BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Meyers Briggs--are more CF's a certain Type?

I haven't quite learned how to filter out other peoples' feelings. I'm hoping that as I get older, I'll get a better grasp on that. It's strange because I'm really good at reading people - their feelings, motivations, intentions - and I tend to be very accurate, but I've had to learn to keep those observations to myself because I end up sounding judgmental if I don't. I'm not judging, though, so much as I'm stating what seems like obvious observations to me.
There have been a lot of times that I can predict what someone is going to say before they say it (this always freaks me out a little bit - and I never share this fact with anyone because I don't want to seem strange). And I have a lot of deja vu.

I'm INFJ, and the more I read about it, the more I'm nodding my head. This describes me to a T! I'm making DH take it now...

I am a ISFJ:
Introvert/Sensing/Feeling/Judging
I thought the description fit me well:
Practical, realistic, considerate, and responsible
Focused on the needs of others; take responsibilities
seriously and expect others to do the same
Respectful of established procedures and authority; value
harmony and cooperation
Likely to see facts clearly and accurately, especially those
that have a personal meaning for them
Likely to make decisions based on personal values and
concern for others
Sympathetic, tactful, and supportive of others
Usually seen by others as quiet, serious, conscientious,
and traditional

I am another INFJ.

Wow--so many INF's! This has been a really fun thread to read.

Snooks, I'm just like you with emotional stuff/filtering out other people's feelings. I get carried away and overwhelmed with it and I do think that's one reason I don't want kids--I don't think I could survive the emotional overload

It really is an overload, isn't it? Like I said before, I'm really hoping to learn how to filter better as I get older. I haven't quite mastered being able to block out other peoples' emotions and vibes. Other peoples' emotions influence me so much in a group that it just makes me so tired. Another problem is when I meet someone who I immediately don't like - I just get bad vibes. My husband often thinks I'm exaggerating, but if we're around the person long enough, he eventually sees what I've already felt. I pick up such subtle things.
My husband thinks I'm just good at noticing facial expressions or movements, but it's more than that. I just feel things and I feel things strongly.
So have any of the other INFJ's ever had "psychic" things happen? I've had a few loved ones who have died come to me in dreams to say good-bye, and one just to chat. I'm totally weird, aren't I?

Snooks, you're not weird at all. I'm an INFJ, and it's true that I instantly like or dislike most people - I just pick up on their vibes.

I've been accused of being psychic my whole life. During my turbulent younger days, I had what I called "cop-dar". I could tell when a cop was close or about to come around the corner, and this saved me and friends from going to jail on a number of occasions (don't worry, everyone, my life is much tamer and legal these days).

I've had family members visit me in dreams after death (I had a couple of good chats with my father that way), and when I was 10, I dreamed that my grandmother came to say good-bye. I woke up and heard my mom crying, and I asked if grandma died, because I already knew.

I don't really know if it's psychic ability at all, at least the way most people consider it. I think it's more that we pick up sooooooo much around us, even ghosts can communicate when they fail with others. See, now I think you'll say I'm weird.

Didn't one of the descriptions of INFJs say that we make up only 2% of the entire population? Isn't it amazing that so many of us ended up here?

I'm like you guys too about 'vibes', although I'm an INFP. I get an instant feeling about people and no matter how hard I try to see past it, I always discover later that I was spot on in the first place. Sometimes this is tough to work out with my husband when we are meeting couples--he's an ISTP and doesn't get intuition really about anything! Plus, he needs logical, factual reasons why I don't like someone and it's so hard because all I have is a feeling, sense about it and can't even verbalize really what I feel/know, no matter how strong it is...so we usually just have to wait it out until the logical/factual reasons appear--which they always do!

I seem to have a pretty strong intuition about things that will happen too. I wouldn't necessarily say psychic, but here's a silly example: we recently bought some furniture at an antique store, and as we were scheduling delivery, etc. I had this overpowering urge that we needed to just bring the mirror we had bought home ourselves instead of having them deliver it w/ everything else. My husband said don't worry about it just let them bring it. So I said ok, but couldn't get the feeling out of my mind that we needed to bring it. Well, the delivery comes and lo and behold, they forgot the mirror! We had to wait another few days for them to bring it, and then when they finally did it broke as they unloaded it! All I could think was, darn it I KNEW we needed to bring it home ourselves. This kind of thing happens also for really important stuff too so I'm trying to really pay attention to and heed it more.

Curious what others have experienced? Trisharoni, it IS amazing how so many of us w/ similar types are here--guess we are on to something w/ the cf life

Nope - not weird at all! It's actually nice talking to people who understand that part of this personality type. I think some parts of this have gotten stronger as I've gotten older.
I also find myself being able to forgive a lot of things far more than some people because I understand motivations and intentions more clearly than others. It's a lot easier for me to understand why people do and say what they do and say because I sense their intentions and motivations.
I think this part of my personality makes me less trusting or accepting of organized religion. I truly believe that organized religion focuses on ridiculous minutia instead of focusing on the important things, like...do we live with good intention? Do we believe in doing the right things strictly because it's the right thing to do and not because we view it as a brownie point to get to heaven? Do we try to be understand and forgiving?

I get feelings about things - I've actually been able to make a believer out of my husband. He travels occasionally for his job and he had a flight to D.C. not too long ago. I had such a bad feeling about the flight (and I'm not someone who gets frightened by flying). I didn't tell him, but it nagged at me all day. I couldn't wait to hear from him. When he finally called, he told me that flight hadn't gone well. The plane experienced some sort of bad mechanical problems - they had to make an emergency landing at a different airport and when they landed, there were firetrucks and ambulances waiting on the tarmac. They thought the plane would have to make a crash landing. Talk about scary! And then the funny side of it - they put everyone on a bus to shuttle them off the tarmac and the bus broke down! They had to get off the bus and wait for another bus to come get them. Not a fun time for my husband.