# How to Strengthen Ne



## aravis (Apr 2, 2012)

Hello all,

I recently read an article about how improving your strengths will get you to the Olympics while trying to be "well-rounded" will leave you frustrated. So. Here I am.

I want to know if you are aware of ways to strengthen Ne. I'm a writer and an Ne-dom. If the functions are like muscles, how can I strengthen my Ne even further?

I've done a brief google search and have mostly come up with stuff like "watch fantasy movies and think of impossible things throughout the day." Yeah, no problem, I'm looking for something a little more challenging/pointed.

Any thoughts are appreciated! شكراً!


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## bellisaurius (Jan 18, 2012)

More knowledge. The more you know, the more connections you can make. In my day, that meant lots of encyclopedia reading. Nowadays, I guess that means lots of wiki walks.


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## WickerDeer (Aug 1, 2012)

Or, I think it can also mean, for NF, a lot of people watching and people interaction. I actually really enjoy reading biographies too--especially funny autobiographies. I am also trying to strengthen Ne along with Fi.

Also, I am trying to write a novel--so I would like to hear any ideas you have about writing as an ENFP.


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## LiquidLight (Oct 14, 2011)

Actually in the case of a dominant function strengthening isn't necessary. it is already your go-to function. It would be like asking "how do I make myself more right handed?" (assuming you are right handed). You see how this doesn't make much sense. When it comes to personality, you really do want to become more balanced because that eliminates the one-sidedness that comes with relying too heavily on a dominant function. Jung's idea of individuation (the process of becoming yourself) relied heavily on making that connection between who you know yourself to be and your shadow (the parts of yourself that you aren't aware of but are still there nonetheless). This is why it is so critical to develop yourself wholly as opposed to just cherry picking which will inevitably only get you so far (and maybe make things worse).


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## Pete The Lich (May 16, 2011)

here are two links
Good knowledgeable site
http://www.newscientist.com/

Random interesting web pages
http://www.stumbleupon.com/

A good way to build up useless jokes because hardly anyone in real life scours the interwebs :|
http://www.macromeme.com

Play games like Minecraft/Terraria things you can use as a creative outlet


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## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

The best way to develop as a human being as LiquidLight pointed out, would for you to engage with your lesser used functions. To engage your lesser used functions would be to force yourself to think in ways that are uncomfortable to you or to engage in situations that you don't like or are uncomfortable. Just pushing that threshold a little at a time. 

Other than that, Jung identified something he calls a ninth function of sorts that stimulates and motivates the desire for personal growth that we have no real control over. I would however assume that the possibility of this desire arising comes from dealing with difficult times that are different to you in general. Is life feeling boring and stale? The desire to deal with this situation will for example require you to perhaps rethink or redo how you do certain things in life.


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## electricky (Feb 18, 2011)

Yeah the way you're describing things, I'm thinking it's the same ironic problem I know too well where Ne is actually too "strong," where you're left with that sense of something more but nothing to fill the blanks with. Think of your functions as a teeter-totter. Throw a little pure sensing on one end and well guess what happens to the other side.... it skyrockets. Soaking up knowledge is one of the best ways, as mentioned, just reading, taking in the information as it is just to gain more and more and more and see how long you can last until the information simply must take you somewhere else. Try to passively watch a movie, try to "feel" the movie, if you can, or just whatever way you usually wouldn't. Don't have fun with it, then do, and the whole cognitive process will be richer.


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## WickerDeer (Aug 1, 2012)

I agree that it's important to develop the other functions. And I like the idea of feeding the dominant functions with lesser functions--that's how I interpreted ElectricSparkle's comment.

I also think it's good to understand how to feed the dominant function, because people can go into a funk trying to fit into another type. And it's not safe to ignore what benefits the dominant functions.

Like, when I was with this guy who wanted me to think of house cleaning as the number one priority in life--and I tried to do it for a while--and then he really liked athletics so I decided to go out there and be athletic. And then, also--he hated new experiences, so he always wanted the same routine at home and never wanted to go anywhere (well, rarely) or for me to have any new friends--oh--AND he thought my doing art was pointless and a waste of time...

So I know it says nothing about my type that I actually tried to make a relationship like this work by attempting to "compromise" for him---but it showed me how draining and confusing forcing yourself to use lesser functions without allowing the feeding of the stronger functions is. So I think it is important to understand where your power source is going to be and to not sacrifice that for the other functions.

But, I think it's a good idea to move down the function list now, because if I had been using my Fi better, maybe I would have made some judgments about how that relationship made me feel, and what I wanted in it--instead of just focusing on his wants and the possibilities of how to make it work. Now I'm working on using Fi to help me make better choices--less impulsive choices that benefit me more. I think that's what it was supposed to be doing the whole time, but I don't think I was letting it.


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

LeaT said:


> The best way to develop as a human being as LiquidLight pointed out, would for you to engage with your lesser used functions. To engage your lesser used functions would be to force yourself to think in ways that are uncomfortable to you or to engage in situations that you don't like or are uncomfortable. Just pushing that threshold a little at a time.
> 
> Other than that, Jung identified something he calls a ninth function of sorts that stimulates and motivates the desire for personal growth that we have no real control over. I would however assume that the possibility of this desire arising comes from dealing with difficult times that are different to you in general. Is life feeling boring and stale? The desire to deal with this situation will for example require you to perhaps rethink or redo how you do certain things in life.


I don't think "stimulating functions" would get a person anywhere, because this would still involve rationalizing them toward the ego (who you want to see yourself as/who you know yourself to be). Also, they're not really "accessible" like that - they're basically a construct that is indirectly related to a much larger psychological picture of yourself that has nothing to do with your cognition at large. That's why I'm really not a fan of the way that the "functions" get "concretized" by MBTI and MBTI-based constructs - it's making too much of them as entities separate from the person, while in fact, they're just codifications for ego tendencies of a person (but they certainly can be said to be "something you *do*," so since they're related to action, rather than the individual and just what drives them in terms of thinking, feeling, etc. - in that way only are they like entities in people, but looking at them that way is what's not going to get you anywhere until you can see any kind of relevance to your identity in them, which is easiest to see from the dom/inferior perspective, albeit, none of this stuff is easy to identify to begin with - not even remotely.


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## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

JungyesMBTIno said:


> I don't think "stimulating functions" would get a person anywhere, because this would still involve rationalizing them toward the ego (who you want to see yourself as/who you know yourself to be). Also, they're not really "accessible" like that - they're basically a construct that is indirectly related to a much larger psychological picture of yourself that has nothing to do with your cognition at large. That's why I'm really not a fan of the way that the "functions" get "concretized" by MBTI and MBTI-based constructs - it's making too much of them as entities separate from the person, while in fact, they're just codifications for ego tendencies of a person (but they certainly can be said to be "something you *do*," so since they're related to action, rather than the individual and just what drives them in terms of thinking, feeling, etc. - in that way only are they like entities in people, but looking at them that way is what's not going to get you anywhere until you can see any kind of relevance to your identity in them, which is easiest to see from the dom/inferior perspective, albeit, none of this stuff is easy to identify to begin with - not even remotely.


Then what's the point of individuation which revolves around acceptance and appreciation of the shadow into the ego?

Engaging people with a different dominant preference and doing activities that would force one to engage one's lesser functions would still be a way to eventually form an appreciation of these functions/line of thinking, which ultimately would lead to ego acceptance, although frankly, I don't think it's just about the ego either but brain development in general.


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

LeaT said:


> Then what's the point of individuation which revolves around acceptance and appreciation of the shadow into the ego?
> 
> Engaging people with a different dominant preference and doing activities that would force one to engage one's lesser functions would still be a way to eventually form an appreciation of these functions/line of thinking, which ultimately would lead to ego acceptance, although frankly, I don't think it's just about the ego either but brain development in general.


If you're forcing yourself, you'll only end up appreciating them toward the ego (this stuff has nothing to do with abilities like "being able to solve math puzzles, etc.) Functions don't really develop your brain like that either - if you're engaging with them unconsciously, it doesn't mean anything about your brain's abilities with them - it just means you're engaging them unconsciously. Who knows, people might be fantastic with rationalization in a less conscious capacity, but that probably wouldn't be helping their self confidence very much. Functions are what people do automatically (if you have an ego, which any sane person does, then you better be doing the automatically or else) - they don't really "learn" them in the sense that a person would have to learn to, say, solve chemistry problems - they're ego mechanisms. How one uses the functions is beside the point of the greater importance of this stuff in the scheme of the mind and personality. Everyone does it - everyone probably has their own ways, etc. so in that sense, who really cares (until something psychological creeps into the picture with this stuff).


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## Entropic (Jun 15, 2012)

JungyesMBTIno said:


> If you're forcing yourself, you'll only end up appreciating them toward the ego (this stuff has nothing to do with abilities like "being able to solve math puzzles, etc.) Functions don't really develop your brain like that either - if you're engaging with them unconsciously, it doesn't mean anything about your brain's abilities with them - it just means you're engaging them unconsciously. Who knows, people might be fantastic with rationalization in a less conscious capacity, but that probably wouldn't be helping their self confidence very much. Functions are what people do automatically (if you have an ego, which any sane person does, then you better be doing the automatically or else) - they don't really "learn" them in the sense that a person would have to learn to, say, solve chemistry problems - they're ego mechanisms. How one uses the functions is beside the point of the greater importance of this stuff in the scheme of the mind and personality. Everyone does it - everyone probably has their own ways, etc. so in that sense, who really cares (until something psychological creeps into the picture with this stuff).


I am obviously referring to Nardi's research here so I disagree.


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## JungyesMBTIno (Jul 22, 2011)

LeaT said:


> I am obviously referring to Nardi's research here so I disagree.


Nardi's research is still studying this stuff from a phenomenological perspective, so he's not overlapping it with irrelevant factors. I mean, sure, increasing one's perspectives can technically improve one's brain, but it's awareness that counts, not doing gym exercises on JCFs (no expert believes this - after all, how could you really know you're "strengthening" the functions since they don't exist in terms of strength to begin with - they exist in terms of consciousness). He might use strength as a way to quantify his research, but I don't think any of these people view this stuff literally where concepts like "strength" can be actualized.


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## esq (Jun 7, 2012)

I notice that over time, I refined my function use so that I trust what I'm good at and I no longer use certain functions. 

I trust my sensory inputs enough that I usually ignore people's opinions about how to improve human health. Because I know my body more than most people know theirs. 

I pretty much threw Fe out the window. I don't even try anymore and it's very liberating. 

Though I always thought Ne was one of those self sustaining things where you seek out swaths of random information to build a framework. And the framework feeds your imagination and it just makes you hungrier so you continue eating and creating, etc.


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