Himanshu

@Harikrishnan Clout

That's interesting. Any success so far? I have started studying Enneagram recently and it seems to have a lot of potential to aid one's growth.

@Artsu No conflicting ideas here. Exactly.

Shadow behavior, lack of integration, lack of self-honesty

I have been researching, interviewing and coaching people, mostly INFJs and INFPs, being a mirror and a guide on their path to Self-Actualization. This is a journal of my insights into coaching, personality theories, and a record of high-leverage opportunities and common pitfalls INFJs face. This is going to be a lot of good stuff, some ramblings, and a lot of analogies. Keeping it public for feedback and to connect with other people who are excited by the possibility of using Type as a Tool for Growth. This is going to be biased towards men because that is where a lot of information is coming from, but a lot of it will be applicable to any person with NF (Idealist) temperament. Other explorations (various personality psychology models, developmental models) belong to the main journal. First brainstorm for a planned book.

Why do Inner Integration? What is the outcome? Balance. Wholeness. Alignment of thought, emotion, speech, and action. Personal effectiveness. Alignment with the natural flow of life itself. Integration means everything works as a well-coordinated whole. A well-integrated individual has access to all his capabilities equally, is centered, spontaneous, and effortless in day-to-day living. He doesn't fight the natural forces, yet align himself with them. The result is minimum resistance and maximum flow. List of psychological dualities to integrate. Words are fuzzy, there may be repetition: Conscious - (subconscious) - Unconscious Love - Fear Good - Evil Dreams - Reality Masculine - Feminine Body - mind Persona - Shadow Intuition - Sensing Feeling - Thinking me - other Body coordination Physical grace and ambidexterity Emotions - Logic Divine nature - Animal nature Rationality - Impulses Intuition - Instincts Strategic action - Spontaneity Systematic - Random Inductive reasoning - Deductive reasoning Natural - Artificial Lack - Abundance

@Wisebaxter I appreciate the kind words. A lot more on the way. @Zigzag IdiotThank you! That's good to hear. Refining the purpose behind studying psychological types (and human nature in general): Enhancing my ability to jump back and forth between perspectives. How do I know when I am seeing something from a fresh perspective? The original 'problem' itself ceases to exist. New 'problems' become visible that were not there before. Being an effective Coach. Being able to fully empathize with the person I am coaching. How do I know when I am truly seeing from someone else's perspective and not deluding myself? I am convinced that I would do exactly what they are doing in this situation. I am able to speak their language in a way they get it. I am able to detach myself emotionally from my personal philosophy when offering advice. Being an effective communicator Building bridges: Be the mediator when there is a misalignment in communication. All of us live in our own subjective bubbles - often unaware and incapable of seeing reality in any other way than our own. Being a more integrated and conscious individual deeply aware of my own biases. Being more responsible for my contribution to society and culture. Create independent systems that help align people along the most optimal path for their inner growth and highest contribution. Enhancing my ability to experience AND articulate the entire spectrum of emotions possible as a human being: the agonies and the ecstasies. There is nothing too pleasurable, too painful or otherwise too extreme to know or experience. A lot has changed over millennia, Human Nature hasn't. Its perennial nature makes it a subject worth mastering.

If you don't know, here is a no-bullshit test: http://www.michaelcaloz.com/personality/ Thanks to @Max_V for discovering this gem. Edit: 4 year old poll on MBTI types. INTP, INFP, INFJ, and INTJ types make up over 70% of the forum population. Resources for INTP's Resources for INFJ's Resources for INFP's Resources for ENTP's

Fun fact: Gurdjieff is the one who brought Enneagram to the mainstream after it got lost in obscure texts.

3 phases of Self-transformation: 1. Dis-identification from the Personality through self-observation Through meditation, contemplation, psychedelics, etc. create the inner "space" in which to watch myself, thereby creating a separation between my witnessing consciousness and the habits and patterns that I observe. The higher up I go, the more clearly the patterns are seen. The defenses are loosened and the fear of losing the comfort of a Personality-construct arises. Practice: Questioning my life story. Reading type descriptions, highlighting what clicks and contemplating the universality of those elements. (My life story is not so unique after all) Watching my habit loops (Cue -> Routine -> Reward). Noticing my emotional triggers. Set up hourly chime and log every hour - with honesty and non-judgment. Pointers that I am on the right path: Humility. More aligned with the natural rhythms of body-mind, less attached to my ideas. More Flow, less resistance. 2. Surrendering to the fear and emotional suffering associated with loosening ego defenses As the hold of personality starts loosening, allowing myself to experience the emotional territory underneath my defenses in a conscious way in order to integrate my shadow and move forward in my evolution. By allowing myself to recognize your unconscious patterns and feel the emotions my Personality has helped me avoid, I release considerable energy that I have been (unconsciously) expending to keep my defenses in place. Practice: Being a superconductor of emotions yet being able to detach from them. 'Checking in' on my body with an hourly chime and letting go of any tension consciously. Working through complex memories / emotional triggers by writing them out in detail. Pointers that I am on the right path: Emotional discomfort that turns into wisdom with love and acceptance. Feeling lighter and more alive every passing day. Reduced self-sabotaging behaviors. Alignment of thought, emotion, speech, and action. 3. Actively working towards transcendence and Union Being in a more conscious, integrated state. Develop a greater ability to call on the strategies and strengths of all nature's archetypes instead of just being preoccupied with one way of doing things. Practice: Contemplating the food cycle. Contemplating death. Contemplating Archetypes. Pointers that I am on the right path: Creating more yet being emotionally detached from what I create. Immediate awareness of multiple POVs of looking at a situation and all the actions I can take (including not taking any action at all) instead of automatically doing what I have always done. Sense of inner completeness "wholeness". A sense of connectedness with everyone and everything. A sense of constant expansion.

- Beatrice Chestnut, The Complete Enneagram

What is motivating me to understand Personality types? People in wrong jobs, people facing the same issues that have been dealt with millions of times before, same blindspots, same opportunities, same hot buttons, all of these already researched, understood, documented, and put away. People thinking they are special and unique when they are actually running age-old patterns. In essence, what motivates me to do this work is seeing the sheer squandering of human potential all around me, and the possibility of all that potential put to making earth a better place. Only if there was a solid system that can identify a person's strengths, their unique genius, and help them align it with the greatest positive impact they can make on the world. Integrate that with the existing education system so we don't waste spend so many years programming children with outdated paradigms, and youth is spent living their purpose instead of being lost and depressed. With education going online and self-learning becoming the norm, I see Research in personality types is promising and is ONE of the lenses for identifying a person's patterns. There are a number of other factors to consider and a multi-model approach is crucial. In order to be effective, the focus is on 20% of the models that get 80% of the results: MBTI (Cognitive Functions to be precise -), Enneagram and the Big Five and integrate them for a clearer picture - as far as required. The system as I envision has a lot of moving parts. I have started with a very specific niche; and the one that is closest to me. About a month back, I started brainstorming a book on INFJ men - their values, strengths, aspirations and . I have been interviewing, coaching and working with other people in one way or another. I will start publishing the data I have collected in this journal tomorrow onwards.

Which age groups do most of them fall into? And how has it changed over the years? (You probably have all that data in your YouTube dashboard) Just curious

I can relate. I have tried blocking myself off from emotional stimuli but didn't work. I tried the 'stoic' approach of being rational about my emotions but failed, miserably. The way it has worked for me is practicing allowing emotions to pass through my body without resistance. The better I become at letting the emotions pass through my body without any resistance, the finer my empath abilities become and the more alive I feel on a day to day basis. In other words, I feel more but suffer less. In practice, that means breathing deeply and fully all the time; specially when you feel that your ,or someone else's, emotions are taking over you. It also means some form of regular breathwork (Pranayam, Holotropic breathwork, Wim Hof Method) and physical exercise (you might want to keep it simple - weightlifting, running, etc.) It takes time and regular practice. If you're inclined, I could recommend some books on INFJs and HSP (Highly Sensitive Persons) - another word for empaths - that could give you insights into how to use empathy for good. Hope that helps.

Why men are the way they are by Warren Farrell <-- This is probably what you are looking for. Be warned, it was published in the 80s by a Mens' Rights Activist when political correctness wasn't a thing. Dear Lover - David Deida Enlightened Sex - David Deida From Sex to Superconsciousness - Osho He : Understanding Masculine Psychology - Robert Johnson When the body says no - Gabor Mate Gabor Mate's online lectures are great as well. Sedona Method In my experience, inner work and understanding the opposite sex are different things. The finer understanding I have gotten of the opposite sex, (from theory, application, feedback, and reflection), the more fulfilling my relationships have gotten - not just with my partner but with all women in general. With that, losing all desire for romantic relationships isn't something on my radar right now.

"Don't settle down and sit in one place. Move around, be nomadic, make each day a new horizon. You are still going to live a long time, Ron, and it would be a shame if you did not take the opportunity to revolutionize your life and move into an entirely new realm of experience." "Medicine, Law, Business, Engineering.. these are noble pursuits.. Poetry, romance, love.. this is what we stay alive for!" It was on the tip of everyone's tongue.. Chuck just gave it a name This is a classic!

Anger is usually triggered by something that is partially true and you are deeply uncomfortable with. Question what it is and why that makes you uncomfortable. And it's okay.

Who knew.

Teaching others what you learn is a sure way of understanding something better. Remember to use the concepts as what they actually are: Pointers towards what is True and not Truth itself. One way of testing if you have a solid "true" understanding of a subject is to apply it to the real world and see how effective you are.

@outlandish Maybe it is time for a new poll. Edit: New poll

@Yog How do you get the exact frequencies? Do you use an app?

That can be a difficult one because ENFJ and INFJ have the same functions (even the same Fe-Ti and Ni-Se axes) but in different orders. ENFJ is (Fe > Ni > Se > Ti) INFJ is (Ni > Fe > Ti > Se) If you want to clear it up, you can ask yourself these questions: What is the source of your everyday conflicts? Where do you feel stuck? What seem like the most difficult decisions to make? Are those between you / others? Like choosing between what would make everyone happy and what makes sense to you? OR Are those between your own insights and what you see/hear? What comes easier for you? Dealing with minute sensory details? Like looking for a key in a drawer full of keys OR Checking the consistency of someone's arguments? Researching to find loopholes in someone's arguments and correcting them? If you had a significant other to provide you one of the following skillsets to add to your own, which do you think would be most useful: Somebody who reminded you to eat, drink liquids, etc. Somebody who provided you with a lot of creative ideas Somebody who took things that you came up with and execute them in reality Somebody who helps you in understand how to get from point A to point B Another thing to understand is that if you are growing, these functions are developed sequentially over your lifetime. So, if you are a 25-year-old ENFJ, maybe you are just discovering and developing your Introverted Intuition (Ni) - and that's where your current phase of introversion might be coming from.

@Akemrelax Since you are just starting out, I recommend you pick something more digestible instead of directly going to Jung. Either Lectures on Jung's Typology by James Hillman and Marie-Louise von Franz or more contemporary Personality Hacker book by Antonia Dodge and Joel Mark Witt. Personality Hacker podcast is a good place to start as well. They have multiple episodes discussing Spiral Dynamics and recently invited Dr. Dario Nardi who is working on Neuroscience of Personality - proposing that one's personality is wired. I haven't read it so not sure how legit.