The post INFJ Extraverted Feeling (Fe) and Making It Work for You appeared first on INFJ Ramblings.

Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

There are many times in my life where I have questioned my own sanity when it comes to creativity and work related habits. Sometimes it is easy to feel alone in the world when it comes to these things and this book is a true gem when it comes to revealing the secret lives of many of the most talented artists in the history of time. This book proves not only that most of us is far from perfect and that we all struggle, but also contains insight on productive and life sustaining habits from some of the most talented minds in history. For me this book was a great comfort in times of struggle but also a motivational tool to keep me going. One of my most interesting reads this year, highly recommended!

Franz Kafka, frustrated with his living quarters and day job, wrote in a letter to Felice Bauer in 1912, “time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy, and if a pleasant, straightforward life is not possible then one must try to wriggle through by subtle maneuvers.”
 
Kafka is one of 161 inspired—and inspiring—minds, among them, novelists, poets, playwrights, painters, philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians, who describe how they subtly maneuver the many (self-inflicted) obstacles and (self-imposed) daily rituals to get done the work they love to do, whether by waking early or staying up late; whether by self-medicating with doughnuts or bathing, drinking vast quantities of coffee, or taking long daily walks. Thomas Wolfe wrote standing up in the kitchen, the top of the refrigerator as his desk, dreamily fondling his “male configurations”. . . Jean-Paul Sartre chewed on Corydrane tablets (a mix of amphetamine and aspirin), ingesting ten times the recommended dose each day . . . Descartes liked to linger in bed, his mind wandering in sleep through woods, gardens, and enchanted palaces where he experienced “every pleasure imaginable.”

Here are: Anthony Trollope, who demanded of himself that each morning he write three thousand words (250 words every fifteen minutes for three hours) before going off to his job at the postal service, which he kept for thirty-three years during the writing of more than two dozen books . . . Karl Marx . . . Woody Allen . . . Agatha Christie . . . George Balanchine, who did most of his work while ironing . . . Leo Tolstoy . . . Charles Dickens . . . Pablo Picasso . . . George Gershwin, who, said his brother Ira, worked for twelve hours a day from late morning to midnight, composing at the piano in pajamas, bathrobe, and slippers . . .

Here also are the daily rituals of Charles Darwin, Andy Warhol, John Updike, Twyla Tharp, Benjamin Franklin, William Faulkner, Jane Austen, Anne Rice, and Igor Stravinsky (he was never able to compose unless he was sure no one could hear him and, when blocked, stood on his head to “clear the brain”).

Brilliantly compiled and edited, and filled with detail and anecdote, Daily Rituals is irresistible, addictive, magically inspiring.

Get it here:
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

The Book of Floating: Exploring the Private Sea

At the start of 2014 I tried floating (sensory deprivation tank) for the first time and I have kept it up as often as I can ever since. Floating is an amazing experience which is difficult to put into words. If you are interested in meditation and exploring your mind you will love floating. The best part is that it will supercharge your meditation practice and make it possible for you to reach deeper levels quickly which would otherwise take up to years to develop. With practice floating makes OBE and astral projection experiences a reality and provides deep emotional relaxation that lasts for a long time after your floating session. In some countries floating is used as a proven treatment for depression, anxiety and insomnia. If you have a possibility to try floating where you live I highly recommend it, I will write more about floating in my upcoming ebook.

Michael Hutchison wrote a definitive book about all the studies done concerning floating. The book is called “The Book of Floating”. He addresses sleep studies and brain wave states where floaters were compared to Tibetan Lamas. It seems that for every year a Zen Monk or Tibetan Lama meditates, their brain can produce one minute of “Theta” brain wave while meditating. Theta is the mystical brain wave that normal people only produce for a split second when falling asleep and then again when waking, it’s considered a euphoric brain state.

With this premise a monk who has been meditating for 20 years can produce up to twenty minutes of Theta brain wave while in meditation. Michael says however, that these are the only people in the world who are able to produce theta like this except floaters. Michael’s book says that floating studies revealed that floaters with no meditation experience easily produced twenty minutes of Theta durring a one hour floating session.

There are many other stories, studies, anecdotes and revealing facts regarding FAQ and paranoia about drowning, sanitation, constructing a tank, and claustrophobia, etc. 

Get it here:
The Book of Floating: Exploring the Private Sea (Consciousness Classics)

Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome

If you suffer from chronic stress, fatigue, anxiety or insomnia I highly suggest you read up on adrenal disorders. Especially if you are an HSP which are more susceptible to these kinds of problems. It is estimated that 90% of doctors visits are for issues that stem from stress. Prolonged stress is also the source of most of our diseases like cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which all belong to some of the most common causes of death in modern society. Stress disorders is something that are just now beginning to be fully understood and I believe that in the future it will be one of the most important things to educate the public about in order to prevent disease. I have personal experience with suffering from adrenal fatigue and chronic low cortisol levels, this book is one of the best ones on the subject and provides lot’s of good tips on how to heal. I will be writing more about these type of problems in my upcoming ebook.

Dr. James Wilson has helped hundreds of people with adrenal fatigue regain their health and vitality during his 24 years of private practice. For the past 10 years he has also lectured extensively to physicians and is acknowledged as an expert on adrenal function and other endocrine imbalances, and their impact on health. With a researcher’s grasp of the science behind adrenal function and a clinician’s understanding of its human impact, he has helped many understand the physiology behind the condition.One of the few people to hold 3 doctorate degrees and 2 master’s degrees, all from different disciplines, he received his Ph.D. in Human Nutrition from the University of Arizona, with minors in immunology, microbiol-ogy, pharmacology and toxicology. In addition, he holds degrees as a Doctor of Chiropractic and Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine. His master’s degrees are in bio/nutrition and experimental psychology. Dr. Wilson was also one of 14 founding fathers of the Canadian College of Naturopathic medicine (CCNM) in Toronto, Ontario. He is listed in The International Who’s Who in Medicine (Cambridge, England) and currently resides in Tucson, Arizona.

Get it here:
Adrenal Fatigue: The 21st Century Stress Syndrome

The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions–Today

This is the #1 book on the field of treating health problems like depression, insomnia and fatigue with the supplementation of amino acids. This approach is superior to antidepressants like SSRIs and should always be tried first before considering any medication. The reason why this is not done is because you cannot patent these amino acids because they exist naturally in our bodies, hence there is no money to be made for big pharma. Germany is one of the few countries in the world where doctors often consider a more natural approach like this before prescribing antidepressant medications. Amino acids like 5-HTP, Tryptophan, GABA, Tyrosine and Phenylalanine are used to correct imbalances in serotonin, dopamine, GABA and endorphins that help regulate our moods.

Are you a part of the bad mood epidemic? Here are the answers you’ve been looking for!

Julia Ross’s plan provides a natural cure for your mood. Drawing on thirty years of experience, she presents breakthrough solutions to overcoming depression, anxiety, irritability, stress, and other negative emotional states that are diminishing the quality of our lives. Her comprehensive program is  based on the use of four mood-building amino acids and other surprisingly potent nutrient supplements, plus a diet rich in good-mood foods such as protein, healthy fat, and certain key vegetables. Including an individualized mood-type questionnaire,The Mood Cure has all the tools to help
you get started today and feel better tomorrow.

Get it here:
The Mood Cure: The 4-Step Program to Take Charge of Your Emotions–Today

Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle

Here is a interesting read on consciousness from the talented mind of one, if not the most famous psychologist of all time, Carl Jung. Synchronicity is the word for the meaningful coincidences that appear both in the external world and in the mind. On multiple occasions in my life strange things have happened which I cannot explain. Things that seem connected but cannot possibly be because the chance that they would is so extremely small. An simplified example would be the times when you thought about something or said something, just to have it appear or be mentioned on television or in a song a few seconds later. It happens to all of us but science have yet to been able to explain the nature of this phenomenon. In this book Carl Jung provides his beliefs and experiences with it and provides ample food for thought for you to explore this further in the mysterious world of consciousness.

Jung was intrigued from early in his career with coincidences, especially those surprising juxtapositions that scientific rationality could not adequately explain. He discussed these ideas with Albert Einstein before World War I, but first used the term “synchronicity” in a 1930 lecture, in reference to the unusual psychological insights generated from consulting the I Ching. A long correspondence and friendship with the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Wolfgang Pauli stimulated a final, mature statement of Jung’s thinking on synchronicity, originally published in 1952 and reproduced here. Together with a wealth of historical and contemporary material, this essay describes an astrological experiment Jung conducted to test his theory.Synchronicity reveals the full extent of Jung’s research into a wide range of psychic phenomena.

This paperback edition of Jung’s classic work includes a new foreword by Sonu Shamdasani, Philemon Professor of Jung History at University College London.

Get it here:
Synchronicity: An Acausal Connecting Principle. (From Vol. 8. of the Collected Works of C. G. Jung) (Bollingen Series XX: the Collected Works of C. G. Jung, Volume 8)

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If you’re an INFJ, HSP, empath or intuitive personality, it is safe to say we all share the challenge of staying balanced emotionally in life. But it has to do with a lot more then just emotions. Our bodies and mind are way more interconnected then we want to believe they are, and when you are facing emotional distress in life it can often come in a physical form, like burnout or depression. Western healthcare have always approach health in a very non holistic way. That mental and physical health are separate issues and have often only put emphasis on treating symptoms then actually solving health problems or preventing them. Health should be approached as a whole process since everything in our body is part of an whole, your brain controls your entire body and your brain is the outlet of your conscious self. Chronic illness can stem from longterm emotional distress, just as mental illness can grow from always being sick in your body.

Being an intuitive, empath or HSP type of personality makes you even more vulnerable to these kinds of health issues. You are easier pressured and stress is felt on a higher level then other people do. Emotional distress from things that happen in your life takes a greater toll on you and demands from family, friends and work can easily leave you feeling burned out and unable to handle, or even face the situations. Most of us learn all of this the hard way and statistics show that all of us will be depressed and reach some form of adrenal burnout during our lifetimes, some more times then others. If you are more susceptible to these things then you are also in more danger of suffering major depressions, mental illnesses, eating disorders, drug use and health issues like for example hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Because of this we owe it to ourselves and others to develop good coping mechanisms in life to help us overcome these problems and also show others how they can. If you look around yourself in life among your friends and family, you can easily see that we all have some kind of crutch in life, something we can depend on for safety and comfort when life becomes painful. It might be as common as comfort food, using television as an escape or abuse of alcohol, drugs, sex and pornography. Or if you remember those kids back in school that used to pick on everybody, that was their way of coping with their own issues at home, like and escape so they would not be the ones feeling the worst all the time. Needless to say we all have these habits as a way of self defense from our own pains. The problem is these habits can grow out of control and cause further issues in our lives. When you never learn to correctly face your own emotions and problems you will eventually grow unable to handle them at all, this is where depression, panic attacks, chronic fatigue syndrome and the like kicks in. It is at this point where you realize your crutches doesn’t hold up anymore and you feel overwhelmed and hopeless, unable to rid yourself of your own pain. In almost all type of depression and stress disorders, particularly feelings of overwhelm and hopelessness is the primary culprits.

The way we need to change here is in the way we view the world. Because the world is not responsible for our own emotions, we are. What we need to understand is that peace and happiness is not something we will every find out there in the external world, it is something that we can only find within ourselves. To quote the Buddha, the mind if the forerunner of all things. Just as you are what you eat, you also are what you think. If you keep grasping and holding on to pain, longings and demands you put on people and life, you will never be able to get away from those negative thoughts. Only when you understand that the world and our minds are ever changing, that every negative emotion and thought will pass just as the one before it. That you as a person is not made up by your thoughts, they are just as clouds floating by on a blue sky. What you need to learn is to see them for what they really are and let them pass by.

What I’m talking about here is very much the practice of mindfulness and meditation, two healthy ways of learning to understand your mind and emotions. They offer ways of overcoming the pain of life and also how to reach a state of happiness not related to anything in our external world. The best thing about mediation is that when you finally understand that peace is something you already have within yourself, issues that arise in your life won’t matter that much anymore and you can approach these in a healthier way without relying on false crutches that offer nothing more then temporary relief.

The reason why I haven’t been posting that often here is because of this subject I’ve been talking about in this post. I’m actually working on an ebook about how important our mind and body connection really is and how to take care of it. The book is laid out to offer practical solutions and skills you can learn and apply in your own lives to easier overcome emotional pain, depression, illnesses and also to focus yourself and reach your goals in life. Even though the book will be made for HSPs, empaths and intuitives the skills can be applied by anyone. Of course everybody on the mail list for this blog will receive a free copy as soon as I’m done with it, which should be sometime this winter. The book will touch a range of subjects from meditation, mindfulness, yoga, achieving happiness and emotional freedom, herbal medicine, supplements, exercise, acupuncture, floating and more. Basically many techniques and habits you can apply to your life to live happier and healthier, all through a HSP, empath and intuitive perspective.

I’ll keep updating this blog with small bits and pieces from chapters that will be coming in the ebook. Meanwhile I want you guys to comment or email me if there is anything particular you want me to research and include in the book. You can comment at the end of this post or email me at alex@infjramblings.com

Until next post, take care!

The post Unhealthy INFJ Challenges: Balancing HSPs, Empaths & Intuitives appeared first on INFJ Ramblings.

I want to talk a bit about INFJs and mental health, something that seem to be a quite popular and reacquiring subject out there. Unfortunately mental health is somewhat a struggle for many INFJs and there are many misconceptions concerning it. Misconceptions in the regard that INFJs would in some way be weaker on a mentally and emotionally level and that would be why many struggle with anxiety and depression. It is true that we are more sensitive then other personalities but that doesn’t necessary equal anything along the lines of weakness. It has been shown that INxx types in general are the ones that often struggle with emotional sensitivity. I would say that a heightened emotional sensitivity is as much a strength as it can make life harder at times. You are merely playing on a completely different playing field then less emotionally evolved people. Being more sensitive to emotions equals a greater understanding and perception of them. It is easy for other people to call you unstable or emotional when they themselves cannot perceive the situation at hand. We all view life through different lenses, but INFJs can often view life throughout multiple lenses, free from conditioning or influence. Being this type of empathic people with often divided personalities is what makes it hard in comparison with others. Yet there is nothing wrong with us or our mental health, simply the fault lies in the rest of the worlds comparison of us with themselves.

The nature of intuition is in not trusting how things appear even thought answers may be laid out in front of you. Always searching for alternative possibilities, clues or hints of the true nature of things. It is no wonder why INFJs can easily feel that they are losing their grip when as an introverted intuitive dominant, your are always changing and  endlessly searching for meaning within yourself and the rest of the world. This is what intuition is meant to do, and in there lies much of the problem when it comes to mental  health issues. You can ask yourself the question that if you no longer trust what you can see and feel with your own senses, does that mean you are mentally ill? An unhealthy version of this would be somebody who is schizophrenic. Yet there are similarities here like being able to view the world unattached from presumptions of how things are and should be. In other words, viewing it free from previous experiences, like you would view it for the very first time. In order for INFJs to draw those incredible conclusions about the nature of things this is what is needed on a mental level. So it is not hard to understand that always operating in this type of functionality comes with certain drawbacks. Like when we get stressed or pressured we can even stop trusting ourselves and our own existence.

How do you handle your thoughts and emotions when they seem even more real then the things happening in the world around you? Here is where our inferior function comes in, and the reason we have this fetish for extroverted sensing is because without it we would lose ourselves completely. It is the counter weight to our intuition which keeps it from tipping off the scale, which is what can happen when we get stressed. The scale can also be tipped in favor of the inferior function under stress, and we start to judge ourselves and who we are from our results in the outside world. This is very much the complete opposite of who we really are as INFJs. Negative life experiences often reinforces negative self value, and this is what happens with INFJs that operate to much in their inferior function. You start to forget who you are and your own value. You forget one of the most special things that you have as an INFJ which is emotional health, morals and values which are pure and unaffected by the external world. Because we all know that you cannot change the opinion of an INFJ, and you cannot force us to believe in anything we don’t.

To wrap this all up I want to share some tips concerning emotional health. If you often struggle with anxiety, negative self thoughts and fears, it is important to remember one thing. You are not your thoughts. The brain is an organ like any other in the body. The heart pumps blood, the stomach digest food and the brain creates thoughts. It is it’s sole function and you cannot stop it from happening. What you can do on the other hand is understand this process and that just because the thoughts are there and pass by in your mind, doesn’t mean they are true.

To master your emotions you need to master your mind. The key to this is mindfulness practise. Here is a book I highly  recommend to get started with mindfulness:

The post INFJ Mental Disorders, Health & Emotional Sensitivity appeared first on INFJ Ramblings.

Here is a long due update for the reading list to keep you occupied while I rework this blog. I’ve included some mixed books this time and I have read all of them and they are all highly recommended.

The ESP Enigma: The Scientific Case for Psychic Phenomena

This is one of my favorite subjects and every INFJ will love this book. The research presented in it is a testament for the true nature of the world and that there is a lot more going on behind the scenery of life then one might thing. Cannot recommend this enough!

• Find out what it means to be a highly sensitive person
• Take the self-examination quiz and find out whether you are highly sensitive
• Learn coping techniques indispensable to IHP’s
• Discover how to manage distractions like noise and time pressure at home and at work
• Reduce sensory-provoked tension with meditation and deep relaxation techniques
• Navigate the challenges of interacting with others in social and intimate relationship

The post INFJ Books: Recommended Reading List #2 appeared first on INFJ Ramblings.