Hello there.
Thank you for this wonderful blog . There is so much to learn here and I do appreciate your efforts in helping people . Thank you .
I am an INTP and I believe in am stuck in Ti Si loop , I genuinely want to start focusing my Ne cognitive functions but I am not sure how .
I was thinking. Could I just start the day journaling or writing an action plan about doing something different , or think of a problem and brainstorm ways to solve it or finds new ways of doing something every day.
Like i am not sure how to actualize my Ne cognitive function ? Could I start the day with an Ne question, like what would I do today that is different and or what if? and then generate an action .
I am not sure if this is going to be effective for me as in if I do Ne activities, would that be just doing things that are not important just because I have to do them or I may end up generating activities to avoid doing what is important or uncomfortable.
Ne as a dominant function is comfortable working instantly with something that catches its interest, theorizing about it, and going with it, so if you want to strengthen your own Ne, it’s less about deliberate planning to engage with it and more being willing and able to interact with a possibility or theory when it happens to you. An ENP writer, for example, can be reading or watching something unconnected to their usual writing, and still come up with an idea; they are watching a space movie and get an idea about an underwater kingdom in ancient times. Because Ne is cross-contextual; it connects things that would not occur to other people.
In your case, if you feel you are locked too much into Si, I would deliberately seek out things that contradict your own thinking and experiences and rather than shooting them down with Ti (that’s not fully logical) or Si (that’s not how it happened to me) choose to engage fully with them and explore them. Actively seek out novel ideas, ideas that contradict your beliefs, listen to opposite arguments just to weigh them rather than argue against them, and open yourself up to allowing yourself to pivot. If something is not working, instead of doubling down on it, ask, “What if I did the total opposite here?” What if you… went in another direction with your theory, or tried something wholly unexpected in an innovation, or merged two characters into one personality, or accepted that aliens might exist, in order to think about what they might be like?
I just watched Project Hail Mary over the weekend, and he is an INTP at first locked into Ti/Si. Doesn’t want to leave earth, to explore, to do anything but teach kids, and is forced to go into space, where he truly blooms and becomes a better person, because he decides to open up his mind and imagination and discovers … something unexpected. Choose the unexpected. Choose to be open to new possibilities. When life hands you something, engage with it.
You CAN do what you suggested, and make deliberate decisions daily that take you in new directions, but it’s more about learning to trust your Ne and follow it. Abandon your plan, and go down the rabbit hole. Start researching how the Nephilium in the Old Testament and the Greek demi-gods might be the same creatures and see where it leads. Or go to YouTube and pick something totally random, that you would not normally be interested in, to watch and learn about, and see what ideas that sparks within you. Watch a movie, pause it halfway, and ask, “How could this have been done different?” Exercise it. Give it brain food (data). When you reach a conclusion, challenge your own thinking and ask, “Is there another explanation here?” and think about what that might be, that will train up TiNe to not dismiss things too quickly.
Good luck!
