Graffiti performance art, Regina - May 2011
When I’m in a state of personal flux, I end up reading about myself indirectly through my Meyers Briggs personality type – INFJ. Apparently only 1% of the population has this personality type… and it is thought that Jesus and Ghandi were also INFJs. Wow… look what I get to live up to.
In the past when reading about my personality type, I focus more on the positive aspects of my personality – intuition, insight, wisdom, and idealism.
This morning, however, I was taking a look at the Personal Growth section of the website and took stock of the negative traits of the personality type to make sure that I address these traits, and understand the negatives to work on to make myself a better person. Here’s a passage describing how I’ve been reacting lately.
Some INFJs have difficulty fitting into our society. Their problems are generally associated with not knowing (or caring) how they come across to others, and with having unreasonable expectations for others’ behaviors. Both of these issues stem from using Extraverted Feeling primarily to dismiss external ideas, rather than to sort through their own intuitions.
An INFJ who uses Extraverted Feeling in this diminished manner may become so strongly opinionated that they form rigid and unreasonable expectations for others. They may feel so strongly about things that they become very passionate and agitated when they feel that something has gone wrong. In these cases, it’s not uncommon for the INFJ to express their displeasure with biting sarcasm. They become so emotionally upset that they are generally not aware of how their behavior comes across to others. Even if the consequences of their attitude and behavior is pointed out to them, they may be agitated to the point that they don’t care. This kind of situation can be devastating to the INFJ on many levels, and should be avoided. There isn’t much that can be done once the INFJ has reached the point where they are too upset to care about others, but the INFJ can prevent this problem from occurring by ensuring that they never get to that point.
To those I have berated or offended lately with my short-tempered sarcasm, I sincerely apologize. I guess it is both a case of jealousy and INFJ-dom. Unfortunately, I can’t use the latter as an excuse.
There are so many positive traits to my INFJ type, but the most important (to me) is intuition.
INFJs are gentle, caring, complex and highly intuitive individuals. Artistic and creative, they live in a world of hidden meanings and possibilities. Only one percent of the population has an INFJ Personality Type, making it the most rare of all the types. [...]
INFJs have uncanny insight into people and situations. They get “feelings” about things and intuitively understand them. As an extreme example, some INFJs report experiences of a psychic nature, such as getting strong feelings about there being a problem with a loved one, and discovering later that they were in a car accident. This is the sort of thing that other types may scorn and scoff at, and the INFJ themself does not really understand their intuition at a level which can be verbalized. (http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INFJ.html)
