Ni and "Sleeping on It"

[YourFavoriteNightmare]

"Since Ni is a Perceiving function, INJs often report that its workings often feel effortless. When INJs express the need to “think about” something, this means something very different from what it might for other types. Namely, the lion’s share of INJs’ “thinking” or cognitive processing occurs outside of their conscious awareness. Their best thinking is typically done without thinking, at least not consciously. For INJs, “sleeping on” a problem is as sure a route to a solution as any."
Except from Personality Junkie on Introverted Intuition (Ni) -> http://personalityjunkie.com/10/introverted-intuition-ni/

This is quite true of me and I bring this up because it happened recently. I had to think about something (something and it's related pieces), to the point of writing them down, and then I'd leave it be and sleep on it. Work on it a little more and than leave it alone again. Today, when I was reminded of the topic of consideration, I have near perfect clarity on the matter.
It is, in fact, a personal matter and therefore will not share. At least, not this particular one.

But, go ahead and give some examples of this "thinking without thinking" in your life that you would like to share. Basically, on figuring things out, how has having Ni really helped you? (If you're not INJ, but have it in your functional stack, and have some examples of it's outworkings, your input is welcome)

 

[jssanderson747]

I spent many a night playing various RPGs that tend to require the utmost patience from me or I'll end up getting my dumb ass killed in a heartbeat.
So I often sleep on it when I've reached certain "dead ends" or just been extremely frustrated and therefor not thinking 100% clearly. Sleeping usually gets my thoughts swimming and I usually would wake up with a sudden "aha!" moment that for some reason is always quite satisfying (especially if I just end up outright admitting stupidity to myself). It's not the keenest most refined example but it's an example regardless. Plus it's nothing personal so I don't have to end up sharing something I'd prefer to stay private myself. I do have these "sleep on it" moments though. Usually when I'm upset, or I'm a bit overwhelmed, or when I'm just really not thinking clearly with emotions clouding my better judgement.

 

[jyrffw54]

I do this when I have trouble starting an assignment. I sleep on it , and it magically "does itself" when I wake up.

 

[TinyBubbles]

I love those flashes of insight! sometimes they come to me in a dream, or just when I'm relaxed and not thinking about much. it's like the essence of what i've been obsessing about all week sudden hits me like a brick, and it's obvious, so obvious, that that's the way it is. it's almost comical, really, because I couldn't have figured it out with a thousand hours of effort, and the idea is so much more lucid and powerful than what I consciously create. Also, the process is seemingly *apart* from my mind, like I am discovering it, rather than creating it. Really weird and really cool :3

 

[Radiantshadow]

This happens to me a lot. Ni is like a virtual reality simulator running in the background of my life - accumulating and synthesizing huge stacks of information to construct universal schematics. Personal, social, psychological, and academic spheres all benefit. I will wake up the night before an exam, have an insight or two, go back to bed, wake up and then breeze through the test. It's really quite bizarre and a little unfair. Though I (usually) pay attention in lectures, I rarely, if ever, study seriously and have been accustomed to not needing to (a dependency I should correct). Essays and research projects have the same, fluid quality of simply happening instead of being deliberately created; it's like living in a waking dream with my brain hooked up to the Matrix, answers always surging forth from the dark recesses of my mind. Quite nifty.

 

[Mary Shelley]

This happens to me a lot. Ni is like a virtual reality simulator running in the background of my life - accumulating and synthesizing huge stacks of information to construct universal schematics. Personal, social, psychological, and academic spheres all benefit. I will wake up the night before an exam, have an insight or two, go back to bed, wake up and then breeze through the test. It's really quite bizarre and a little unfair. Though I (usually) pay attention in lectures, I rarely, if ever, study seriously and have been accustomed to not needing to (a dependency I should correct). Essays and research projects have the same, fluid quality of simply happening instead of being deliberately created; it's like living in a waking dream with my brain hooked up to the Matrix, answers always surging forth from the dark recesses of my mind. Quite nifty.

NiFeTi Nifty

I got used to absorbing so much in class that I didn't need to study... then I hit Japanese and Anatomy & Physiology and suddenly needed to memorize a lot of things I had only had minor exposure. That was a rude awakening. My level of interest pulled me through but it made me wonder if this is how others had to study all those years before that. I had not thought to credit that ease of absorption to the Ni process.

 

[Radiantshadow]

NiFeTi Nifty

I got used to absorbing so much in class that I didn't need to study... then I hit Japanese and Anatomy & Physiology and suddenly needed to memorize a lot of things I had only had minor exposure. That was a rude awakening. My level of interest pulled me through but it made me wonder if this is how others had to study all those years before that. I had not thought to credit that ease of absorption to the Ni process.

+1

I had a love-hate relationship with the biological sciences for a long time. Excruciating minutia clashed with my natural predilection for blanket patterns; the tension vanished once my Ti woke up properly and I learned enough about chemistry and physics to begin seeing how everything was interconnected. Ironically, I had to go into more details before the underlying patterns revealed themselves (often during sleep) and everything clicked into place. Thank you, Starbucks and meta-motivation >.>

 

[jssanderson747]

NiFeTi Nifty

I got used to absorbing so much in class that I didn't need to study... then I hit Japanese and Anatomy & Physiology and suddenly needed to memorize a lot of things I had only had minor exposure. That was a rude awakening. My level of interest pulled me through but it made me wonder if this is how others had to study all those years before that. I had not thought to credit that ease of absorption to the Ni process.

This is quite similar to how classes for me work. I usually don't need to study all that much. Usually, if the teacher explains what we're doing in class to the whole class, I'll keep it in mind and understand much better than say, just taking a load of notes by looking at a book for two bloody hours. Spanish has been challenging my memory a bit because that's how most languages work I suppose. I think I might take to Japanese in college myself though..... for all the weirdness I see in Japan, I'd like to know the language so I can understand it a bit more. Plus currently their culture perplexes me so I'd probably be none the wiser to learn it.