Introverted sensing Si: what is it good for?

[Rubicon]

What's it good for? You tell me. It doesn't seem to be a function worthy of much adulation really. So we're in touch with our bodies and nature and stuff like that - so what? Who does that benefit? I don't know - maybe I don't really understand what this function is all about, but it seems pretty superfluous to me.

[Mediator Kam]

It helps caregiving and it looks good on a resume when you have worked with tons of kids teaching.

It makes you care about peoples' feelings and stuff.

[Mediator Kam]

There's tons more to it, and I could write a small book on how it manifests itself, but

1. I'm tired
2. I'm doing a paper.
3. I still feel a bit like a fool.

[Mediator Kam]

Individuals who possess Si as a base function are drawn to situations that satisfy their inner physical experience.

I supremely enjoy helping people with w/e. Helping people is how it manifests itself for me to put it bluntly/shortly. I think that is worth something.

I highly doubt if I put "dominant Si" on my resume that my potential employers would hire me on the spot. It's more likely they would instantly consider me some kind of nutcase.

Never said that. The helping of the people looks good on a resume.

[Brilliand]

It helps with health! Do you know what happens to people when they forget their health? Their brain stops working and they die early! Think of all that time lost! Only you can take care of the poor intuitive types and keep them from accidentally killing themselves while creating something on a par with the theory of relativity!

...Only you and all the other S types, that is. But is valuable.

[Rubicon]

It helps caregiving and it looks good on a resume when you have worked with tons of kids teaching.

It makes you care about peoples' feelings and stuff.

What do you mean? How can it do that?

I want to know too. I've tried to explain to others how this function manifests in me, and it always comes out as really self-centered and sort of hedonistic. Like, "There are more important things to be focusing on....etc."

exactly dolphin - that's how I feel - like it only gives pleasure to myself or something

[Mediator Kam]

Overall, I see that something needs help with carrying a package. I recognize that this people needs help and he is in distress. I immediately relieve him of his burden.

This might tie into Fe use, but I enjoy teaching and interacting and sharing my knowledge with other people. I can immediately recognize their inner state, and tailor my lesson/way of speaking to suit him/her.

[Mediator Kam]

wow I am surely ISFj now. I always focus on everyone elses' needs first. I give up beds, I let people go first in line if we're both in the same direction. I never please myself and act hedonistic.

But I enjoy caregiving.

[Mediator Kam]

shit my english goes down the tube when I am tired.

gn guyz omg.

[Mediator Kam]

Being hedonistic doesn't mean you're like "That's my place in line, buster. Move it or I'll make you." lol

But in a way, you are pleasing yourself if you enjoy making other people feel happy, right?

Oh definitely. I LOVE helping people. I LOVE doing little things for people. It makes my day whenever I do it.

.. I just see it as giving up things that means a lot more to other people than they do to me.

that depends on much you value things. I don't feel like I deserve happiness or comfort because I haven't earned it.
I'd rather make other people happy than me. But I make myself happy too don't worry.

[Brilliand]

Wait, who said Si has to do with health? Can you elaborate on this please? You make it sound like Si types go around force feeding people. Which might be pleasing to someone like Kam......but not me.

Surely when you do things you enjoy, it will improve your health? You'll only caregive people who you care about... but those types need it.

This is probably a heavily Gamma attitude, but if you need one person and that person needs you, that gives you meaning.

The Si rut.

You do need balancing - everyone does.

[Mediator Kam]

This is probably a heavily Gamma attitude, but if you need one person and that person needs you, that gives you meaning.

I could be both, so I cannot say either way. But my fantasy is to just whisk away some girl and we'd be all that we'd need, forever.

[force my hand]

...what is it good for, absolutely nothin'...

Si was really difficult for me to recognize at first. But now that I do - perhaps a little confirmation bias going on - it pops up everywhere. And in work/school situations, I can distinctly recognize those who have difficulty with it.

Interestingly, I find that how Si is commonly defined in socionics terms is somewhat disparate from how I view it. To me, it seems quite a bit closer to Ni than is often depicted.

[Rubicon]

...what is it good for, absolutely nothin'...

Just when I was working up some appreciation for it .... lol. thanks for nuthin

[theMime.]

Just when I was working up some appreciation for it .... lol. thanks for nuthin

forget Si chopin! It's valuable even though I actually don't know how at the moment but forget Si! Forget Si, because YOU are beautiful and wonderful! You've got a kind heart and a great sense of humor along with everything else that makes you amazing.

that wasn't a compliment I was simply telling the truth.

[force my hand]

Can you explain how you view it? Or is it just a "vibe"..................

Si is typically associated with food, clothing, and other physically literal things. Not to imply that is incorrect, but it seems very conceptually demarcated and therefore clinical. I think Si should definitely be described in more vibe-like terms. Perhaps in how physical objects affect your 'center' and force you to adapt to a new inner equillibrium. For example, I'm wearing very informal clothing right now within the confines of my room, so naturally my posture and inner sense reflects this mood. Were I wearing a suit in a office, I guarentee I wouldn't be slouched sideways with one foot on the computer tower and the other resting across my knee.

...the whole point being that regardless of the environment, I would 'adjust' myself and feel just as comfortable and 'with it', within it.

[force my hand]

I should've been more clear as to what I meant by "vibe", you know, the thing people say because they know something and you don't, and they can't actually describe it to you.

Haha, I knew what you meant when you said vibe - I think it's mostly just coincidence that I happened to use it in reply (with a different meaning) because it's a flexible word that seems to fit with what I wanted to say.

I think I understand what you're getting at....let's see.....a sort of adaptability, or awareness, so to speak..?

Sure. Within the confines of my specific setup, I think any number of phrases or concepts are relevent. To me it's like a wave, something specific only by it's relative position to something else, and therefore, quite justified by any manner of nebulous phrasing. When does an artist finish her painting? It's finished when it's finished, but not before.

Hmm, I don't know if this is bs on my part, but I've noticed that a few types who don't value or understand Si seem to not be aware of this "inner equilibriuum".....they don't realize that they're disrupting it or sort of trampling it by their behavior. Sort of oblivious in a way. Or they can be hostile, because somehow they view it as selfish or unneeded.

Does that make sense?

To me, most definitely. How it relates to the specific Socionics model is beyond my ken, but this is what I deal with all the time and it's extremely relevent.

[Rubicon]

I love it when Mime pops in randomly with something nice to say about someone...it never fails to make me smile.

I love it too <3

[Rubicon]

Si is typically associated with food, clothing, and other physically literal things. Not to imply that is incorrect, but it seems very conceptually demarcated and therefore clinical. I think Si should definitely be described in more vibe-like terms. Perhaps in how physical objects affect your 'center' and force you to adapt to a new inner equillibrium. For example, I'm wearing very informal clothing right now within the confines of my room, so naturally my posture and inner sense reflects this mood. Were I wearing a suit in a office, I guarentee I wouldn't be slouched sideways with one foot on the computer tower and the other resting across my knee.

...the whole point being that regardless of the environment, I would 'adjust' myself and feel just as comfortable and 'with it', within it.

I agree that it's hard to see Si in a non-clinical way. It's not that I don't see how Si manifests itself in my everyday life - I just don't see it as adding much value to my life really. But I do like the feeling of being really in tune with my physicality and being able to adapt to different environments. In a way, I sort of feel like my body can do anything I want it to you know? Not that it could, but that's just how I feel when I'm feeling confident about myself. I can't really put it in words really - but I like the feeling of having complete control over my body. To give an example which will prob sound a little weird but anyway .... when I'm on the tram and there are no seats left I sort of enjoy keeping my balance with my muscles and knowing what muscles to use in order to do this - cause the trams can jerk like anything and if you're not holding on to something you can go hurtling into people's laps and stuff. But anyway, yeah - I just like that feeling of being really aware of how I'm using my body. Prob sounds rather weird .... Another example is when I'm playing the piano I've found that I can control how my nerves manifest themselves - like instead of my fingers shaking (which obviously has a detrimental effect on a performance ) I can push it down so that only my left leg shakes (the right one can't shake because it's pedaling). Little things like that fascinate me. A piano professor was telling a group of us that he had a trick of clenching his left leg when he wanted to play something incredibly soft (I don't know why it works - it just seems to allow the rest of you to relax or something) - and I was like "!!!!! I've already found that out!" I just thought it was awesome that my little discoveries were validated by a concert pianist lol.

[Rubicon]

This sounds rather cool. The closest I can get to being in tune with my physicality is freeform dancing, and that's when no one's looking....lol. :wink:

Oh yeah, I was wondering, this part in the SEI domain....



lol I know it's really weird and outlandish, but if you take it with a grain of salt, it's basically saying that we're pretty aware of other people's physical presence, or at least how it affects us..and I identify with that.

Do you relate, chopin?

Yeah absolutely. I guess it's because we attach so much importance to physical contact (well I do anyway) that random physical contact isn't esp pleasant because it sort of devalues it (if you know what I mean). It's funny - when I was in Salzburg I noticed that in queues everybody stood really close to each other - a lot closer than they do over here (I don't know if that's a European thing or what, but anyway...). The first time I noticed it I was in a queue at a supermarket and this guy was practically breathing down my neck and I was thinking "What the? Get away from me" lol. I just thought it was him, but then I noticed it was the same everywhere. I get really uncomfortable when people I'm not that fond of get too close to me when we're talking. I like to have my own personal bubble around me that only people I'm close with can invade.

[Rubicon]

Not having read this thread (), I'd have to agree with the part I skimmed on the first page by Brilliand about health... Except for the exaggerated part (only YOU can keep the poor intuitive types from killing themselves! Lol). I just wanted it clear that I realize that's exaggerated so people won't mistake my meaning.

has something to do with being able to rather correctly interpret signals in ones own subjective physical experience, or experience of their body, or what not. Or simply to be confident in ones ability to interpret that. And that would be a *very* handy ability.

I find that I'm happy as long as I am healthy because then I can conveniently ignore most stuff... I don't have to worry about interpreting it correctly because there's no way there could be a problem. That was how I used to be anyway. I never really thought about it. Also I have a remarkably good immune system (inherited from my dad I think) and so I rarely get sick. But sometimes when I have gotten sick it's kind of scared me a bit, as in sometimes I wonder if I'm going to die. And over the past few years, strange hypochondriac tendencies have begun to emerge... and my health in actuality hasn't been very good... this leads to a place of fear and confusion about if something doesn't seem right because I don't know how to interpret it and I don't know if it means something is wrong or what that will mean (if anything) later. I seem to need others to tell me I'm okay. And I really don't like that. I feel like I (my mind) is attached to this reality through the conduit of my body... and if that conduit is severed, then I'm gone. This is scary and paranoid.

The other thing I've noticed since thinking about more is that often times physical sensations emerge as images in my mind, before I actually feel them. Like I was falling asleep and my knuckles were pressed into the wall and I hadn't noticed. As I was falling asleep I started seeing myself in this weird dusty town (I was falling into a dream) and I raised my hand and noticed my middle knuckle was gleaming... light was shining off of it, like how the light hits glass at certain angles... it was really bright/blinding. Then I was thinking in my half asleep way that something about this was bothering me... something felt eerie about how it was shining... and then it began to dawn on me: my middle knuckle hurts... because it's pressed too hard into the wall.

This sort of thing happens to me when I'm awake as well. I'll be sitting in an odd position in my chair and I'll start to realize that my thoughts are starting to take on an unpleasant feeling, like something is interrupting the flow of my mind... this becomes apparent to me in vague images and colors that feel "off" or wrong... and then I'll start to realize it's that my ankle hurts because I've been sitting on it funny for who knows how long... this realization dawns on me when the pain of it starts to become intense enough that it can't be pushed out of my mind anymore. Before this point, it will vaguely dawn on me a few times that my ankle hurts, but it doesn't hurt enough for me to think to actually change positions. But these sorts of things are always creeping up on me, under my awareness, gradually coming to the surface... and so my entire day is often spent in varying degrees of physical discomfort.

Anyway, if I imagine myself as being different... as attending to these sorts of things and knowing how to attend to them when they arise... that would be a whole different kind of way of experiencing reality. I don't know that I would want to experience reality that way... but I can definitely see how good would be advantageous. So in that way I think that is worthy of appreciation. But this of course is silly, because well, if missing any 1 of the 8 IM elements, something in reality would be lacking.

That's really fascinating Loki. That your subconscious would let you know when you're feeling physical discomfort - wow. That's definitely not something I've experienced. I'm always aware immediately if I'm not physically comfortable in any way. Thanks for the post.

[Rubicon]

I was starting to think about this more... observing myself sitting in my chair again ()... and I've noticed a pattern... what happens is I'm in one position and then it begins to become gradually uncomfortable... once the discomfort reaches a point where I can't ignore it, I change positions (which for some reason, I don't like to change positions, and so I don't enjoy the moment of changing position)... then once I've changed to a neutral position (that isn't uncomfortable), I seem to expect it to remain that way... but it doesn't... the discomfort starts arising all over again... what's even more retarded is that I didn't notice or think about this much before... I think what it stems from is that I don't care about these sensations and don't want to bother with them... I simply want to experience a lack of discomfort to the extent that I can exist solely in my mind. Having to attend to these things is a chore that I find tedious and difficult.

What dolphin said . And it's really important to me to be as comfortable as possible clothing-wise as well. Whoever said that pain has to be borne for beauty's sake was definitely not a Si-dominant type. I don't care how good a dress may look on me - if it's uncomfortable I know it's going to ruin my whole night so I won't wear it. Not that I spend an inordinate amount of time thinking of my physical comfort though - it's just that when I'm perfectly comfortable I can concentrate on other things you know? My senses can be put to better use than focusing on my discomfort.

[Creepy-bg]

comfort > looking good

(but actually you can't help looking good if your comfortable )

[Creepy-bg]

It's all in the self confidence, baby. People eat it up.

That hat isn't itchy, is it? You look fabulous btw.

the hat isn't itchy but these pearls weigh a ton

[redbaron]

This sort of thing happens to me when I'm awake as well. I'll be sitting in an odd position in my chair and I'll start to realize that my thoughts are starting to take on an unpleasant feeling, like something is interrupting the flow of my mind... this becomes apparent to me in vague images and colors that feel "off" or wrong... and then I'll start to realize it's that my ankle hurts because I've been sitting on it funny for who knows how long... this realization dawns on me when the pain of it starts to become intense enough that it can't be pushed out of my mind anymore. Before this point, it will vaguely dawn on me a few times that my ankle hurts, but it doesn't hurt enough for me to think to actually change positions.

Oh yes. I do this all the time. I'd rather be a little bit uncomfortable (until it gets REALLY bad like my foot is falling asleep) and not be bothered to change positions, mostly because I'm just too dang lazy! Pathetic, I know. I really do not want to be bothered to move.

But I have to add some great things about Si. first, Si-dominants know how to enjoy the present moment and they help others do the same. This is incredibly useful for those of us who have a problem NOT thinking about the past or the future or how this or that is going to affect our lives later down the road. I love Si because it brings joy and awareness to my life. Si notices the details, relishes the beautiful, the pleasant, the sensations that surround us that we have sometimes been programmed to ignore. The birds! The moon! The warmth of the sun! The blue sky! The smell of freshly baked bread! Ah.....

[Rubicon]

Oh yes. I do this all the time. I'd rather be a little bit uncomfortable (until it gets REALLY bad like my foot is falling asleep) and not be bothered to change positions, mostly because I'm just too dang lazy! Pathetic, I know. I really do not want to be bothered to move.

But I have to add some great things about Si. first, Si-dominants know how to enjoy the present moment and they help others do the same. This is incredibly useful for those of us who have a problem NOT thinking about the past or the future or how this or that is going to affect our lives later down the road. I love Si because it brings joy and awareness to my life. Si notices the details, relishes the beautiful, the pleasant, the sensations that surround us that we have sometimes been programmed to ignore. The birds! The moon! The warmth of the sun! The blue sky! The smell of freshly baked bread! Ah.....

Mmmm - the smell of freshly baked bread - nothing beats it

[Rubicon]

... and walking barefoot along the beach with the sand squeaking under your feet, the wind blowing back your hair and oh - the smell of the ocean

[Creepy-bg]

... and walking barefoot along the beach with the sand squeaking under your feet, the wind blowing back your hair and oh - the smell of the ocean

I thought that was gunna rhyme at the end... what a letdown

[Rubicon]

I thought that was gunna rhyme at the end... what a letdown

chopin you loser, make it rhyme already!!

... and walking barefoot along the beach with the sand squeaking under your feet, the wind blowing back your hair and oh - the smell of the ocean you can't beat

[Creepy-bg]

... and walking barefoot along the beach with the sand squeaking under your feet, the wind blowing back your hair and oh - the smell of the ocean you can't beat

I was thinking it would rhyme with "oh" but this works good enough

[Rubicon]

I was thinking it would rhyme with "oh" but this works good enough

...and oh - the smell of freshly baked dough?

[Creepy-bg]

...and oh - the smell of freshly baked dough?

hmmm.... it's not a rhyme but I think "...and oh - the smell of the rolling ocean foam" or something...? That hits my ear better.

[Rubicon]

hmmm.... it's not a rhyme but I think "...and oh - the smell of the rolling ocean foam" or something...? That hits my ear better.

Speaking of rhyming, your 'roses are red' thingo doesn't rhyme either and I expect it to every time i read it

that should be an easy one ...

[Creepy-bg]

Speaking of rhyming, your 'roses are red' thingo doesn't rhyme either and I expect it to every time i read it

that should be an easy one ...

better?

[Rubicon]

better?

Excellent! The fact that my name is in it is the main selling point for me.