Myers-Briggs and Introspection

ENFP

Do you know what those letters mean? I'm an introspective person. I love reading books on giftings and personalities and then analyzing myself and my family and friends (and anyone else that will talk about it with me).

When Eric and I were first married we took the Myers-Briggs test with our pre-marriage counselor. I hadn't thought about it much since then until the pastor talked Myers-Briggs at church on Sunday. After the sermon I came home and gave Eric and I the mini version of the test (you have to take the full-length one with a certified Myers-Briggs assessor or I think you can pay and take it online).

Myers-Briggs is basically a personality assessment with four letters that stand for four different characters. There are two possibilities for each of the four letters and altogether there are 16 different personality types.

The first is Eextrovert and Iintrovert. This is about how you get filled up and re-energized. Is it alone(I) or with other people(E)? Extroverts still value their time alone and introverts can be friendly and social people, but when you come home from a party or with a group of people are you tired and drained or excited and energized?

The next characteristics are Sensing or Intuition. Do you like facts and to get to the bottom line (S) or do you see the big picture and read between the lines (I). Intuitives are visionaries and Sensing people are implementors and they get things done.

The next set is Thinking and Feeling. Thinkers make logical decisions based on facts and are task-oriented and logical. Feelers are people and communication oriented, compassionate, and make decisions using their heart.

The last set is Judging and Perceiving. Judgers (it doesn't mean you judge people) love lists, plans, and schedules and Perceivers like to go with the flow and are open-ended waiting to make plans in case something better comes up.

We're all a little bit of each, but we also have one characteristic that is dominant. Different times in life or our families can also influence us and make it harder to see what we really are. We can seem like a different characteristic to compensate for a need in our life, but at our core we're wired one way or another. For example, Eric and I both have Judging tendencies, but are naturally Perceivers. As a mom with little ones it's been necessary for us to live by a schedule, to plan and schedule and make lists when going on trips and just live a harmonious life day-to-day. Eric's parents (at least what I think) are both Js- they're organized, their house is neat and clean, they have schedules, they plan ahead, so Eric has learned to live that. He's neat and (mostly) organized. Part of our life may look like we're Js, but we both naturally like to with the flow and have more spontaneity.

So, like I mentioned above, I'm an Extrovert Intuitive Feeling Perceptive. What are you? (You can take a mini test here and read more about each characteristic here. Just because the test may say one thing it doesn't necessarily mean it's true. Read about them and think about your life and family first.)

Are you introspective? Do you love this stuff as much as me?