THE BRUTAL TRUTH OF A BRILLIANT ADDICT

Learning something new about yourself is always interesting and entertaining. And understanding the psychology behind the way we behave, treat others, and express ourselves can be even more appealing.

Bright Side have compiled a list of the most surprising psychology facts that can help you better understand yourself and others.

Any friendship that was born in the period between 16 and 28 years of age is more likely to be robust and long lasting.

Women generally prefer men with deep husky voices because they seem more confident and not aggressive.

The people who give the best advice are usually the ones with the most problems.

The smarter the person is, the faster he thinks, and the sloppier his handwriting is.

Our emotions don’t affect the way we communicate. In fact, the very opposite is true: the way we communicate has an influence on our mood.

The way a person treats restaurant staff reveals a lot about their character.

People who have a strong sense of guilt are better at understanding other people’s thoughts and feelings.

Men are not funnier than women: they just make more jokes, not caring whether other people like their humor or not.

Shy people talk little about themselves, but they do this in a way that makes other people feel that they know them very well.

Women have twice as many pain receptors on their bodies than men, but they have a much higher pain tolerance.

Listening to high-frequency music makes you feel calm, relaxed, and happy.

If you can’t stop your stream of thoughts at night, get up and write them down. This will set your mind at ease so you can sleep.

Good morning and good night text messages activate the part of the brain responsible for happiness.

Doing things that scare you will make you happier.

The average amount of time a woman can keep a secret is 47 hours and 15 minutes.

People who try to keep everyone happy often end up feeling the loneliest.

The happier we are, the less sleep we require.

When you hold the hand of a loved one, you feel pain less keenly and worry less.

Intelligent people tend to have less friends than the average person. The smarter the person is, the more selective they become.

Marrying your best friend eliminates the risk of divorce by over 70%, and this marriage is more likely to last a lifetime.

Women who have mostly male friends stay in a good mood more often.

People who speak two languages may unconsciously shift their personalities when they switch from one language to another.

Being alone for a long time is as bad for your health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day.

Travel boosts brain health and also decreases a person’s risk of heart attack and depression.

People look more attractive when they speak about the things they are really interested in.

When two persons talk to each other and one of them turns their feet slightly away or repeatedly moves one foot in an outward direction, this is a strong sign of disagreement, and they want to leave.

Based on materials from 8FACT.

Today I took more than I was proud of to soothe the feelings of shame.

I skipped the jog I was planning and had a nap.

I hunted food and gathered it from a drive through window to survive.

I would have loved to have had a schedule but I just would have had to fill it with uncontrollable crying, and that’s not much of a schedule then, anyway.

I am not neurotypical. I am not emotionally typical. I am not behaviourally typical. I do not have a typical personality or a typical soul, and typically, I would probably be labelled ‘dysfunctional’.

But maybe I’m just diff-functional, like I work different than most people do (not less, not worse).

Maybe I’m diss-functional like there is some sort of beautiful, physical logic, to the way my body manifested my dissociative symptoms to cope with trauma in a way it thought it could protect me.

Maybe I’m this-functional like this is how functional I am today, on this step of my recovery, and it is not permanent and it does not define me.

The door seem to always open and close. Feelings always seem to just come and go. Growing up is a process nobody will ever be able to truly explain. It’s an adventure that everybody has to take. My adventure  is one  ill never forget and will truly cherish for the rest of my life. Sitting back and looking all the things that have let me to this point. I normally would sit there with confusion and just look away, but this time i look and realize that running away is no longer an option. It’s time to face it and as much as it burns my eyes to sit here and have to look at horrible images of pain and suffering I force myself to continue to see what’s inside.  

I continue to look a an eternity of emotions I’ve gone through I want to turn back but i continue to open the doors that I’ve closed so long ago and never thought I wouldn’t enter,  the further I go the more it hurts but it’s a voyage I must complete. The more I enter the more I’m starting to see just how much I have to heal and how strong I really am. the destruction that you see you wouldn’t believe that this heart continues to beat. Theres missing pieces and places where u can see the constant destructon and construction, yet it continues to beat!

 My eyes begin to water but i must continue… I look around more  and I can see the missing pieces and yearn for them to be filled again, but its a reality that nobody would want to face. They will never be filled it belonged to that special person and that person only, I except it and as hard as it is I move on and continue about my way. How could this heart still be beating? I want to turn away but can’t something tells me to go further. I listen and continue. I turn around and i face something I never wanted to face but it’s time… a movie of the years before begin to play I dont want to watch but i can still hear it. Words of advice from friends begin to play. My head feels like its gonna explode I think it’s going to stop beating.

Amy Poehler (x)

This.

1. The voice(s) in your head can be friend or foe.

As an INFP, you most likely have a rich inner world. Sometimes, this makes it hard to distinguish thought from reality; emotion from truth; optimism from insanity. It really can go either way, any which way… it all just depends on the parameters you define.

Your mind is particularly susceptible to (over-)analysing and processing the stimuli around you, at any given time — whether you realize it or not — so it’s up to you to decide what meaning you ascribe to it. If, for instance, you’ve got a nightmare boss or frustrating coworkers, taking a step back to understand that it’s not about you can be life-saving.

On the other hand, this internal chattering can lead to some of your best work, your most thoughtful comments, and unusual perceptions. When you use it to your advantage and focus it on positive acts and expressions, you may just find the universe starts working in your favor.

2. Your childlike energy is just what the world needs.

One of the things it seems the world doesn’t understand about INFPs is that, despite coming across as quite serious or “shy”, we actually have a very loopy sense of humor. The thing is, this is generally reserved for our nearest and dearest — we don’t just give away our best accent impressions to just anyone.

If you find yourself on the receiving end of comments about your withdrawn nature (“You’re so quiet” is a personal favourite — by the way, we can also be pretty sarcastic), just take it in stride. Sometimes every Joe Blow has an opinion, and what they think of me is none of my business. Once you get that… well, the world is yours, my dear.

3. You need to harness your creativity.

The majority of INFPs tend to be highly creative, and this can take a variety of forms: writing, painting, dance, music, design… the list goes on. However, as generally receptive and analytic individuals, we can (at least in my personal experience) overthink our art to the point where we don’t produce it.

Again, it depends on what the voice in your head is saying — or, rather, how you channel this energy. Because at the end of the day, our minds just work with what we feed them. If you consciously decide to focus on living a creative life, your inner force of expression will rise to meet the occasion. Trust me, it works.

4. You absorb emotions like nothing else.

I feel like this point could also be called “Open-plan offices are your idea of hell”, but I decided against it. A lot (not all… but a lot) of INFPs are also empaths, which basically means that you suck up the emotions around you — whether you like it or not.

There have been days where nothing productive happened at work but I came home feeling like I ran a marathon — and it’s because of the immense amount of energy it can take to absorb, reflect, and move beyond the emotional energy of work colleagues (in the aforementioned hellish open-plan office).

Once I realized this, though, nothing could stop me. While I still have my days where other people’s gossip, negativity, or just emotional flatness gets the better of me, I’ve learned to create both mental and physical barriers around me.

Mental barriers include (but are not limited to): energetic shielding, mindfulness, consciously focusing on one task at a time. Physical barriers: obnoxiously huge headphones, isolating yourself in a booth or some other area with a modicum of privacy, deep breathing. Mix these babies up and you’ve got yourself a recipe for peace and quiet!

5. Your psychic abilities will guide you.

Whether or not you believe in the supernatural, it’s hard to deny the intuitiveness and psychic connection most INFPs possess. There are times when, in my own life, my own gut feeling — apropos of nothing — has steered me in the right direction. There’s also been a lot of weird moments where my thoughts have seemingly sprung to life, as if in a movie; or when, in a conversation, I’ve felt that my comrade would spout certain phrases and then they did… and then I follow that up with a bizarre look. It’s all a bit of fun!

It’s hard to explain; in fact, it’s probably impossible to explain… but just like a million other things in this world (venus flytraps come to mind), the fact that we humans can’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s not real.

6. You have gifts to share with the world.

At the end of the day, many INFPs are full of talents, gifts, and surprises — but all too often, we keep them to ourselves. We don’t believe in controlling others or bothering them (yes, we’re very considerate types), which often ends up with us erring on the side of keeping things bottled up. This can be troublesome — not only for you, but those around you.

Assumptions don’t tend to do much good, but INFPs in particular need to be aware when they are arriving to conclusions before actually consulting the individuals involved. What I mean is: if you have an idea, a story, a learned lesson that could benefit someone — it’s important to share that. It’s not always helpful to hold back, wary that others may be bothered by your contribution — when it could be just what they need.

Our unique personality also comes with some major perks — and we INFPs often give ourselves too little credit for them because we are often down-to-earth and too hard on ourselves. So, this article is a reminder to INFPs of the qualities we have that are worth celebrating. There are many perks that come with being an INFP (more than included here), but here are seven of them:

1. We are spiritual and deep. INFPs tend to focus on the deeper and more meaningful things in life. We usually don’t get caught up in the superficiality and materialism of our consumer society because we do not see value in it. In fact, we see “artificial” things — such as wealth and fame — as the source of many people’s unhappiness, because their need for them is insatiable. INFPs, on the other hand, tend to seek happiness from within and have an almost spiritual, otherworldly quality to them. We are on a quest to become our most whole and authentic selves, and we can often find contentment simply by living our values.

2. We are highly imaginative. We INFPs tend to have vivid imaginations due to our direct relationship with our inner world: We explore our feelings and inner rich caverns through our auxiliary function, Extroverted Intuition (Ne). Our tertiary function, Introverted Sensing, then consolidates our dream worlds, vividly recreating detailed experiences. For this reason, many fantasy writers are INFPs, including J.R.R. Tolkien, author of The Lord of the Rings, and A. A. Milne, who brought us the whimsical world of Winnie-the-Pooh.

3. We are extremely empathetic. INFPs are considered empaths: We are highly sensitive individuals who have an innate ability to feel and perceive other people’s energies and emotions intuitively. This allows us to look beneath people’s public façades and see the feelings they might be trying to hide from others. This ability comes from our Introverted Feeling (Fi) function, which enables us to look inward, giving us a core understanding of ourselves and a heightened awareness of our own emotions. We also use Fi (combined with Ne) to look inward and reflect on our relationships with others. It brings us great joy to help others unravel their inner core and learn more about who they truly are.

4. When we care about something, we become very passionate and determined. Beneath our outer layer of calm burns a passionate inner flame. We have incredible talents and strengths that are just waiting to be unleashed so that we can make a difference in the world. However, because of our outward gentleness, we often do not show just how determined we are to others. Our dominant Fi is like a strong gust of wind: invisible, powerful, and resolute. When Fi fuels us, we may find ourselves putting all distractions aside and going through extreme circumstances to make our vision a reality.

5. We are uniquely creative. INFPs are not cookie cutter personality types. We’re highly individualistic people who long to break free from the status quo. Many of us use art, writing, and music to explore ideas and learn more about ourselves. In fact, creative expression is said to be the lifeblood of an INFP. We need the arts to convey our innermost feelings and values — and to help keep us sane.

6. We are quite flexible and adaptable. We’re perceivers after all, which means we prefer to take a flexible, adaptable, and spontaneous approach to the world. Especially when it comes to making everyday decisions, we are easy-going and flexible. Thanks to our Ne, we can process lots of new information quickly and are easily thrilled by bursts of inspiration. This also enables us to be fast learners and extremely creative.