[YourMom]

I was in the flash chat thingy, and it was bombarded with infp's talking about their regrets. I lectured to them about how regret is a useless emotion.



Anyhow, I consider any negative emotion such as feeling worthless, sad, depressed, etc to be useless. They accomplish nothing worthwhile. On the other end of the spectrum, emotions such as happiness, satisfaction, cheerfulness, driven i see as useful emotions since you feel good and you set yourself up for personal growth.

I've trained my brain to think positively about life. Of course this comes to me naturally as well, as I am an optimist. But when I was a teenager I thought negatively about myself at times. I realized though that thinking negatively about oneself makes you feel "down". So, now if a negative thought pops into my head I challenge it and see if it's logical. Very rarely is the thought actually logical. And if it is, that means there is something about myself that I need to change, and then I change. And BAM that thought never has to come back.

[CJ99]

I can totally relate to that lactating apple! btw did you nick the avatar off of middlejohn casue I thought you where him at first?!

I too try to rationalize away negative emotions. Unfortunatly still being a teenager and doing a gap year trying out full time employment in a buerocracy and paperwork obsessed company I'm still struggling with it!

But outside work I do what you do all the time. I recently finished a show where one guys was basically refusing to be directed by the director and was a total dick to her and the production team. I'm mates with her and the production team as where most my mates in the show (as we were all a really close cast) so quite a few people where majorly pissed off at him. But while everyone else was fuming I just dismissed him as a dick and ignored his shite while everyone else kept getting annnoyed. A few people where confused about this at first but I explained to them that while he was annoying me as much as he was everyone else I just chose not to get annoyed by it as it was pointless. A few people got it but no one could quite do it as well as me they couldn't cut off the emotions like i could!

I wonder if its an ENTP thing or a T thing! I think ENTPs are the best at it though as we are so detatched!

[agokcen]

I pretty much second everything you just said. Emotions are just something I use to my advantage in life; happiness gets me places, while sadness doesn't. I don't see why anyone would want to be unhappy, because happiness is the basic human measurement of goodness; since emotions are pretty easily controllable (for me, anyway), why, then, would I not want to be happy all the time? I can't think of a single reason why people shouldn't always be happy. The world would be a much better place...and a much more productive one, too.

Happiness for the win.

[Sellihca]

I object to two assertions:

1. Sadness does not contribute to personal growth.
2. You possess absolute control over your emotions.

A man without sadness is a shallow fool. It implies you no have ideals, aspirations, or meaningful human connections. When these things are violated or undermined, you ought to feel sad. What if someone you love dies? What if your life's work is wasted? It's not "useless," it prompts reflection. A spoiled child never has reason to stop and think.

Although personally most people I know comment on my constant state of elation, I think your self-portrait and theory on emotions are rather myopic.

[Quin Sabe]

I view emotions as interesting ineffable things. They can be useful, but much more often they need to be ignored. I'm trying strike the balance since I have ignored them most of my life, I'm interested see what they feel like, lol

[yesiknowbut]

I don't have any problem with the full range of emotions. It's the causes for those emotions in other people I don't always understand.

Apart from cheerfulness, the commonest emotion I experience is irritation. I do that quite a lot.

[MOGwok]

Negative emotions can be useful to experience, because, (depending on what your moral character is) they allow you to relate to/manipulate others who are feeling them. Politicians are masters of this. If you possess sufficient empathy. (Which can be a nasty weapon, or helping hand)


Logically speaking.



Swimming in negative emotion, and admitting its dominance without fighting it off is weakness.
I'm not saying you have be winning, but if you're not fighting to make it better, you're walking dead.


There are unfortunately a good handful of people like that in the world. Who I imagine you're referring to MJ

[OneiricEntropy]

I think because I am an experience whore I like to feel everything. Including these "negative emotions". The first (and actually only) time I ever felt true heartbreak was awesome~ I was like, "holy shit, this is really intense!" It was an actual visceral pain that made my body feel so tangibly heavy that I couldn't move. Literally. It didn't last very long, but in those few hours I saw the world differently.

That experience was priceless.

I think the key is in coping with difficult emotions and using that knowledge to grow internally.

[MoreWobbles]

I think because I am an experience whore I like to feel everything. Including these "negative emotions". The first (and actually only) time I ever felt true heartbreak was awesome~ I was like, "holy shit, this is really intense!" It was an actual visceral pain that made my body feel so tangibly heavy that I couldn't move. Literally. It didn't last very long, but in those few hours I saw the world differently.

That experience was priceless.

I think the key is in coping with difficult emotions and using that knowledge to grow internally.

Same here, after all of it, i'm not sure i'll ever care enough to let it happen again.

[CJ99]

I think because I am an experience whore I like to feel everything. Including these "negative emotions". The first (and actually only) time I ever felt true heartbreak was awesome~ I was like, "holy shit, this is really intense!" It was an actual visceral pain that made my body feel so tangibly heavy that I couldn't move. Literally. It didn't last very long, but in those few hours I saw the world differently.

That experience was priceless.

I think the key is in coping with difficult emotions and using that knowledge to grow internally.

I don't think its that we ENTPs ignore those emotions. Its just I thik we get over them quicker. Everyone rationalizes out their emotions and gets over them eventually just we do it quicker. So I think what you are suggesting and what Middlejohn is suggesting is the same thing.