The amazing yet troubling persona of the INFJ

Today I had an amazing massage that I had apparently needed for quite sometime. My massage therapist was getting places in my head that I never thought existed. I mean, I always knew I had muscles in my scalp and on my skull, but I never knew they hurt so dang bad! Who knew? Anyway, this is beside the point. While I was receiving this glorious massage, my massage therapist and I were talking about our personality types. When I say personality types, I am talking about the Myers-Briggs personality test that uses a questionnaire to asses the type of personality you may have. There are 16 types, which range from extroversion/introversion, intuition/sensing, thinking/feeling, and judging/perceiving. Although you may have a set of letters that describe who you are at the end of the test, a person of course can always display a number of these characteristics, it just may be that they display one more than the other. As always, no letter is better than the other, and no personality type is better than the other. This test can give you a great idea, though, as to what other personality types compliment yours and what kind of work environment you may work best in. As you can see, I love this test, and it holds much scientific validity. Knowing a lot about this test can be humorous at times, which seems really nerdy, but I can assure you it's at least a little humorous when something like this happens: "oh, so you like the Myers-Briggs, huh? What is your type." "INFJ" "oh, I see (long pause) so you must be like...super shy, make a list, and wear your heart on your sleeve." "I see we have already met." It can be fun knowing a lot about this test, but it can get in the way sometimes of people being able to get to know you. It sounds so crazy, but sometimes the preconceived notions can get in the way. However, there are times when people know about the test, and love to share about how knowing their type has helped then get in touch with a part of their personality they didn't know was there. This happened today when I met with my massage therapist who also happens to be an INFJ. This is rare, as this types only makes up 1 percent of the population ( who knows if that is really true or not). She loved to talk about how much her introversion has helped her to understand why she gets her energy from being alone. Being a fellow I, I understand the idea of thoughts raging inside your head. I think about what I am going to say before I say it, and calculate the gravity of what may come out. I also over analyze situations and pound them into the ground until there is nothing left. I could spend hours just thinking, writing, enjoying music, and time to myself. My mind is my playground, where I keep my innermost and playful thoughts, just toying with the idea of story lines, fantasies, and the wonders of the world; wanting to delve into the books of Jane Austen, be Alice in her wonderland, and seek the adventures of the world. Of course, no one one knows this. Those with more practical minds tell me to stop letting my fantasies get to me. I tell them: how sad and unsatisfying your life must be without an imagination. When she talked about her imagination, I got it. I definitely understood. It is not that she does not like being around people and only with her imagination, it's just that being an introvert, you must regain your energy from being inside yourself and turning inwards. Talking with her about this, it was so good to hear about another INFJ that felt the same way as I do about the imagination. This is the amazing part of being an INFJ. The downfall is that these thoughts can get carried away. The fantasy world can almost become something that needs to become a reality; a fixation. This can be so troubling, especially when the mind needs to cope or stop stressing over a situation. I find myself thinking and beating a situation over the head until I an exhausted from over thinking. I love to think. Possibilities are my favorite things. What if I just did this, what would be the outcome? Can I control a certain variable, can I manipulate it? While my time with my massage therapist was great in getting to talk about the mind of an INFJ, it opened my eyes up to just how much I fixate on certain things that I simply cannot control. Patience is something I need to learn to have with myself, especially things that I have to wait for and results will not come quickly. If I could let go, and let God, my life would be so much easier. This is so hard to do sometimes. How do we just let go of it all, all control? If I have let to of control somewhere, or let go of a fixation on one things, it most often goes to another. How do I be still? Sometimes I think my mind will roam forever and ever. God gave me this personality, these gifts, and this mind to use it. I just get caught up in my world sometimes, but honestly, who doesn't? Give yourself a break...it will do you a lot of good,