Best Enriching Se Activities

invisible

invisible

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This picture was made to help autistic children, but if you ask me it's just a really awesome idea!

What kinds of things do you do (or can you think of to do) on a regular, daily basis, integrated with your daily activities, to stimulate your Se, and that are good for you and give you feelings of personal enrichment? This does not really include potentially addictive behaviours; this is about healthy, sustainable, low-cost activities that can be done daily over the years into the future, that will nourish our minds and respect our bodies.

Please also note the difference between Se and Si:

Extraverted Sensing (or what Jung called Extraverted Sensation) occurs by way of the five primary senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste). Introverted Sensing (Si), by contrast, relates to inner bodily sensations such as pain, hunger, thirst, internal temperature, numbness, tingling, muscle tension, etc. Both Se and Si are critical for our physical survival, delivering vital sensory feedback from within and without.
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- A J Drenth

One thing I thought of today is reading poetry aloud and experiencing the sensory aspects of my voice and breathing as I'm reading.
 
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Walks by the ocean. The sound of the water, smell of the salt air and feel of the breeze is soothing, soul cleansing and ectstatic.
 
invisible said:
What kinds of things do you do (or can you think of to do) on a regular basis to stimulate your Se, and that are good for you and give you feelings of personal enrichment?
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Sex.
 
aeon said:
Sex.
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That's a good one! Although I think that not all sex is necessarily enriching, sometimes it can be profoundly alienating. And sex can also be kind of like alcohol and drugs. So it has to be in the right circumstances to really be useful as a healthy Se expression. (Just my opinion.)
 
Walking (although admittedly, I do spend a lot of my time in my head), hiking, anything sporty related (an element of competitiveness makes it more exhilarating and fun but if someone gets too serious - then it spoils it for me and I may disengage), interior design, photography, baking, cooking, dancing, listening to music, shopping (there has to be a purpose and only with select friends....otherwise it becomes torturous and exhausting), singing, movies, eating out, reading, sitting out in the garden (not necessarily doing anything), travelling, visiting museums, galleries....all I can think of at the moment. This has been a useful exercise - thank you invisible........it's a healthy reminder to me to take REGULAR time out when there's a lot going on (which is often).
 
Isabella said:
Walking (although admittedly, I do spend a lot of my time in my head), hiking, anything sporty related (an element of competitiveness makes it more exhilarating and fun but if someone gets too serious - then it spoils it for me and I may disengage), interior design, photography, baking, cooking, dancing, listening to music, shopping (there has to be a purpose and only with select friends....otherwise it becomes torturous and exhausting), singing, movies, eating out, reading, sitting out in the garden (not necessarily doing anything), travelling, visiting museums, galleries....all I can think of at the moment. This has been a useful exercise - thank you invisible........it's a healthy reminder to me to take REGULAR time out when there's a lot going on (which is often).
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That was a great list and yeah, in terms of regular time out, I really want to make activities like this a more integrated part of my life.

I think out of those you mentioned, my favourite that I would never have thought of was photography... it makes you really focus on the visual aspects of what you are trying to capture in the photograph.
 
I think a good one could be not just listening to music, but sort of studying it while listening to it in a detached critical way. Like reading books from Continuum's "33 1/3" series while listening to the album that each is about. It could make you shift your focus, experiencing the sensory aspects in a concentrated and involved way without getting absorbed and lost in them.

This is really making me miss a very expensive set of in-ear headphones I used to have that were made by Westone, which I broke through carelessness. I need to be able to afford a replacement set soon... or maybe getting hold of a cheaper substitute from Sennheiser should be my priority.
 
Taking LSD.
 
Isabella said:
Walking (although admittedly, I do spend a lot of my time in my head), hiking, anything sporty related (an element of competitiveness makes it more exhilarating and fun but if someone gets too serious - then it spoils it for me and I may disengage), interior design, photography, baking, cooking, dancing, listening to music, shopping (there has to be a purpose and only with select friends....otherwise it becomes torturous and exhausting), singing, movies, eating out, reading, sitting out in the garden (not necessarily doing anything), travelling, visiting museums, galleries....all I can think of at the moment. This has been a useful exercise - thank you invisible........it's a healthy reminder to me to take REGULAR time out when there's a lot going on (which is often).
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These are great. I love walking and do it for on average 2 hrs a day. Beaches, streets, parks, wherever. I also enjoy baking, but but stopped because anticipation of the clean-up is a real kill joy to the experience.
 
OK, it should be clear by now that this thread is not about things like drugs and alcohol. This is like more about finding activities that can be integrated with all the shit we need to get done in a day in order to get our functional needs met and not fall into a trap of sensory binging. Sorry, but drugs, alcohol, and other addictive behaviours IS a trap of sensory binging. I just don't have time to be doing something like dropping pills, the luxury of that level of time does not exist in my life, I have too much to get done. Also, on a long term basis, that behaviour is not sustainable, as it destroys your finances and melts your brain. Drugs and alcohol are not really Se activities, either - they're more Si activities.

Extraverted Sensing (or what Jung called Extraverted Sensation) occurs by way of the five primary senses (sight, sound, touch, smell, and taste). Introverted Sensing (Si), by contrast, relates to inner bodily sensations such as pain, hunger, thirst, internal temperature, numbness, tingling, muscle tension, etc. Both Se and Si are critical for our physical survival, delivering vital sensory feedback from within and without.
Click to expand...

- A J Drenth

So please, keep this relevant and helpful. I will update the OP, in order to make all this more clear.
 
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Hey ^^
Thanks for your input and thoughts!

I was researching on this topic for a while and I might also add a couple of (hopefully) helpful things..
(Context: I grew up with a Se-Sibling and my father has some hedonist qualitites..xD)
So..let's see.. here is my thought process..


Sensing is a perceiving function - as in paying attention through the five senses - but with some kind of external world spotlight.
It's some kind of strict outer world perception with raw data as you may say..

There is a philosophical aspect (which is relevant for virtual realities if you ask me..):
You cannot seperate room-perception without the self-perception. (Maybe you heard philosophers ponder about if the world behind their backs (aka the world that is no longer perceived by senses in that moment) actually exists.)

I am kinda leaning into the Si/Se seperation here.. you are always taking in information.. thus being part of the perceiving process (as a medium or vessel) .. it's not working "without you in the room" completely or without "taking in" information.

This said.. I think it's helpful finding Se activities (that are also fun).


Now.. bear with me.. since I am new here.. but INFJs seem usually very visual-focused when it comes to senses (that observant factor - I am not ruling out other senses.).
So this is an approach including the other senses to lurk onself out of "visual habits"..

I believe a big focus on training perception abilities as taste and smelling things really helps alot.. and it goes very well with enjoying a sense of good quality..
For example: cheese, olive oil, chocolate or wine tastings

Or maybe activities that disenable temporarily your preferred senses and force you into new (Se) experiences..
For example: Dinner in the dark .. or ...painting, drawing or writing with your weaker hand or even with your foot..

and the combining experience of senses and room..
For example: sensory parcours in woods (for children ^^ you know.. those where you walk barefoot over things and take in the whole "in the woods" experience)..

and so on..



Then.. every now and then you read about Se kicking in when INFJs are under stress.. which turns into a real weak spot..(now I don't know how true this is but it seems right).

I am not saying "throw yourself into dangerous situations, risks or elemental crisis to trigger instincts or make your amygdala throw up".. (the really uncomfortable external triggered situation of reacting/deciding NOW..) but..

there is an aspect of being out of comfort zone, right? like not having a plan..being in a less familiar environment.. being forced to taking in new information with all senses..


I noticed traveling alone for a while in a different country holds all of this.. (if anyone of you plans to have a more exotic daily Se-time xD).
For example: studying abroad, backpack trips an so on..
It's stressful, exhausting.. and somehow a real Se-hardcore training.. (but it also holds magic if you plan in some lost paradises spots to charge your batteries <3)



Last but not least..

Se might be trained alot within the ACT (Acceptance and Commitment Therapy) idea..
(which is basically the self-awareness/spatial- and time-perception theme from the beginning of my post.)
For example: I found Qi Gong appealing..because it's a mixture of sporty activity or physical movements.. but also inner energetic activity and meditation..

I learned alot by reading about HSPs (Highly Sensitive Person) and their boundary issues..(being overwhelmed by all kinds of input - yeah Se is a topic too)..
Being everywhere outside their bodies (or mirroring the person you are facing) the key might be in centering onself and being aware of one's boundaries while being part of the room in a sensory way.. (if anyone is thinking about martial art movies when the trainee meets his master raise your hand!)
For example: having one's back leaning against a pillow > realizing the metaphysical boundaries (aka "where my back ends and the pillow starts") > sensing the pillow/space..



I hope this gives you some ideas for creative/intuitive idea juggling for more activities!
Thanks for having me :)
 
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