This is another entry I wrote and saved as a draft, at least a year ago. It seems appropriate to trot it back out now, during a season of particular introversion and reflection.
I’ve been interested in psychology since I knew what it was, or at least since I enrolled in AP Psych during my junior year of high school. I briefly attended grad school in school counseling, and I still think back to my emotional-social disorders and intro to counseling theories. I never could settle on a theory that I most favored, but given my obsession with the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, I think I might have tended toward Jungian thought.
I bring this up because I’ve been analyzing people constantly since last fall, when I read Isabel Myers’ Gifts Differing. I took the MBTI years ago, so I’ve classified myself as an INFJ for ages. From what I’d read on the matter, I agreed with the type. But I had no idea how frighteningly accurate it is until I read more about the indicator. Some parts that struck me as particularly interesting:
Introverts characteristically pause before action (true of me!). Extroverts dominate Western civilization, and outnumber introverts three to one.
Introverts are inherently continuous because their being is based on inner stimuli.
In work, introverts are often slow to publish or proclaim it finished, but it gains depth. … less affected by lack of encouragement; value of work not determined by others.
Introverts are closer to eternal truths. Extroverts understand by experiencing.
“The extrovert’s wish for active sociability runs counter to the introvert’s wish for privacy, especially when the introvert’s work is socially demanding. The day’s work may use up all the extraversion available; home represents a chance for the peace and quiet needed to regain balance.”
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