session though. But like Buddha, it seems like he found an answer, and just stuck with it and never wavered after it.

I'd say this is a common misconception, though it varies slightly depending on the school of Buddhism and its associated meditative traditions. Mettā (loving-kindness) mediation certainly encourages a degree of external focus, but monks tend to spend less time on mettā mediation than mindfulness meditation, and mindfulness mediation is more about focusing inwardly on sensation until you gradually achieve a focused, one-pointedness of thought. Contrary to popular belief (especially when you think about the ways the Zen tradition has been marketed to the west), you don't suddenly break out of that one-pointedness with an over-arching realization mid-meditation. The "answer" is right there at the start with the first two components of the noble eightfold path. It's just a matter of reconditioning oneself through meditation to the point where nothing will hinder them.

Really though, is anyone actually naturally an introvert?

People don't naturally just reflect etc.. unless they are dreaming in my opinion.

Introvert= processing failure.

The only way introversion would be someone's preference is if they

A) enjoy thinking on failure more than success

B) enjoy imagining interacting more than actual interacting

But come on, we all know having a dream come true is better than having a dream.

So I guess

C) Imagining dreams that couldn't possibly be true.

Oh, I don't know... there are INFP's who are much more likely to be able to focus on one dream and assemble the relevant details needed to follow through on it thanks to their stronger Si. Moreover, they can do this without constantly having to cave into the need of bouncing their objective ideas off of the outside world as their Te should nag them less about that. It just depends on the circumstances of their dreams I guess. Some dreams require less objective thought to realize than others. Anyway, it's not as if they can't develop their Te over time. No one's 4th function is a lost cause.

Also, do you know how expensive constantly travelling around to visit people to recharge my energy reserves gets? :laughing: When I look at my skill-set, there are times I'd kill to be able to do an introverted career, for example. It's just not an option, as I'm useless without people time.

But I mean, I still honestly believe all my dreams can come true. I believe in true love, I believe in having a group of amazing people, I believe that pain is necessary and good, and I also believe that trying to do our best, sometimes avoiding pain etc.. is good. I'd ultimately like to look at life with the magic that I had as a child, and sometimes I do. Like when I focus on the artistic perspective of looking at life, that, I'm here for a purpose to grow even though i dont quite understand it, and, I'm being watched over and things happen for a reason. I mean that is an amazingly magical perspetive, literally, where everything within my field of vision, right now, is part of a matrix sort of game, but ran by some higher power that loves and cares for me.. how awesome is that!

So yea If an introverts dreams aren't realistic, that sucks, but I think there are real life perspectives out there that offer everyone a chance at looking at life like it was magical, and therefore not giving up hope of those magical dreams, and a magical life.

Magic.. magic.. magic.

Of course some introverts' dreams are realistic. Have you ever met an ISTP? XD

I kid, I kid; you're talking about INFP's specifically. I think it all depends on how flexible the dreams are. I got to watch first hand as my INFP economist/musician friend adapted his romantic dreams over time as his circumstances changed, and it worked out marvelously for him. I'd imagine problems arise when the INFP becomes over-attached to his or her dreams and tries to resist their changing circumstances.

Try continuing to repeat the word "magic" as an experiment, and see how many repetitions it takes before something about it changes.

 

[liza_200]

I keep the fi to myself, people say that my behavior is generally Te-ish, but my Ne at it's best is something like this:

With a slight goofiness.

 

[The King Of Dreams]

I keep the fi to myself, people say that my behavior is generally Te-ish, but my Ne at it's best is something like this:

With a slight goofiness.

Looks like a winner!