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.

[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]

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

gn guyz omg.

[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]

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.

[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.

[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

[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.