How easy is it to detach yourself from your emotions/feelings? | INFJ Forum

How easy is it to detach yourself from your emotions/feelings?

Gaze

Donor
Sep 5, 2009
28,265
44,749
1,906
MBTI
INFPishy
How easy is it to detach yourself from your emotions/feelings?


When? or in what circumstances is it easiest or hardest?
 
Depends on the emotion... I can hold a grudge pretty well... but it's pretty difficult to get me to have that grudge in the first place.

Errr... I find It actually quite easy to detach myself from my emotions when I deem it necessary. It's like a do or don't thing for me. Either it's expedient, or it's not. Actually I find it easier to be detached than to actually listen to my feelings.

Perhaps because I generally don't trust descisions made based purely on feeling... unless it's that gut feeling that tells you somthing is not right. I think that emotion can often keep us from thinking clearly.

Me being the insecu- totally awesome and amazing person that I am, I don't lik- I mean, I prefer to keep an internal environment that I can trust to make good descisions.


.... well when it counts... I can be a little reckless just because I *ahem* feel like being reckless.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Gaze
It's usually very hard to detach myself from my feelings/ emotions internally, but I tend to keep them inside, and compose myself outwardly so I don't bother other people with my feelings.
It's somewhat easy to detach myself from my emotions when I'm thinking critically. Like, if I'm watching a competition, I can decide on which people perfromed well and which ones didn't, regardless of feelings. Although if I was asked to share my opinion, I'd still try and find the nicest way to share my opinion honestly. I can also be detached when working, since I know that my personal feelings are often inappropriate to express in a professional setting, and out of respect for that, I'll keep my emotions at bay. I also find myself very detached from my emotions in public places, since I'd feel too self conscious to express them.
It's almost impossible for me to be detached when someone is sad or depressed, or if someone is being treated unfairly.
 
My own emotions? I'm more often detached from them than not.

It's other people's emotions that affect me. I tend to concern myself with other people's feelings a lot.
 
Sometimes, but most of the time it's etched (or rather stamped messily with a stapler) on my sleeve. >_<;

When it does it does perfectly tho.
 
It's usually very difficult for me to separate entirely from my emotions, particularly if there are outside "causes." Logically, I'm aware that emotions aren't really caused by outside influences at all; it is my own thoughts, perceptions and expectations that cultivate them. But when you're in the heat of the moment, it's very easy to lose that line of reasoning. Particularly if the emotions are powerful, like experiencing love or resentment.

Like many other posters have mentioned, I detached the easiest once I've experienced thorough disgust toward another person or group--especially if its betrayal or some other form of deep disrespect towards me or the people I care about. The emotional dam clogs up and I'm processing on a purely cold and cerebral level. At that point, I feel nothing other than apathy to the other individual.

Funny thing is, I actually like it when I get that way because I gain an incredible amount of clarity and insight into the situation. Sometimes I can summon this state all on my own without a previous emotional trigger, but it takes effort and a purpose for doing so... and also doesn't always work.

Believe me, if I could figure out how to voluntarily turn on and turn off the emotions I feel towards other people, I'd do it!

Mind you, when it comes to figuring out what I'm actually feeling... I'm a bit at a loss.
 
Last edited:
I'm usually pretty out of sync with my emotions. Sometimes I feel like a complete robot. I know what ever is going on should bug me or make me ecstatic, but I don't feel it. I'm just a level melancholy "meh". Sometimes it takes days for the emotion to finally hit me, and if I'm not prepared for it they can completely take me over. I hate that.

I'm usually a sponge, and absorb what ever it is people around me are feeling. If the group is happy, I'm at the front of it, if people are down, I'm somewhat dejected with them. I guess that's Fe for you (maybe?)
 
I'm an INTP, so, quite easy. That's not to say this is good. I'm old enough to recognize my shortcomings. Part of the problem is, there are times I don't even know I have feelings, so I'm missing important information, not only about myself, but about the people I love and care about.
 
I can switch my emotions off like a switch most of the time. But I generally keep most, if not all feelings at bay anyway, so it's not really hard most of the time.
 
I'm usually pretty out of sync with my emotions. Sometimes I feel like a complete robot. I know what ever is going on should bug me or make me ecstatic, but I don't feel it. I'm just a level melancholy "meh". Sometimes it takes days for the emotion to finally hit me, and if I'm not prepared for it they can completely take me over. I hate that.

I'm usually a sponge, and absorb what ever it is people around me are feeling. If the group is happy, I'm at the front of it, if people are down, I'm somewhat dejected with them. I guess that's Fe for you (maybe?)

This^^^ sounds just like what i've been experiencing. I tend to take on the emotions or pick up on the feelings of the people around me (i think . . . hmm). And it makes me more sympathetic to what they feel want or think which means it gets difficult to detach myself from their feelings. And then it becomes difficult to separate their emotions from mine.
 
Last edited:
Really depends. I can't detach from my feelings about people I love or care about, thoughts about them tend to infiltrate my mind at the most inopportune times! (not that I'm complaining, haha). Easier for me to detach from THEM physically or from the environment, than it is to detach from my emotions about them. I often don't really feel like I control my feelings, they take control over me and I'm sort of at their whim :/

Though when there's something important to get done, I automatically ignore how I feel and do what needs to be done.. but usually life doesn't have an objective goal, so I wander..

Flavus: I bet you do :p You seem like you've gotten used to not according your emotional needs the significance they deserve.
 
Have always had a hard time accessing my emotions.
 
It is fairly easy to do, but I no longer choose to do so because my sense is the cost and consequences of doing so are too great.

I seem to do it automatically in crisis (a fire, someone going into siezure, etc.) with no ill effect, but that is not willful.


cheers,
Ian
 
I can easily turn my emotions off if need be, the problem is turning them back on...seems to take awhile before I begin feeling again. Thus I tend to avoid ever turning them off, as without my emotions I know I am not whole. Instead I try to just be who I am, if ever an emotional overload comes my way...I'll hit the kill switch.
 
Most of the time it is not easy to detach from my emotions. If there is hurt involved and the pain is too deep and it has been going for longer than I can cope with, as a defensive mechanism, sometimes I can have an emotional shutdown towards people who are the source of my pain.

However, I do like to amplify certain feelings of mine and indulge in it. They serve as an enrichment to my internal world. At times I need them to feel alive and find meaning in my life.

:smow:
 
Last edited:
Really depends. I can't detach from my feelings about people I love or care about, thoughts about them tend to infiltrate my mind at the most inopportune times! (not that I'm complaining, haha). Easier for me to detach from THEM physically or from the environment, than it is to detach from my emotions about them. I often don't really feel like I control my feelings, they take control over me and I'm sort of at their whim :/

Though when there's something important to get done, I automatically ignore how I feel and do what needs to be done.. but usually life doesn't have an objective goal, so I wander..

Flavus: I bet you do :p You seem like you've gotten used to not according your emotional needs the significance they deserve.

Most of the time it is not easy to detach from my emotions. If there is hurt involved and the pain is too deep and it has been going for longer than I can cope with, as a defensive mechanism, sometimes I can have an emotional shutdown towards people who are the source of my pain.

However, I do like to amplify certain feelings of mine and indulge in it. They serve as an enrichment to my internal world. At times I need them to feel alive and find meaning in my life.

:smow:

All this^^^ which is why i don't trust my feelings most of the time. I'm too easily overwhelmed or controlled by them.
 
Feelings come and go. They may not reflect reality.
Feelings are just feelings. Nothing more and nothing less.

:m093: