The INFJ's Unusually Rich Inner Life

gokartride said:
Lurker said:
I really enjoy the concept of questioning reality. It’s limitless and indescribable at the same time.
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I agree...it can also be dangerous as once the haze of illusion clears one must deal with the consequences. They can be wonderful and terrifying...but always, in the end, worthwhile.
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I have been taught that this life is an artificial set-up for our instruction and growth. We aren't doing as well as we should. This world is not even close to reality. What is in your head is closer. Oy.
 
That must be why we look inward for the answers whereas others look out. On matters of morality, spirituality, good vs evil ... it's all figured out in the inner world. Not barring outside opinions, ideas, suggestions - but after all is said and done the final word comes from within.
There have been many times in my life when I'm not grateful for having this natural judgement. It's hard to explain to people too because they have all the facts and figures to prove their points. All we can say is, "I just know."
I really need some meditation time. Lately it's all noise and chatter constantly. The only time real answers come to me clearly is when I'm emptying or emptied out.
It's like the message is all around us, a constant hum in the background but we're constantly distracted and constantly distracting ourselves from listening.
 
entyqua said:
I remember as a kid always thinking that somehow i was very special and there was some great deed i was put here to do and that i would be revered as a great hero for something but could never quite grasp that something....As a teen I was in theatre and felt like i was the most fantastical actress the world had ever known. I remember thinking alot as a child and a teen that I was not like everyone else some how i was either magical (child) or just better as a teen but no one could see it but me!

I think i still have some of those ideas of grandeur in my head every time i see a play or work of art I think back to how marvelous i was then. and Imagine how marvelous i could be....so in so many words Yes.
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I was like this a lot too. I was a singer in high school and would get up on stage and sing solos and everything. I'd be nervous as all get out beforehand, but afterwards it would feel like the biggest adrenaline high. I thought I was an amazing singer and destined for amazing things. I guess sometimes I think of what could have been, but I don't think I could bring myself to push myself front and center like you have to do to become a singer.

I totally relate.
 
Vivi16 said:
entyqua said:
I remember as a kid always thinking that somehow i was very special and there was some great deed i was put here to do and that i would be revered as a great hero for something but could never quite grasp that something....As a teen I was in theatre and felt like i was the most fantastical actress the world had ever known. I remember thinking alot as a child and a teen that I was not like everyone else some how i was either magical (child) or just better as a teen but no one could see it but me!

I think i still have some of those ideas of grandeur in my head every time i see a play or work of art I think back to how marvelous i was then. and Imagine how marvelous i could be....so in so many words Yes.
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I was like this a lot too. I was a singer in high school and would get up on stage and sing solos and everything. I'd be nervous as all get out beforehand, but afterwards it would feel like the biggest adrenaline high. I thought I was an amazing singer and destined for amazing things. I guess sometimes I think of what could have been, but I don't think I could bring myself to push myself front and center like you have to do to become a singer.

I totally relate.
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That's exactly how I was with acting...I loved the adrenalin high and I was so nervous until performance time then I was my character it dint matter what "I" was feeling My character had no reason to be nervous. I think a lot about doing acting again because i know it makes me happy but I don't know its been soooo long! and your right it takes a lot every day to get up in front of people and do that every day!
 
When I was little, I am not quite sure of the age, I established a specific thinking area. It was at the end of my mother's front yard over by where the mailbox was. I am extremely introverted, and always spent much time alone. It used to have my mother worried, but It was important for me to work through any problems I have faced in the day.
In the same you wondered if you were in a sort of "matrix" (I guess is the best way to put it.) I wondered if I was in one. Was I truly traveling when in the car, or was someone altering the scene and i was in a fixed place? I used to think it was my world. Then I realized that everyone in it played a key role in the success of who I would become and I play a role in theirs. I may not have had the best childhood, it was one that forced me to seek isolation. I was though, considerably a gifted child. I am and was fascinated in arts, education and would socialize for the most part with adults so I could learn from them. I guess, in a sense, because we have one of the most complex personalities we live a rich and inner life.


I feel like I could say everything you have all said myself.
 
as long as I can remember I've had weird existental thoughts, also had these "everything is just product of my imagination" scenarios when I was seven. Those times I was sure that ppl can read my thoughts, and felt really embarrassed when something bad or dirty crossed my mind, still give me shivers when remembering... so schizo. nowadays I think more things like space, eternity, afterlife etc. I really enjoy sharing those thoughts with my INTJ friend, he's the only one who get these, or pretends to do so :D High school have returned me to the surface of earth within the past year, and I haven't had time to ponder with this stuff for a while.
 
Well, I'm still trying to see whether I fit into intj or infj according to type theory..
but I was a pretty odd kid. I used to think there were more than two sexes as in I remember telling my mom that I didn't believe there were just 'boys and girls' and then vehemently disagreeing with her at age 5 or so when she tried to explain it to me.
I also used to come up with odd theories based on observations such as I thought that my knee caps were made out of apples (because they felt like apples under the skin.) haha!
I didn't really like to be held by my parents or relatives and I wasn't super interested in playing with other little kids as I was obsessed with digging up worms by the bucketfulls in the backyard and storing them in my barbie play house, or making 'medicine' or 'perfume' out of weeds and plants. How that translates into a rich inner life as an adult, I'm not really sure.
I also had an existential bent on life from pretty early on, probably as soon as I was able to reason abstractly. As a teenager I had a bad mind gnawing habit of thinking myself into a corner philosophically by arguing against any conclusions I came to until I was just exhausted mentally and frustrated. But as I get older, I'm more able to deal with that.
 
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I don't even fully understand my inner world. There is too much too it. It is always a work in progress, I learn new things about it every day. The only person who comprehends it is my mom, but thats is because we are so similar. My friend Jeanne understands it pretty well too, but more out of experience. Most other people don't get it when I try to explain it. But I always sound like a goober when I try to explain ideas/theories, ect. I just don't ever know how to put it into words, because it makes sense to me, and that is good enough.

I think it has to do with Ni, but I would imagine it would be any i function that involves this, Si would seem to do it the least.
 
IndigoSensor said:
I don't even fully understand my inner world. There is too much too it. It is always a work in progress, I learn new things about it every day. The only person who comprehends it is my mom, but thats is because we are so similar. My friend Jeanne understands it pretty well too, but more out of experience. Most other people don't get it when I try to explain it. But I always sound like a goober when I try to explain ideas/theories, ect. I just don't ever know how to put it into words, because it makes sense to me, and that is good enough.

I think it has to do with Ni, but I would imagine it would be any i function that involves this, Si would seem to do it the least.
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I've read *what I think* you're talking about described as: "INFJs operate within themselves on an intuitive basis which is entirely spontaneous. They know things intuitively, without being able to pinpoint why, and without detailed knowledge of the subject at hand. They are usually right, and they usually know it." I usually operate that way, too. I think it's because a lot of infj decisions or conclusions are based on value judgments that weigh the pro/cons of how a decision will affect other people as a result. Value judgements are way more abstract than facts.
 
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Yeah I'm 21 and I feel 50...I knew I was different cos everyone else would have heaps of friends and I didn't...I was a bit of a loner back in the day (primary school) but now I have heaps of good mates!
 
Even as a child, I felt alone in the world. I also felt as though I had to "become" something: I had an ideal in my mind that became sort of an emotional downfall: I suppose it was somewhat unrealistic, but I had such huge ideals grandeur, service, wonder, kindness and other such things that I'd often resort to extremes to achieve.
 
Hi, all!
First time poster here. I came across MBTI's after I was asked to take the test a few days ago (INFJ). I find it really really weird that I can relate to everything you guys have talked about in this thread. It's like having a conversation with myself. I was just nodding through most of the posts in the forum and I'm really happy to know that there are others like me out there!!

All this is so interesting; I am intrigued by it
 
when i was younger, i really thought i could speak to animals, and i was connected with them somehow. I didn't have an "imaginary friend" so to speak, because animals were my friends. I would have such a vivid imagination that even to this day i can remember what i thought.
I became the best writer and artist in my whole school because of such a great imagination...i even have some of my writing still...
I also thought alot with my feelings, instead of words, feelings were my words....and if i didn't understand my feelings or how to explain them...most people wouldn't understand what i'm talking about. I have my own language in words.
I would constantly live in my fantasy world, usually it was about me saving something or someone.
but i seriously thought i could talk to animals, because i could understand them, and they could understand me.
i forever had a feeling that i was different, i didn't think about it much because i was having to much fun fantisizing lol
felt as if i was a protector to the innocent, i felt like i had to protect everything since i was little. especially the people that were picked on, i didn't sit back and watch them get verbally hurt by some bullies, i'd step up and tell the bullies to bug off, and i usually didn't understand why other people wouldn't do this to.
I never had that many friends....but that didn't bother me...it wasn't sad at all, it wasn't depressing one bit...i was probably the most hyper kid you'd ever know.
my mom had to put me down on the side walk and drive the car by me while i ran beside it for like 7 blocks, my mom had to do that every day, and i was only...like 6-9 yrs old when she did that, the other times she had to get a babysitter to run with me around the park alot....and i'd always out last my babysitter.
I was also extremely wise/smart kid...meaning...i knew what to do in bad situations, i knew to stay away from spiders and dangerous stuff....while most kids would just aimlessly touch the spider...and be like "OOh spider spider!" then get bit. I was extremely intelligent in what to do...and what not to do. Especially when it came to crossing streets, riding bikes, and stuff like that...
I always had a strong love for everything. For life, liberty, freedom. I always hated seeing something hurt like animals and humans. but even when i was a kid i thought the earth and plants had feelings to, that would get hurt constantly by other people.
I thought rocks had feelings, because i could feel their feelings when i was younger....i thought rocks didn't like it when others threw them, and disrespected them
I had a strong love for protecting when i was really young.

even when i was little i had a problem expressing what i was trying to say, and i was misunderstood all the time, even since i was born. not even kidding lol
 
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firehotemily said:
when i was younger, i really thought i could speak to animals, and i was connected with them somehow. I didn't have an "imaginary friend" so to speak, because animals were my friends. I would have such a vivid imagination that even to this day i can remember what i thought.
I became the best writer and artist in my whole school because of such a great imagination...i even have some of my writing still...
I also thought alot with my feelings, instead of words, feelings were my words....and if i didn't understand my feelings or how to explain them...most people wouldn't understand what i'm talking about. I have my own language in words.
I would constantly live in my fantasy world, usually it was about me saving something or someone.
but i seriously thought i could talk to animals, because i could understand them, and they could understand me.

even when i was little i had a problem expressing what i was trying to say, and i was misunderstood all the time, even since i was born. not even kidding lol
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It is possible you were communicating with them on a non-lagunage level.
 
oh yeah...i probably was talking to them through other means to..
but i litterally made the exact same sounds as they did...or in a sense "talked" like they did.
*shrugs* lol i knew i could talk to them..
 
lostintranslation said:
Hi, all!
First time poster here. I came across MBTI's after I was asked to take the test a few days ago (INFJ). I find it really really weird that I can relate to everything you guys have talked about in this thread. It's like having a conversation with myself. I was just nodding through most of the posts in the forum and I'm really happy to know that there are others like me out there!!

All this is so interesting; I am intrigued by it
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I am new here as well and I couldn't agree more with you
 
Entyqua said:
I remember as a kid always thinking that somehow i was very special and there was some great deed i was put here to do and that i would be revered as a great hero for something but could never quite grasp that something....As a teen I was in theatre and felt like i was the most fantastical actress the world had ever known. I remember thinking alot as a child and a teen that I was not like everyone else some how i was either magical (child) or just better as a teen but no one could see it but me!

I think i still have some of those ideas of grandeur in my head every time i see a play or work of art I think back to how marvelous i was then. and Imagine how marvelous i could be....so in so many words Yes.
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Oh man! Thank God, and I don't mean that in a selfish or disrespectul way! I so relate to this. I have these sort of ego-tistical thoughts even now and an awfully over-inflated sense of self-importance. I was beginning to think that I was the most ego-tistical person I've ever known, and yet, on the outside, people just think I'm modest and don't think much of myself, when the exact opposite is true! I have this self-gratifying, future vision that I'll become a scientist with a significant contribution/discovery to make to society and subsequently, be held in high acclaim (well that's what I like to think). I feel extremely arrogant feeling like this and am slightly embarrassed too. I don't know why I feel this way; it's like these visions have been conjured up by my mind to fill the times when I've felt lonely, to satisfy my imagination and boundless energy for dreaming, and maybe part of it derives from my determination to prove to everyone who has misunderstood me (and that is EVERYONE) that I've made something of myself, that I've done something worthy of respect and understanding in society. It is quite dangerous to have such a vision in your mind because it forces you to strive for that goal, but it's so unrealistic that you'll never reach it, and because you have such high expectations of yourself, you'll feel really disappointed and wonder what went wrong, when really it all went wrong from the moment you started fantasising about it, and therein lies our fault.
 
I think it's good to have extremely high expectations. It may be true that we set ourselves up for disappointment, but I think INFJ types are perhaps best equipped to deal with it.

I certainly feel like I am supposed to do something great. It feels so hard to communicate these things with people, so I keep dreams and ambitions to myself.

I have felt for many years that I am waiting to break out of my shell. I have the impression that there is a side of me that has not found it's way to the surface, but once it does, everything will change.
 
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