[njchick]

@Carmine Ermine
The only time I went over to my shadow functions was when I was very unhealthy. It was my reaction to feeling that my life was out of my control. In attempt to gain control I overcompensated with denying myself Se.

[tine]

I think it's complex really :) Ti doesn't hinder Se by default, it actually helps as the auxiliary; just sometimes makes me think before acting, instead of jumping in the fun way.

Yeah it is x.x Ah I see! So what would make you think before acting? (a situation?)

[itsme45]

N's might just as easily say "Why do S people keep relating meditation to Ni?" - as much as we find the Se component doesn't help much, they probably wouldn't see the importance of the Ni component.

I already have high levels of Se but I've been used to restricting it with Ti & Fe combined. Fe restricts it because I feel like people would be wondering "why's he so happy?" and get jealous, and it would start all these ridiculous notions about karma and feed them to my Ti which would make me overthink before acting. But the reasons were in Fe-speak, which is mostly unconscious for me, which is why I couldn't see how ridiculous the reasons were until I decided to set Ti on those too.

Se is a great source of happiness because it exists in the present (happiness with Si comes with sadness that it's over, and happiness with Ne comes with impatience or waiting, but all happiness with Se is already here). Even if you are an ESXP type, you probably miss more than you expect. Also, as quoted by Dale Carnegie, "happiness is wanting what you get", and "what you get" is now, so "wanting the present moment" (which is essentially what meditation is in this context) is equal to happiness. It's the sort of happiness that ESXPs take for granted, but if we actually focus on it, we can in fact get even more happy and it can feel like we don't deserve it. Which is why I felt like laughing yesterday. The Fe was saying, unconsciously, "actually you shouldn't be annoying people".

The Ni component is important is because it can kind of store the happiness, rather than having to waste it inappropriately. The "stillness" part, "dis-identifying with form" are like Ni. The full ability or "enlightenment" is to be able to sense things in the moment and get all the happiness from it, but at the same time remain detached from identifying with it. It's called "being, not doing". Which appeals to me because ESTPs are the "doers" and we often want to "go on to the next thing". Meditation discourages thinking about the next thing and promotes focus on the current task (to quell any arguments about that, it also says the current task can be "planning what to do" so it doesn't stop you from preparing or planning). Also, meditation practice doesn't say you should never be in "doing mode", it just gives you a release and allows you do be more happy.

Interesting.

Btw, why did you link impatience and waiting to Ne? That part was unclear to me.

Also, thinking more, I think it's possible that unconscious Fe reasons can restrict my Se based behaviour too. -.- Not in the same way as for you, though. When I don't have those reasons, Se and Fe can work really well together, though. :)

If meditation means promoting focus on the current task then I'm meditating most of the time, ha. I guess it's fine by me. =)

Other than putting horse blinders over your head, I fail to see how a Se dominant person could restrict their Se. You may as well say I choose to not exist.

Depends, sometimes it's worth restricting myself for whatever goal. Then sometimes it's not a goal but just some stupid situation, then I'm fully discharged by the stress in a few hours to the point that I can hardly move my muscles efficiently. I had this a couple times in my life, luckily only a couple times. :P

So yeah you may as well say choosing not to exist in such situations, you got the feeling described pretty well.

If you could somehow actually restrict your Se then you would need to switch over to your shadow functions Si Te. This would be extremely unhealthy. If you are really depressed then the best medicine for an ESTP is forcing yourself to go out and interact with people or the environment. Team sports is a really good way to do this. Of course going out is only what part of the solution. You really need to know WHY you are depressed.

PS only really mature ESTPs can utilize their Ni at will. Even then, it wouldn't be much.

I don't know what function(s) I switched over to in those situations. Some introverted one(s).

I'm never depressed though, I like to say I'm incapable of real depression haha. Maybe I'm down for a few hours due to some issue but I then get up again and go on the usual way. :D

How do you utilize your Ni at will? I think I might be doing it when studying abstract material. I have conscious control over how I view and absorb the material and I suspect it is a sort of Ti-Ni approach; of course it is not an easy task mentally, though this sort of material is also not easy for anyone, regardless of type.

Yeah it is x.x Ah I see! So what would make you think before acting? (a situation?)

Depends on the situation :) this question is a bit too generic, but if you have anything more specific in mind about it, let me know.

[TreeBob]

Also, thinking more, I think it's possible that unconscious Fe reasons can restrict my Se based behaviour too. -.- Not in the same way as for you, though. When I don't have those reasons, Se and Fe can work really well together, though. :)

Are you saying love makes you blind?

I don't know what function(s) I switched over to in those situations. Some introverted one(s).

I'm never depressed though, I like to say I'm incapable of real depression haha. Maybe I'm down for a few hours due to some issue but I then get up again and go on the usual way. :D

You would have switched over to Si dominant (Shadow). Any type can be depressed. If you are switching to your shadow side I would actually surmize you were either depressed or VERY stressed. Nobody can switch for very long though.

How do you utilize your Ni at will? I think I might be doing it when studying abstract material. I have conscious control over how I view and absorb the material and I suspect it is a sort of Ti-Ni approach; of course it is not an easy task mentally, though this sort of material is also not easy for anyone, regardless of type.

Ni for an Se dom would be that little tickling we get that says something is up. We usually can't place the feeling, and most Se dom probably ignore it and push it aside. When you are consciously viewing material you should be using Se Ti. Some mature people will use a bit of Ni, but most of us don't use it much.


Also, please use multi quote instead of posting over and over when you reply. it is on the top right of every post (conversation bubble with a + symbol). After you finish multi-quoting all the posts you want just hit reply and it will carry over all the quotes. Turn off the individual multi quotes after you are done though, or they will keep quoting all the time.

[itsme45]

Are you saying love makes you blind?

No, I wasn't referring to love. I was referring to socializing. Love is no good if it is just Se-Fe, not long term enough.

You would have switched over to Si dominant (Shadow). Any type can be depressed. If you are switching to your shadow side I would actually surmize you were either depressed or VERY stressed. Nobody can switch for very long though.

Si dominant? -.- What would that be like? I wasn't depressed, I was just restricting my whole self for a few hours in those situations. But very stressed yes. I reached my limits when my muscles went like that.

Ni for an Se dom would be that little tickling we get that says something is up. We usually can't place the feeling, and most Se dom probably ignore it and push it aside. When you are consciously viewing material you should be using Se Ti. Some mature people will use a bit of Ni, but most of us don't use it much.

I experience the tickling thing too, but I was talking about handling abstract material without the chance to practice it. I need to utilize a bit of Ni for it, it's quite the Ti-Ni mode for me, very much in my head reflecting a lot to absorb the stuff.

Also, please use multi quote instead of posting over and over when you reply. it is on the top right of every post (conversation bubble with a + symbol). After you finish multi-quoting all the posts you want just hit reply and it will carry over all the quotes. Turn off the individual multi quotes after you are done though, or they will keep quoting all the time.

Okay. I see you are some sort of moderator :P

[TreeBob]

No, I wasn't referring to love. I was referring to socializing. Love is no good if it is just Se-Fe, not long term enough.




Si dominant? -.- What would that be like? I wasn't depressed, I was just restricting my whole self for a few hours in those situations. But very stressed yes. I reached my limits when my muscles went like that.




I experience the tickling thing too, but I was talking about handling abstract material without the chance to practice it. I need to utilize a bit of Ni for it, it's quite the Ti-Ni mode for me, very much in my head reflecting a lot to absorb the stuff.




Okay. I see you are some sort of moderator :P

Yeah ah some sort...

[Carmine Ermine]

I've just been to my mental health worker and I've apparently got lots of anxiety problems actually at the root of it all. I've also been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome but part of me believes that it is just some sort of insult (as it has always been an insult that I was insulted with plenty of times because of my creativity and way of making sense of the world). Apparently many Aspergers people get misdiagnosed with manic depression and the symptoms can be similar, although I'd much rather be a manic depressive rather than have Aspergers. I'm getting help with Aspergers "just in case I have it", although I'll never be 100% convinced that I really do have it.

It doesn't matter anyhow - If I do have it, I'm sure I am capable of "curing" Aspergers because I think it's just as much a neurological structure in the brain as any set of information can cause. The label has a negative effect. I have always had plenty of empathy and theory-of-mind, and it's really insulting to have a label that says you don't have these when you remember having them. What I think Aspergers is, if I in fact have it, is a genetic tendency to form some weird behaviours because of information and beliefs. I don't think my sensory perception is different to normal - I think the shocking information and psychological trauma I was brought up with is what makes me weird. And so, obviously, it is possible to correct it and "cure" whatever I have. If it is Aspergers, then the genetic tendency can't be cured but the effects certainly can and will, according to my logic.

Other than putting horse blinders over your head, I fail to see how a Se dominant person could restrict their Se. You may as well say I choose to not exist.

I was brought up by very pessimistic people who painted an ugly picture of the world, where anything goes, and the logic I came up with early on is that if the world were to kill me, then I deserve it because I wouldn't want to live in such a hellhole; this idea will remain true, but it is only by seeing the world through my own eyes that my negative attitude can be reversed.

If you could somehow actually restrict your Se then you would need to switch over to your shadow functions Si Te. This would be extremely unhealthy. If you are really depressed then the best medicine for an ESTP is forcing yourself to go out and interact with people or the environment. Team sports is a really good way to do this. Of course going out is only what part of the solution. You really need to know WHY you are depressed.

PS only really mature ESTPs can utilize their Ni at will. Even then, it wouldn't be much.

I do believe I have resorted to using Te and Si in my attempt to "cure" myself. I have always believed that this would work. I'm doing a PhD, which is not something ESTPs usually do. I'm lost in my shadow. But at the same time, this has become addictive because it's like a really hard challenge and it feels awesome to be able to do something like that which my fellow ESTPs are afraid of (I am definitely not trying to encourage other ESTPs to do this - if I had been shown the choice at a younger age, I would never have tried to climb this mountain... it's just that the summit seems sooo close at the moment).

The only time I went over to my shadow functions was when I was very unhealthy. It was my reaction to feeling that my life was out of my control. In attempt to gain control I overcompensated with denying myself Se.

I did, for many years (perhaps over a decade now) feel that my life was out of control, which made me fall into my shadow. Although I can only see this in hindsight - I never knew what I was doing was the mental equivalent of "Simply walking into Mordor" and climbing Mount Doom...

Yeah it is x.x Ah I see! So what would make you think before acting? (a situation?)

I think unfortunately having high intelligence may hinder me and may be the cause of all this stuff including the "Aspergers" in the first place. There MUST me an environmental component to my condition and for me it's hard to tell. To the diagnosers it seems obvious that I have Aspergers, but they don't know all the complex factors which play a part.

There is something I'm reading about (in a book called "Made To Stick" by Chip & Dan Heath) called the "Curse of Knowledge", which is that it's surprisingly hard to explain things to someone who doesn't know them, without using certain creativity techniques. I have a lot to say but need to know how to make an impact... So, the book said the best way to get ideas across is to tell "Simple, Unexpected, Concrete, Credentialed, Emotional Stories" - this very thing I'm writing is probably not one of those, because I'm not trying at all to incorporate those techniques here, even though maybe I should if my message isn't coming across well enough right here.
@itsme45 - I forgot to click the plus thing so I used the "at" sign intead. here:

Btw, why did you link impatience and waiting to Ne? That part was unclear to me.

Dunno. In Mindfulness, apparently the worst enemies of mindfulness are thinking about the past and thinking about the future, so I had to assume what could be bad about Ne. That said, I think all functions are cool and when you've experienced the positive side of them all, it's cool. That said, the positive use of intuition doesn't come that often to me at all, but when it does it's really good.

You would have switched over to Si dominant (Shadow). Any type can be depressed. If you are switching to your shadow side I would actually surmize you were either depressed or VERY stressed. Nobody can switch for very long though.

I wonder what have I done then, "turned into an ISTJ?" - actually it does feel like that... this is a bit scary. But I don't feel like I'm dying, and that's the main thing :)

Ni for an Se dom would be that little tickling we get that says something is up. We usually can't place the feeling, and most Se dom probably ignore it and push it aside. When you are consciously viewing material you should be using Se Ti. Some mature people will use a bit of Ni, but most of us don't use it much.

I've just been thinking: opposite functions used together create most obvious type of "maturity". For ESTPs, ENTPs, INFJs and ISFJs, this is from using Ti+Fe (I've seen it in an ENTP and they are indeed very mature). Se+Ni type maturity would be seen most in ISTPs, ISFPs, ENFJs, and ENTJs, so I think those 4 are the types mindfulness should be most beneficial to. Then "extreme maturity" for combining Se+Ni would be found by ESTPs, ESFPs, INFJs and INTJs best if they used mindfulness, but it's probably easier to get the secondary+tertiary type maturity done first I guess.

Also, please use multi quote instead of posting over and over when you reply. it is on the top right of every post (conversation bubble with a + symbol). After you finish multi-quoting all the posts you want just hit reply and it will carry over all the quotes. Turn off the individual multi quotes after you are done though, or they will keep quoting all the time.

Thanks, I needed to use that this time and you just said it in time.

[itsme45]

I've just been to my mental health worker and I've apparently got lots of anxiety problems actually at the root of it all. (...)

Oh, hmm, what do they base the Aspergers diagnosis on for you? I sometimes jokingly tell myself when I fuck up something that it's just because I must be an "aspie"...

Here's when I joke to myself like that:

I do have certain kinds of weird sensory processing (I could talk about this a lot, I think part of it may be due to remnants of some ADHD thingie though);
I hate applying too much conscious theory-of-mind on other people to try and assume the nature of their attitude, I instead just prefer to react to them instinctually;
My empathy is not really based on real feelings most of the time, I really underidentify with most people emotionally; (I've had some moments where I did get to feel the empathy thing too much for random people and it felt unnatural.)
I can get addicted (=very focused on) to current main goal or interest whatever it may be in a given time period - this is over months, up to 1-2 years but not longer, though;
I can take some things too literally and can apply too much of the mathematical approach in analysing them, though this issue has been decreasing and it was probably caused mostly by lack of information;

Anyway I think these things don't yet qualify me for the diagnosis. :P I suppose not because in general I do understand emotions etc., and I did notice that I can change my attitude to certain things making me less weird, also I'm too spontaneous, I hate imposing routines on myself (I have only basic ones to manage life without getting totally disorganized). Also even though I always have one favourite interest, I can focus on/play with more than one goal or interest no problem and I love multitasking.

As for the manic depression, I read that to treat/cure it, you have to first identify the trigger for the episodes. Do you have that sorted?


A few other comments below;

I'm also considering a PhD after I got my MA (working on thesis for the MA degree atm), but I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with Te/Si. If anything, that area I'm doing the MA in just requires a strong Ti and some intuition, Te and Si are not conducive to it at all. As for the intuition, it would be useful but I just get by with Ti most of the time, sometimes with Ni eurekas and with the general capability to absorb and handle a lot of abstract material. Undecided on the PhD though, I might go spend more time on two other areas first for certain goals of mine and then perhaps after this, the PhD can be factored in too.

Btw what's this idea about ESTP's being afraid of a PhD? -.- ESTP's either need it for something or not. Nothing to do with being afraid or lack of confidence. What are you doing the PhD in btw?

I don't see how high intelligence can hinder anyone. Perhaps some relative inability to socialize (small talk) but what else?

Mindfulness... I looked it up on wikipedia, this is pretty much what I do most of the time. Absorb in present moment (hey this is Se?), and take anything for how it is without judging it (again Se?). Ah and non-elaborative... yeah.

The ISTJ might just be rigid Ti dominance. J/P for introverts cannot predict the actual dominant and auxiliary functions. :p

Dunno about your maturity theory. How do you combine Ti and Fe? -.-

[Carmine Ermine]

Oh, hmm, what do they base the Aspergers diagnosis on for you? I sometimes jokingly tell myself when I fuck up something that it's just because I must be an "aspie"...

Yeah I have an in-joke with myself - whenever I do something clumsy I say to myself "clumsy!" and whenever I do something un-clumsy I say "clumsy!" sarcastically.

I got an assessment by an autism specialist who claimed to be "able to easily tell whether someone's got Aspergers". Fortunately, I had already read Robert Ringer's warning about experts - 2 different experts can easily have different views on the same thing, so trusting a single expert is a common trap, which is why it didn't convince me and I denied I had it because it was always used as an insult at me for whenever I did something slightly unexpected and spontaneous or tried to explain something new and/or complex that I'd just found out (which could come from virtually any subject).

It's strange that people think I'm mathematical, when in fact I only like maths in that it's a tool that is essentially the fundamental laws of nature. What I liked most about maths is that its rules are eternal and must apply in every possible circumstance, so it gives a good idea of what's realistic or not. I tried really hard to learn it because of that, and practiced lots, and ended up being very good at it, although I still find it intrinsically very difficult.

Anyway, after this expert decided after just 2 meetings that I have Aspergers, I denied it, but then a report came in that, in the past year, many girls were "concerned about me". So this list of stuff was read to me about what I had supposedly done, and most of it was completely impossible and false, and the rest was "judged after the event". For example, I had been "not invited" to a house party (by a girl from a university union club that I was also a member of), and then I stayed past the time when everyone had gone home. In fact, everyone including me WAS invited, and the party organiser was introducing me to people when I went there. Then the music was playing in the living room till after I left, but at about 5am, I was ushered into one of the tennants' rooms (of the rented house that the party was in). This was a boy's room, by the way, and about 7 others were ushered in also). Then we all just chilled and listened to Quantic, and I decided that I'd had enough and went home about 6am and had a nice long sleep. Apparently, after that event, the party organiser had decided that I was uninvited and she didn't like me, so that went on a list of similar "concerns" that various girls had for me. These were all little things, and believe me, plenty of assholes get away with things a hundred times more "concerning".

A list of similar things had been drawn up over the past 14 months, and included "inappropriate touching" and "asking for an extra present at the Christmas Party" (which is the sort of thing I would do but in fact I didn't go to the Christmas party). So my mental health worker said I could potentially be expelled if these "concerns" turned into "complaints". Of course, that was enough motivation for me to "change my mind" about denying that I have Aspergers. The diagnosis is not official, but the expert is recognised by the university as if it's official. I'm going to get officially diagnosed in the future. I think the help I will get is going to help me with whatever problem I have anyway so it's beneficial to go along with it :)

One of the questions I got asked in the "sensory profile" (1st thing they do once you get diagnosed) was something like "do you feel others' pain?" - and I answered yes, because, as an example, when someone shows me a painful-looking cut on their finger or screams in pain, I feel kind of "in synch" with that and get a sort of painful feeling myself. The Aspergers worker seemed to show disbelief about this and then said "oh, it must be synaesthesia" (i.e. mixing senses up, such as smelling colours or hearing tastes or whatever - that last one sounded like the most unlikely combination so I thought I'd put it there for comic impact). Don't know what to make of that assessment. Does anyone else almost literally feel other peoples' pain when they see someone get hurt?

I do have certain kinds of weird sensory processing (I could talk about this a lot, I think part of it may be due to remnants of some ADHD thingie though);

I think I have excellent vision (I've measured it as 12:20 vision), excellent hearing (I believe I'm an auditory-kinaesthetic person), probably a little more sensitive kinaesthesia (but definitely not so much that a little touch is painful, like some have it), and possibly slightly better taste and smell... actually maybe it just appears that way because I'm a sensual person. Then I also have really excellent spacial awareness (I found out from playing the awesome game series of "Descent", which most people give up on because it requires excellent spacial awareness), but I'm perhaps just a little down on the clumsiness aspect.

I sometimes have kind of a stiff or awkward posture (which I blame on stress, not Aspergers) and occasionally am clumsy, although I have never truly fallen over since 1999 (except twice on black ice in the past few years). I have an amazing "self-righting mechanism", that is, when I lose balance, I amaze myself at how quickly, automatically and effectively my body can regain it. This was apparent in ice skating once, when I got a bit confident but then lost my balance and almost fell backwards, but somehow managed to self-right just by stepping backwards very hard and fast, without thinking, and didn't fall. This got in the way when I tried jiu-jitsu about 8 months ago (almost got my first belt but I quit because it wasn't enough fun and the people there seemed to have an agenda). You're supposed to "go with the flow" when you get thrown, but I felt that some people weren't cooperating when I tried throwing them so when we swapped I said I'd show them what it was like to have someone "naturally resisting" instead of going with the flow, and then let the self-righting mechanism work, by stepping back in a circle and completely ruining their attempt. Of course this was the wrong thing to do but it was just a demo.

I hate applying too much conscious theory-of-mind on other people to try and assume the nature of their attitude, I instead just prefer to react to them instinctually

Me too - from all the times when I've been wrongly judged, it just went to show that it's better to treat strangers as I would be treated when I first meet them - that is, by giving them a chance. Except when I can use concrete information like, for example, homeless people in Britain - I don't trust them because they could just go the job centre and get benefits. I tried explaining this to one of them and they hurried away as fast as they could, amazed that I could "see right through them".

My empathy is not really based on real feelings most of the time, I really underidentify with most people emotionally; (I've had some moments where I did get to feel the empathy thing too much for random people and it felt unnatural.)

I know what you mean - I also get "runaway empathy" sometimes and then I might see that the person isn't even as bothered as I am, so it feels like there's no need to feel so sad for them.

Anyway I think these things don't yet qualify me for the diagnosis. :P I suppose not because in general I do understand emotions etc., and I did notice that I can change my attitude to certain things making me less weird, also I'm too spontaneous, I hate imposing routines on myself (I have only basic ones to manage life without getting totally disorganized). Also even though I always have one favourite interest, I can focus on/play with more than one goal or interest no problem and I love multitasking.

I don't really have a routine either, just a task list...

The diagnosis was just 3 vague things:

1st: sensory "differences" - as you now know, I do have sensory "differences" :P

2nd: "restrictive/repetitive interests" - these change, but at the moment, mine are Women and MBTI. I find myself thinking about MBTI more than I even want to nowadays, maybe because I'm really interested in "characters" (really MBTI is about 16 stereotypical characters which is what's so appealing about it). I think my problems with women are from being in "dark ISTJ" mode so much that I didn't bother to get any experience in the field, and need lots of practice, which is probably why all these "concerns" are happening because I'm making mistakes, and when I really want to practice something I often have a series of big fails first - I remember when I first started ice staking and kept falling over backwards, then decided to keep my balance forwards and see if it's possible to fall forwards - strangely, I could only fall forwards in slow motion and the only way I did fall forwards properly was when I used the sort of skates with serrated edges on the front for friction to stop quickly, then forgot they were there and when I wanted to use the front part of the skates, my face smashed into the ice and I gave up for now, although I'd easily try again with proper skates.

3rd: social difficulties - from being stressed and having a tense posture, also fearing that other people might have something against me because I was given the gift of amazing senses and good DNA, and also fearing that I don't want to waste myself because I'm quite a rare person and need to be protected and need to have lots of children to spread my amazingly good DNA (the resoning behind my main "restrictive and repetitive interest" which I described). I think other people would think I'm arrogant for saying this, but I just put that down to the Dunning-Kruger effect (most people think they're significantly above the median in general qualities). Everyone who knows me thinks I'm awesome, and I've even had the compliment of "I think you are the most perfect person" - that was from someone in my family, but still, I'm sure if you tell anyone that they'd love to agree :D

As for the manic depression, I read that to treat/cure it, you have to first identify the trigger for the episodes. Do you have that sorted?

This isn't official, but I relate it to the Si function - it makes me cry hard sometimes, thinking about it. Maybe you can get an idea of what it's like by listening this whole song, and seeing the sentimental side of it - I couldn't help thinking this song is a VERY good way to easily glimpse the Si+Te combination:

I'm also considering a PhD after I got my MA (working on thesis for the MA degree atm), but I'm pretty sure this has nothing to do with Te/Si. If anything, that area I'm doing the MA in just requires a strong Ti and some intuition, Te and Si are not conducive to it at all. As for the intuition, it would be useful but I just get by with Ti most of the time, sometimes with Ni eurekas and with the general capability to absorb and handle a lot of abstract material. Undecided on the PhD though, I might go spend more time on two other areas first for certain goals of mine and then perhaps after this, the PhD can be factored in too.

I think Te helps but with Ni - somehow I can see this as ideal for ENTJs. One of my supervisors is ENTJ and a really good teacher.

Btw what's this idea about ESTP's being afraid of a PhD? -.- ESTP's either need it for something or not. Nothing to do with being afraid or lack of confidence. What are you doing the PhD in btw?

Yeah I know, it was just based on the idea that ESTPs are prone to dropping out of academia because they think it's too theoretical. I guess the more intelligent ones among us can see the practical side of getting more qualifications. Mine is in Chemical Engineering, which is supposedly not a subject ESTPs are fond of because it's theoretical, but I can easily see the practical side of it. It seems so short-sighted to think of it as all abstract theory and quit. And anyway, Chemical Engineers are in demand and they get paid a lot, so that's motivation enough. I hope to be able to travel more without thinking I'm going to run out of money.

I don't see how high intelligence can hinder anyone. Perhaps some relative inability to socialize (small talk) but what else?

I guess arrogance if it's pushed too far. I see others getting away with much worse levels of arrogance, mainly because they can't even back up what they're claiming, and when I use the famous quote "it ain't braggin' if you can do the thing", people see THAT as arrogant but think someone who's acting all impossibly tough is "not arrogant". Perhaps because they're doing it in a jokey way and I'm being serious.

Mindfulness... I looked it up on wikipedia, this is pretty much what I do most of the time. Absorb in present moment (hey this is Se?), and take anything for how it is without judging it (again Se?). Ah and non-elaborative... yeah.

Compared to Si, Se is happier because Si isn't the now. What's so addictively attractive about Si is because you can have experienced better times before and think about them, and it gives the illusion of even more happiness than what you can find in the present. But Dale Carnegie said "happiness is wanting what you get", and you technically don't have the past, you only have the present.

The ISTJ might just be rigid Ti dominance. J/P for introverts cannot predict the actual dominant and auxiliary functions. :p

Dunno about your maturity theory. How do you combine Ti and Fe? -.-

About combining Ti+Fe... I've found combinations of opposite functions give even more satisfaction than the individual functions, but somehow it feels milder. It's having appropriate levels of empathy with Fe and understanding how people could really think and feel with Ti. High Fe by itself can be like "HEYYEYAAEYAAAEYAEYAA" (look that up on youtube, it's hilarious) and high Ti by itself can be weaving all sorts of webs of logic to try to explain everything but very emotionlessly. So combining them generates a sort of deep empathetic understanding.

[Functianalyst]

Other than putting horse blinders over your head, I fail to see how a Se dominant person could restrict their Se. You may as well say I choose to not exist.

If you could somehow actually restrict your Se then you would need to switch over to your shadow functions Si Te. This would be extremely unhealthy. If you are really depressed then the best medicine for an ESTP is forcing yourself to go out and interact with people or the environment. Team sports is a really good way to do this. Of course going out is only what part of the solution. You really need to know WHY you are depressed.

PS only really mature ESTPs can utilize their Ni at will. Even then, it wouldn't be much.

Wondered when someone would state the obvious. It's called your domainant function for a reason, therefore no other function can equal it. At best Se and Ne domainant types generally have to make a conscious attempt to develop a filter using Ti or Fi to prevent the dominant from running amuck.