What are your favorite healthy ways to engage Se?

Asa said:
As Ni doms we're very good at sneaking into Ni during sensing activities, so make a point of stopping your brain from doing it and pay attention to everything "on the surface".
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I have noticed this! It is one of the reasons I meditate with my eyes OPEN instead of closed.

I have been noticing that doing housework seems to be an Se thing for me. (Organizing stuff, washing dishes, decluttering, cleaning, etc.)
Stacking wood worked today! Also hiking.
PT exercises are also in-body and therefore must be Se.
This is seriously a new concept for me. Wish I had had this awareness sooner, but there is no time like the present.
Being in my body and staying aware of that physicality is hard. Glad to understand why!
 
Huh. I thought I posted on this already! I probably deleted it by accident or something haha.

But here is what keeps me engaged with Se in a healthy and fulfilling way :)

1.) Lots of time with nature and being outside. I have to be outside for at least an hour or two. No ifs or buts. Even if it is rainy, super windy, or cold lol! I take at least some time to be outside and make sure to be in a safe place of course! Being outside is good for da soul. :)

2.) Oh boy---painting. I LOOOOVE to paint. I started painting since March and can't tell you how nice it is to create an image with colors through a paintbrush that your mind envisions. It is quite therapeutic. So I recommend painting to anyone who is curious to try!

3.) Cooking! I love to cook. Make it be baking, frying, grilling, etc, etc. Always been the major cook in my family and loved to cook since I was a wee little girl. It's pretty traditional in my family that daughters cook for the family, especially if you are Mexican heh! But cooking is nice to work with your hands and try out new things. :)

4.) Working out, walking, running, weight lifting. I like to go to the gym quite frequently. It helps a lot with mental clarity and you feel pretty good overall!

5.) Listening to music, reading books, and meditation. :)

Edit: And oh yeah! Writing! I enjoy writing quite heavily, especially in my journal.
 
Asa said:
When hiking pay attention to your surroundings instead of thinking about things and getting lost in your head. Listen to the sounds and look at everything. You could try watching for birds.
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This such a good idea! I always end up getting lost in my head, and i think that serves its own purpose, but it would be nice to actually pay attention to things and engage my Se! <3333
 
JennyDaniella said:
Huh. I thought I posted on this already! I probably deleted it by accident or something haha.

But here is what keeps me engaged with Se in a healthy and fulfilling way :)

1.) Lots of time with nature and being outside. I have to be outside for at least an hour or two. No ifs or buts. Even if it is rainy, super windy, or cold lol! I take at least some time to be outside and make sure to be in a safe place of course! Being outside is good for da soul. :)

2.) Oh boy---painting. I LOOOOVE to paint. I started painting since March and can't tell you how nice it is to create an image with colors through a paintbrush that your mind envisions. It is quite therapeutic. So I recommend painting to anyone who is curious to try!

3.) Cooking! I love to cook. Make it be baking, frying, grilling, etc, etc. Always been the major cook in my family and loved to cook since I was a wee little girl. It's pretty traditional in my family that daughters cook for the family, especially if you are Mexican heh! But cooking is nice to work with your hands and try out new things. :)

4.) Working out, walking, running, weight lifting. I like to go to the gym quite frequently. It helps a lot with mental clarity and you feel pretty good overall!

5.) Listening to music, reading books, and meditation. :)

Edit: And oh yeah! Writing! I enjoy writing quite heavily, especially in my journal.
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Hey I didnt think about cooking and baking as an Se activity, but you're right! it totally is! Aw, I love that you cook for your family! <3333
 
worthy said:
I have noticed this! It is one of the reasons I meditate with my eyes OPEN instead of closed.

I have been noticing that doing housework seems to be an Se thing for me. (Organizing stuff, washing dishes, decluttering, cleaning, etc.)
Stacking wood worked today! Also hiking.
PT exercises are also in-body and therefore must be Se.
This is seriously a new concept for me. Wish I had had this awareness sooner, but there is no time like the present.
Being in my body and staying aware of that physicality is hard. Glad to understand why!
Click to expand...

Whoa, I would be so distracted if I meditated with my eyes open. (I find meditation difficult in general, though.) But yes, whatever it takes to keep your brain from going back to your comfort zone. Try training your brain to let Se dominate for 5, 10, 15 minutes and then come up for air and let your brain go back to its dominant state. You probably let Se dominate very naturally when you're in an unfamiliar place, or when you hear or see something you need to pay attention to, such as walking down a dark street at night or hearing a noise in the woods.



JennyDaniella said:
3.) Cooking! I love to cook. Make it be baking, frying, grilling, etc, etc. Always been the major cook in my family and loved to cook since I was a wee little girl. It's pretty traditional in my family that daughters cook for the family, especially if you are Mexican heh! But cooking is nice to work with your hands and try out new things.
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Yes, cooking is Se and baking is detail-oriented! Great example!
 
worthy said:
I have struggled all my life with this and didn't realize it until recently. I tend to get stuck in Ni-Ti, get sucked into Netflix or Youtube or forums (like this one, ha) or really just any interesting online information rabbit-holes, or binge read, or eat too much, or eat the wrong things, or both.

I have recently started doing more hiking in the woods (awesome!) and some brief meditating in the mornings. I would love to know what other things people to do engage Se in a healthy way. Seems I ought to have made a lifelong practice of this already. And I have two INFJ kids who need to know about this, too (probably the INTJ one as well).
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I would say look for a conservation area with multiple activities. Biking, hiking, water sports etc and see what interests them. I have also found playing instruments engages my Se.
 
Jigsaw puzzles. I have a jigsaw puzzle app on my tablet and use it before bed, or when I'm waiting somewhere as a way to relax. I gravitate toward puzzles with slight variations in color, like skies, water, or bokeh backgrounds. It's a really good exercise for reading nuances of color.
 
Asa said:
...Se oriented creative activities focus on composition, design, and color theory. If you're just drawing something from your imagination that could veer into Ni territory.
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Artist here! *waves* I had never thought about it like this, that's super interesting! I've always found it easier to get into "flow" with design based processes, than the imaginative counterpart. I wonder why that is? *ponders*

Asa said:
When hiking pay attention to your surroundings instead of thinking about things and getting lost in your head.
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I second this! Rainy days in the forest... the rain drops on the leaves... I find focusing on sound to be really stimulating.

JennyDaniella said:
Oh boy---painting. I LOOOOVE to paint.
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Heck yeah! What kind of things do you enjoy painting?

I find painting outdoors to be one of my favourite things to do. It allows you to really stay focused on things. Because your actively processing and putting things down on canvas it's easier to stay in SE mode for much longer without drifting off into thought. I find it to be a highly meditative experience.
 
Emel said:
Artist here! *waves* I had never thought about it like this, that's super interesting! I've always found it easier to get into "flow" with design based processes, than the imaginative counterpart. I wonder why that is? *ponders*
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Hmh, funnily you read that the inferior function (Se) is a gateway to the unconscious, while the dominant function (Ni) synthesizes Se and has unconscious form itself, whilst your dominant (Ni) is your flow state. So in the end it is weirdly interconnected.

Mindfully cleaning dishes (Se) kick-starting (getting into flow) free-form time for imagination (Ni).
 
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@Impact Character Mind officially blown! I've always found during the days when I'm meditating regularly I'm far more productive creatively. On *grumpy/tried days* I tend to be more likely to ditch the healthy SE habits allowing thoughts to take over leading to a large reduction in productivity.

I also like that you specifically mentioned *mindfully* cleaning dishes. That is really important I think.

I'm curious how one may strike a perfect balance in interplay of the two functions. I think having a stable and well designed environment would be quite crucial to the process.
 
Emel said:
@Impact Character Mind officially blown! I've always found during the days when I'm meditating regularly I'm far more productive creatively. On *grumpy/tried days* I tend to be more likely to ditch the healthy SE habits allowing thoughts to take over leading to a large reduction in productivity.

I also like that you specifically mentioned *mindfully* cleaning dishes. That is really important I think.

I'm curious how one may strike a perfect balance in interplay of the two functions. I think having a stable and well designed environment would be quite crucial to the process.
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It's so great that you can access meditating, that you are doing it on a regular basis, and have realized the personal benefits to you to stay motivated!! :)

Hah, yes me too, and I think you are very right about what we create around us and how we design our lives.

Edit: also welcome to the forum?! haha ^^
 
Impact Character said:
It's so great that you can access meditating, that you are doing it on a regular basis, and have realized the personal benefits to you to stay motivated!! :)

Hah, yes me too, and I think you are very right about what we create around us and how we design our lives.

Edit: also welcome to the forum?! haha ^^
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Thank you for the welcome!

I think it's really interesting, thinking about our environment. I'm personally really sensitive to the what's physically around me, I think that can be something many others can have a hard time understanding. But when things are in 'order', tidy, organised, looking nice - there is just an extra level of energy I get from that, that I wouldn't otherwise. Having an SE-engaging environment is super important I guess. It's really interesting to think about it like this. I wonder if others feel the same? *curious* Maybe I should start a separate thread - since this is moving away from this threads main topic!
 
Emel said:
Thank you for the welcome!

I think it's really interesting, thinking about our environment. I'm personally really sensitive to the what's physically around me, I think that can be something many others can have a hard time understanding. But when things are in 'order', tidy, organised, looking nice - there is just an extra level of energy I get from that, that I wouldn't otherwise. Having an SE-engaging environment is super important I guess. It's really interesting to think about it like this. I wonder if others feel the same? *curious* Maybe I should start a separate thread - since this is moving away from this threads main topic!
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I very much agree, Emel! The others very probably agree to this too, although each one of us has an individual variant of this. ^^
So, another healthy se activity is tidying/cleaning up the environment. See? Fits perfectly to the topic.
 
Lady Jolanda said:
Eat tons and tons of dum-dums.
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Aw yes. Dis is good. I concur!! :D

Emel said:
Heck yeah! What kind of things do you enjoy painting?

I find painting outdoors to be one of my favourite things to do. It allows you to really stay focused on things. Because your actively processing and putting things down on canvas it's easier to stay in SE mode for much longer without drifting off into thought. I find it to be a highly meditative experience.
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Hey Emel!! :)

My deepest apologies for the late reply, I am just now seeing this. I won’t be able to give a thorough, detailed answer since I’ll be heading to bed soon, but I absolutely love to paint landscape and some abstract! I’ve always been a floral type of gal too and love painting anything very nature related, especially with water and deep skies.

I have actually just started painting some landscape on canvas yesterday and I highly agree that it is such a therapeutic experience, just concentrating on the colors and paint brushes, and simply letting your imagination fly. :) do share any pieces if you feel comfortable! I usually tend to share mine on my blog every now and then!
 
Sorry for my late reply! Been a busy couple of days. ^^

@Impact Character It's certainly nice to know one is not alone in their feelings! Very much with you on taking care of the environment! Another fantastic point.

@JennyDaniella Nice to meet you too! No need to apologise for a slow reply (me too!). I'm with you on painting water and skies. I love going down to the beach and painting there. So relaxing and beautiful. Painting is super tactile and I love that too. I quite enjoy life drawing/portrait painting also. I'd certainly love to share some art - is there already a thread for doing so? I'd love to see some of your work also!
PS: Do you have a link to your blog? I don't have one, but this may just be a good time to start. ^^
 
Emel said:
Sorry for my late reply! Been a busy couple of days. ^^

@Impact Character It's certainly nice to know one is not alone in their feelings! Very much with you on taking care of the environment! Another fantastic point.

@JennyDaniella Nice to meet you too! No need to apologise for a slow reply (me too!). I'm with you on painting water and skies. I love going down to the beach and painting there. So relaxing and beautiful. Painting is super tactile and I love that too. I quite enjoy life drawing/portrait painting also. I'd certainly love to share some art - is there already a thread for doing so? I'd love to see some of your work also!
PS: Do you have a link to your blog? I don't have one, but this may just be a good time to start. ^^
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Hmmm, I’m not sure if there is specifically a thread for only painting! You gave me a great idea, I might have to eventually create a thread focused on that! :D

This is my blog! You’ll probably see more of my paintings in previous pages, but here you’ll see one of my works in this page. :)

https://www.infjs.com/threads/bouquet-of-delphiniums.35423/page-14
 
Revisiting this thread, because getting enough Se is probably a lifelong struggle, at least for me. It's especially hard in the winter for me. Lately I've been playing guitar (not something I knew how to do in 2019 when this thread began). Also soaking in a hot bathtub. The physical ritual of bringing wood to the woodstove and getting the fire going counts, right? And I realized, rereading this thread, that handwashing dishes in warm water is also a good Se activity (though I only handwash dishes rarely, but I could do it more often). Physical chores like putting the clean dishes away, but focusing on the sensory experience of it.

Some themes keep showing up. This is one of them...
 
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