The Mysterious INFJ | INFJ Forum

The Mysterious INFJ

SamE

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May 16, 2010
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The Mysterious INFJ

Exact percentages vary but the INFJ, the rarest of the personality types, is said to account for 1-2% of the overall population, females slightly more often than males. The INFJ has been called
 
Thank you for posting that SamE, very accurate and interesting, I particularly loved this description:
they are like Russian nesting dolls, when one doll is exposed, another one lies inside.

Very true of me, no-one who knows me has ever seen all the dolls......darn it, I've got to go and buy some russian dolls now! LOL.
 
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This bothers me about INFJs. Show me your dolls! My dolls are all hanging out for everyone to see.
 
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Thank you for posting that SamE, very accurate and interesting, I particularly loved this description:

Very true of me, no-one who knows me has ever seen all the dolls......darn it, I've got to go and buy some russian dolls now! LOL.

I agree on this, it's beautiful.

Heh, makes me question (again) how few of you are actually INFJ's.
 
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I agree on this, it's beautiful.

Heh, makes me question (again) how few of you are actually INFJ's.

I am! I love you.
 
interesting description...not so sure about the Russian nesting doll part though... also known as the matryoshka doll...
and i'm not really sure about the whole "highly intuitive" part, at least, for myself.
 
Thank you for posting that SamE, very accurate and interesting, I particularly loved this description:

Very true of me, no-one who knows me has ever seen all the dolls......darn it, I've got to go and buy some russian dolls now! LOL.

I have.



Ok I admit I used an x-ray :|



Btw, you really should clean out those gum wrappers in your inner most doll, that's how you get ants.




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On a serious note, I feel so vindicated/validated when I read topics like these, this is exactly how I am. And I was always treated as a freak due to my own world that I try to combine with the literal world. Also, people think I'm a douche because they think I'm an extrovert, but then I never want to hang out with anyone. LOL. I hate being in groups of people.
 
This bothers me about INFJs. Show me your dolls! My dolls are all hanging out for everyone to see.

Trust me, I bet most of us wish we could! I know I do at least. We absolutely have the ability to open up completely (and love to do it), but it's a process that we only feel really comfortable with if there's an active participation by the other person. In other words, ask us questions! I feel presumptuous when I talk about myself; it's because of some weird notion that I don't want to force myself on people, so when you ask me a question about myself, I then feel like I've been given the green light to talk/boast about and reveal myself.

I think this socially awkward function serves as a driving factor in our careers, as I'm constantly trying to speak and express myself through music. For an INFJ therapist, it may be the desire to help and figure out himself by helping others to figure themselves out, or an INFJ politician might fight injustice in the system because he/she's fighting the hypocrisy from within him/herself. It's kinda like a mobius loop--the out channeling to the in, in an irrational, yet behold-able way.
 
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I wouldn't consider Adam Sandler INFJ though!?. >.<

Thanks for responding, when I read the description I had to post.

I dunno the russian nesting doll sounds like a spot on analogy. You gots layers people, L_ayers. Don't we all, but there's extra topographical landscapes of goodness underneath it all. And just think with all that mystery you could buy real estate and Ni dom the world. :D
 
[MENTION=3200]Gloaming[/MENTION], that's interesting. I have noticed that if I ask an INFJ a question I often get a very long reply. Still, I always feel like it's being worked into something more for my benefit. In particular, it bothers me when INFJs are too nice to me or too positive about things. It comes across as insincere although I'm sure it's not meant that way. Conversation that feels dishonest turns me right off.
 
I have noticed that if I ask an INFJ a question I often get a very long reply. Still, I always feel like it's being worked into something more for my benefit. In particular, it bothers me when INFJs are too nice to me or too positive about things. It comes across as insincere although I'm sure it's not meant that way. Conversation that feels dishonest turns me right off.

I've learned that people don't take me seriously when I am as nice as I'd like to be all the time. It has to be balanced. I can tell you, for me personally it has nothing to do with insecurity. Usually when my Fe starts pouring out it's when I find somebody who seems receptive and capable of understanding that me being overly nice is actually selfish on my part. When I can do things for others, help them grow or learn or just make them smile it makes me feel human and useful. I probably tread that line between coming off as dishonest and just being genuinely sickeningly interested. I don't believe I am a dishonest person though lol.

There's a long reply for your benefit =)
 
Trust me, I bet most of us wish we could! I know I do at least. We absolutely have the ability to open up completely (and love to do it), but it's a process that we only feel really comfortable with if there's an active participation by the other person. In other words, ask us questions! I feel presumptuous when I talk about myself; it's because of some weird notion that I don't want to force myself on people, so when you ask me a question about myself, I then feel like I've been given the green light to talk/boast about and reveal myself.

I think this socially awkward function serves as a driving factor in our careers, as I'm constantly trying to speak and express myself through music. For an INFJ therapist, it may be the desire to help and figure out himself by helping others to figure themselves out, or an INFJ politician might fight injustice in the system because he/she's fighting the hypocrisy from within him/herself. It's kinda like a mobius loop--the out channeling to the in, in an irrational, yet behold-able way.

I don't like to open up completely. Actually, I hate opening up and never want to. I get a sick feeling in my stomach when I tell anyone anything that I hold dear. This includes my bests friends. I just... Hate telling them, it's like giving up who I am.
 
INFJs are like Ogres!
 
I've learned that people don't take me seriously when I am as nice as I'd like to be all the time. It has to be balanced. I can tell you, for me personally it has nothing to do with insecurity. Usually when my Fe starts pouring out it's when I find somebody who seems receptive and capable of understanding that me being overly nice is actually selfish on my part. When I can do things for others, help them grow or learn or just make them smile it makes me feel human and useful. I probably tread that line between coming off as dishonest and just being genuinely sickeningly interested. I don't believe I am a dishonest person though lol.

There's a long reply for your benefit =)

Really? I had no idea. When an ENTP is being that nice to you, s/he's up to something.
 
INFJs are like Ogres!

I caught that too :)

Except russian nesting dolls are a lot prettier and smell a lot less awful than onions.
 
^^^ Well said Wyote. So strange how the same action can be an expression of such a different intention, depending on one's MBTI.
 
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Really? I had no idea. When an ENTP is being that nice to you, s/he's up to something.

That's part of why the entp/infj friendship is so entertaining. The infj generally does not have that "up to something" intent. Then when we actually are, it shocks and puzzles the entp, just as an entp being genuinely nice is shocking to the infj because we know they always have some motive. It's a constant dance of questioning each other which keeps both parties on their toes mentally.
 
That's part of why the entp/infj friendship is so entertaining. The infj generally does not have that "up to something" intent. Then when we actually are, it shocks and puzzles the entp, just as an entp being genuinely nice is shocking to the infj because we know they always have some motive. It's a constant dance of questioning each other which keeps both parties on their toes mentally.

In fact--if I'm reeeeally honest with myself--I remember at a very early age being able to tell when someone was being genuine or if they had some sort of hidden agenda, and I always felt uncomfortable around people that behave like a salesman. I think I made a small conscious effort long ago to be the opposite of being a self salesman, and it snowballed into my adulthood as a major uncomfortableness towards talking about myself. So my response is to never bring up anything I'm really thinking or feeling, in a convoluted fear of being seen as a salesman. It's bizarre and silly, but it's who I am!
 
[MENTION=3200]Gloaming[/MENTION], yes, it's important that I be genuine. If I'm nice to a person, it's because I genuinely feel like it, which is why it comes in short random bursts. I can't keep up an act and I don't want to. My problem was just the opposite though. I developed a major uncomfortableness talking about other people or asking people about themselves because I wanted to avoid developing emotional attachments. It even gets to the point where I deliberately hedge anything I say to people that would make them think I like them.