Thursday, May 17, 2018

Well, this was very self-affirming! 💕😄
I could do with more EFs in my life who reach out to others to show their love.
This ENFJ girl was very spot-on about INFPs I feel.


INFPs are more interested in peace than success.
INFPs secretly let their freak flag fly -- totally! I pin my BTS keychains to my work trolley bag, and use cutes-y pens (that make Datin S roll her eyes -- there's her J behaviour shining through), and at some subconscious level my doing so helps me see who to me appears 'fake' or overly concerned about appearances and conformity by the way they react to it; because God knows I have such an issue about people who do things for convention's sake. I have a very severe disdain (sometimes too much, even I think to myself) for people who put on so much to pretend to be part of the 'in' group or even to be accepted. Looking back, in my entire life I was never the one who exerted effort to be included, but instead gravitated around until I felt comfortable with a group of people who were more likely to accept me for who I am. Now that I'm older, I understand that to a lot of people, this seems like an aloofness or a she's-in-her-own-world business or a she-can't-be-bothered-to-befriend-others but it's only because internally, I have so much concern about who I needed to be, with myself. If you or your peer group are obviously the type to reject my unique person because I don't fit in to some standard, for some reason or other, then I'm sorry, I'll likely stay away from you. I cannot pretend; I simply, simply cannot pretend and play games. The few times in my life I had attempted to do so stick out in my memory nauseatingly. It sat so badly with me that I had to distance myself from it;  it sticks in my head like glue, like trauma.

It's very interesting the perspective this girl has about how the extroverted judging types go out into the world and try and figure out how the world works and then maneuver their way through it in life, whereas introverted perceiving types don't attempt to do that at all (and I'm a super extreme case, I know). Instead, introverted perceiving types work on armoring or equipping themselves so that no matter what's out in the world, they'd be able to handle it. But of course, as we all know, the sweet spot for success is probably in the middle of these two poles.

I feel like now, as I've been increasingly growing into my person, and I understand my personal inclinations, and the possible sources of their development, I feel poised at the brink of developing my other inferior traits. I need to develop my T function more, my S function and my stepchild J function. I am concertedly putting in effort at times, because these do not come naturally to me.

But I shall strive! because as Elaine Aron mentioned in The Highly Sensitive Person, it's almost an ethical imperative for people to fully develop their selves:
The Pursuit of Wholeness Through The Four Functions 
... according to Jung and von Franz, it is really an ethical imperative to take the time for it. Much of the irrational collective behaviour we see involves people projecting their inferior function onto others or being vulnerable to appeals to their inferior function, which the manipulative media and leaders can exploit. When Hitler was promoting German hatred of the Jews, he appealed to the inferior function of the particular group to which he spoke. When he spoke to intuitives, those with inferior sensing, he described the Jews as financial tycoons and evil manipulators of markets. Intuitives are often impractical and bad at making money. Intuitives can easily feel inferior and ashamed about their poor business sense, which makes it a short step to feeling victimized by anyone better at it. How nice to blame someone else for one's own lack. 
To feeling types with inferior thinking, Hitler portrayed the Jews as unfeeling intellectuals. To thinking types with inferior feeling, he said the Jews were selfishly pursuing Jewish interests, without any universal, rational ethics. And to sensing types with inferior intuition, the Jews were hinted to possess secret, magical, intuitive knowledge and powers. 
When we can spot our inferior function's inferior reactions -- its inferiority complex -- we can put a stop to this sort of blaming. Thus, it is part of our moral duty to get to know exactly how we are not whole.

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