ISFP = Wandering?

[CoffeeShopDiva]

My little sister is an INFP (I'm not sure about the P, 100%). She's constantly off in her own little world, and she freqently goes "missing" on family outings because she gets so distracted all the time.

For example, we were at a ball park before a baseball game. She wandered away because she was watching a swollow (little bird) hop over the seats. Literally, "oh look, a bird" can make her disappear.

Anyone had similar experiences with INFx? Quinlan?

 

[Dutch Cake]

I know my parents started kind of locking me into my room when I was very young because I was awake and doing things while they were asleep. I would go play outside, try to help in the kitchen (5 stitches led to the locking up at night), and make messes. I would wander off from a very early age, but I always came back somehow. We did have kind old neighbor ladies who would give me tea. I mostly remember my parents finding me and thanking people a lot for having me. I don't ever remember being scared or that I was missed. I do remember being disappointed about being taken away when I hadn't finished tea.

My mother has a very different story about how I would disappear in a second. She had a system with the ladies around the block and they would call her if they saw me wandering.

 

[Quinlan]

I'm easily distracted by nature, especially animals but I'll also always be the first to point out a particularly nice sunset/rainbow/moonrise/shooting star. I'm so rude but sometimes I will give much more attention to a new dog I meet than to a new person.

Are you wondering if she might be ISFP? I would say that generally an INFP will go missing in their own little world and an ISFP will go missing out in the real world.

 

[Faye]

My INFP friend is a ditz (in the best way possible). I don't know that she would wonder off, but I can see the eccentricities of personality there.

 

[Julia]

I tend to go wandering off into nature, but am usually lost in my mind and senses together. I love to sit quietly amongst trees for a suspended amount of time and become a tree myself. I don't just react to it concretely, but use the beauty of nature as a catalyst to connect to what is most intangible.

I was watching the Sound of Music the other day and it really struck me that Maria as portrayed in that film is an archetypal ISFP. The way in which she wanders off into nature alone, breaks the rules of the convent, but is so engaged in life, beauty and feelings. There is little or no sense of an imagined world or anything abstract or philosophical about her. Her "favorite things" are specific and concrete and "she's always late for everything except for every meal". Her joy and herself are present in the world around her and not lost inside her mind.

 

[Loiacono]

I'd love a little directed insight into the INFP personality

 

[Julia]

I'd love a little directed insight into the INFP personality — my wife tests as an INFP, and she can be quite confounding.

Her tendency to get absorbed in things like Photoshop to an extreme, or reading a certain book, for example, at the cost of all things outside of her bubble can really drive me nuts.

The house becomes a wreck when I'm not home sometimes. She'll get in the middle of doing 10 things at once and flit around leaving all of it undone and all of the evidence of it out in the open.

Huge messes while she cooks, never makes the bed, that kind of thing. Her abilities are amazing, but she's got an issue with being aware of her surroundings.

That much really sounds like an INFP to me, but those two types are very closely related since they share a dominant function and their Sensing and iNtuition are the second third functions (not that far separated). An INFP has fairly strong Sensing and the ISFP has fairly strong iNtuition. (duh - misread it the first time. You said INFP)

My mother and sister are both I?FPs. Knowing them rather well, I struggle to identify the Sensing or iNtuition aspect. They are both far less structured than I am, but also both significantly more opinionated. I think my mother is an ISFP who relies strongly on her tertiary Ni. She relates to information iNtuitively and feels that she knows what is accurate or not based on her impressions. My sister seemed more like an ISFP when younger and could be easily taken to excitement. My mother never took us to amusement parks because she felt my sister would get to involved in the sense of excitement. That part seems especially ISFP to me, but she also gets really focused and forms strong opinions about philosophy. Both have strong conclusions about politics, religion and people. Both leave their environment unstructured and somewhat messy although my mother has her own system that looks more random to the outside observer but makes sense to her. My mother is especially energized by change. "Out with the old and in with the new" gives her a boost. Of the two, my mother is the most spontaneous.