Self Analysis Intrinsicly Selfish?

Yes, this is exactly how I feel at times. I am constantly self-analyzing myself, trying to understand myself, always introspecting, everything that I do feels like it's all about me when in reality I really do want t understand myself better in other to help others, but it just feels so selfish in the process , I am very critical on myself to the point that others might think the only thing I care about is myself, this is not true, its just that my need to understand myself perfectly, such perfectionism sometimes gets a little to far to the point where I can be very withdrawn during such process. I am still working on this, trying not to focused so much on improving my supposed negative traits and actually pay attention to other important life matters. I do not think it is selfish, I just think that it can be misunderstood as selfishness from one part in the eys of others, there is nothing wrong with analyzing yourself.

 

This topic correlates with me rather well (in mbti terms, I suppose this is a Fi vs Fe problem) but I don't think self-analyzing yourself is particularly selfish. I think that you need to have a deep understanding of yourself, your biases and all that to help people, and you also need to know when you are taking on values that you think are you own but are that of other people. You won't help people if you just mimic them and make then feel ok instead of helping them. You have to stand for what you stand for, not what other people stand for. I don't think introspecting is something that needs to be fixed but I do suppose that's just my point of view.

Does it feel like you owe other people your time? Or does it feel like you are spending to much time introspecting?

 

I think you indeed have a good point, but sometimes we might introspect so much that we become unaware of anything outside ourselves since we are basically constantly always criticizing our actions, this is of course to later be able to apply it but sometimes it feels that it is just selfish as basically the more you do this, the more self-centered you feel. This feeling of guilt often overtakes me.

 

At that point, aren't you ignoring life more than introspecting to much? Why do you feel guilty? Do you feel like you owe other people your time and emotions.

 

Well like Indigo stated, you feel self-centered like if the world revolves around you, and as INFJ's I guess we do have a concern for applying our judgment to the world and into helping others since we use Fe, we do not only want to understand ourselves but we also want to be able to use it in some sort of way, and once that second purpose feels like its not being done we can become quite guilty about it, or at least in my opinion.

 

I don't believe its selfish to analize yourself. I believe its a very good thing to do, through analizing you can understand more about yourself and how you work. It has never crossed my mind as being selfish.

 

Ironically, you're analyzing yourself quite a bit in this post I don't think it's necessarily bad, unless it's all you think about, and you don't seem to be making any progress. Do you understand yourself better now than you did a year ago? Has this allowed you to make better choices? If the answer is yes, with some sound reasoning to back up the claim, then no, introspection has not been a selfish thing for you and has on the contrary has benefited you in better adjusting to your environment. It's worse, in my opinion, to be totally oblivious of why you do the things you do, because then you're living in ignorance, and availing yourself to any manner of detrimental consequence.

 

Self Analysis Intinsically Selfish?

This may seem in direct contradiction to my post in the Bipolar thread, but I'm extremely self-absorbed. Sometimes I think it's a direct resu;t of the bipolar; other times I think it's part of being an extreme introvert. But I think there's a distinction between self-absoption, this constant processing we do so naturally. My boyfriend described it yesterday as being less aware of other people as well as less aware of my surroundings. But I don't see that in you. I experience you as quite empathetic. Is this something upi do consciously and requires effort? Amd you share your insights, something many of us don't.

 

really good!

I'm going to turn your question around Indigo. I think that spending time to others, doing thinks to others is selfish in my case. Because when I stop self analysis and go in the world without my own values, I mimic there values (like Reon said). I do what I'm suppost to do, give them what they ask from me, do all the right things to be considered caring and loving. But to me it is all fake. I do it for my own good, to be liked and to be loved. But it is all empty. It is only when I search within me what my values are, when I love myself and accept myself for who I am, that I can make a positive contribution to others. What I do for others is only powerful and really helpful when I do it out of what I stand for! It is a contradiction, I love contradictions :becky:

I don't know if this rambling is understandable

 

It's like the saying, "everything in moderation" (The Bible). I think it's been good to learn more about self in terms of strengths and weaknesses, but sometimes self analysis can go too far and lead to self indulgence. I've realized, at least in my case, that i can become too involved with the idea and process of continued self analysis that my attention becomes overly focused on me, and the effect is that i don't give enough attention to others things which are more important because i'm spending too much time thinking about how i process a situation and the way it affects me. So, taken too far, self analysis can become a selfish enterprise. But self analysis is not inherently selfish. Of course, it allows us to grow and learn, but in moderation.

 

Yes, a bit selfish... but as our fellow INTP friend says: it's better to know your motivations and reasons for doing things than living in ignorance.

and i also agree with Restraint about everything in moderation. I'm trying more and more know to apply what I've learned about human behavior (from analysing myself) and using it to aid others.

 

From Keirsey.com and Please Understand me.

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self -- always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination.

So you seem pretty normal in that respect in regard to your type.

 

There are a lot of selfish people that could do with a good dose of self-analysis.

 

Quite agree.

 

I think that's just the identity crisis for many introverts, but it appears to be a good sign actually because you start to consider things with more focus on things other than yourself (which is an extroverted viewpoint). You grow when you start to see things in other ways even though you are still you.

Extroverts have their own crisis from time to time but all in all those are times for us all to self doubt a little bit and realize there are other perspectives just as valid as ours.

I don't think it is even a selfish thing at all to self analyze, it is more likely that you start to see yourself in a more extroverted perspective that's all.

You are you there is nothing to feel guilty about it.
Introverts mostly see the sun goes from east to west on the earth.
Extroverts mostly see the earth goes around the sun.

The fact that the earth goes around the sun will not help you navigate on earth, but it complements us with the outward reality going on beyond our self impressions about what "really happens". Both are real and just as valid.

 

My view on this is that, to gain an understanding of others, we must first strive to seek an understanding of ourselves.

Yes, we do become a little self-absorbed in the process, but I guess that is what is required.

 

I don't know that the action alone necessarily could be judged.

You either need the original intent or situations with expanded context, and those would be individually labelled as selfish or not.

As for the idea of analyzing yourself in order to become better, I think the world would be in a better state if more people did this with an expanded scope.

 

I tend to not analyze myself too much, but what I do do is to analyze the world around me a great deal. I guess part of this is 1) that I am basically okay with myself and 2) my place in the world and response to the same is of keener importance. Funny thing, this has been in many ways a path to self-knowledge. It's like this...staring at a hammer may yield some useful information about it, but picking it up and using it reveals even more in that one discovers how it works dynamically and the many things that can be built by using it well. There is a place for both, I guess. So....yes, self-analysis can be selfish if overdone. It can also become unproductive. Yet, moving out of a mode of self-analysis (into something perhaps less self-focussed) can still also lead to new self-awareness, and that represents growth, worthy of additional analysis if only to consolidate our new awarenesses.