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Back to the Present: The Never-Ending Blockbuster of the Ni-Dominant


Are you the spontaneous, fun-loving, up-for-anything life of the party? Do you make a habit of riding naked through thunderstorms howling profanities at the top of your lungs? If so, this article is not for you. This article is for the guy in the corner. This article is for the guy trying to explain quantum entanglement to his own feet. This article is for the guy who couldn't tell you what's going on right in front of him, but gladly would take you on a tour of his latest theory on astrobiology as a paradoxical contrivance of the human mind.

Being an intuitive isn't always easy. In fact it rarely is. Intuitives make up roughly 30% (10% for Ni) of the population and even if we manage to master our abilities, chances are some people just won't get us. The unconscious, impalpable nature of the intuitive process tends to make our insights look like guesswork to everyone but ourselves and, more often than not, even to us. 

Intuition comes in two flavours. Extroverted (Ne) or introverted (Ni). Where Ne gathers, Ni organises. Where Ne goes wide, Ni goes deep. Where Ne likes to keep its options open, leaving no hypothetical stone unturned, Ni usually plays favourites, sticking to whatever theory it deems the most probable, all the while bombarding it with the scrutinising artillery of perspectives. Either way, as far as the present is concerned, intuition doesn’t linger.

So, where am I going with this? I guess what I’m trying to say is that Carpe Diem is a foreign concept to introverted intuition. It just doesn't roll that way and as Ni-dominants (INxJ) we shouldn’t be surprised to find ourselves theorising-, simulating- and daydreaming our way through life. And oftentimes we drift too far. Although we can hear reality calling to us, we just can't seem to find our way back to the now.

But perhaps we should determine exactly what we mean by “living in the moment” before dissecting it further. 

Being in the present moment, or the “here and now,” means that we are aware and mindful of what is happening at this very moment. We are not distracted by ruminations on the past or worries about the future, but centered in the here and now. All of our attention is focused on the present moment (Thum, 2008).

Yep, it's that mindfulness thing again. But is that all? To me, living in the moment entails more than just awareness. Surely the naked riders of this world are not only aware of-, but also enjoying the situation? Making the best of it? I propose three things.

  1. Awareness - Being mindful of the current situation 
  2. Leverage - Taking advantage of this same situation
  3. Enjoyment - Smiling while doing so

The Ni-dominant will never excel at these things, having our inferior function Se (extraverted sensing) locked up in a closet somewhere, but there are things we can do to improve ourselves (letting it out being the first that comes to mind). But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Details first. Ugh.

Awareness
Yes. Number one. We've touched upon it already. Mindfulness. This is the realm of meditation, of gurus, and downward-facing dogs. This part is all about stopping the simulations, silencing the intuitive process and making room for that repressed, undervalued Se. Handing over the steering wheel to a 3-year-old might seem rash, but limited capacity aside, this is the only pair of eyes we've got in this twilight zone of concrete and disturbingly prosaic trivia. 

Once you've managed to silence that rambunctious intuition of yours it's time to start listening. I mean really listening. Hear that? That's ground control calling major Tom. That’s Se finally telling it like it is. Every little detail. Everything from the majestic sunrise on the horizon to the dazzled driver and his out of control Mercedes coming at you at the speed of sound. Everything from the clouds to the rain to the summer heat and the smell of wet asphalt in the morning. The voice of the world. Reality. You get it.

Leverage
But seeing as we can’t go around meditating all the time perhaps it’s a bit naive to presume that we'll be able to identify and act upon every pesky little detail or opportunity that keep springing up around us. A better, more realistic idea might be to cheat. 


Dave Powers and Shannon Renee from Objective Personality suggest using our Ni to predict possible scenarios and to prepare a plan of action in advance. Make a list of everything you can possibly think of and what to do about it. This way you might at least mimic the leverage of real-time response when these things, be they good or bad, actually hit you in the moment.

Enjoyment
This one is tricky. Being aware of the details and, to some extent, acting upon them is something you can fake or get better at with practice. But to enjoy them? That's asking a bit much. Reality is often too bright, to loud and to pointed for the Ni-dominant. So little is too much. But if you manage to control the dosage your experience might differ. After all, the Se appreciation of beauty is quite strong with the INFJ and there's a lot of beautiful moments for those willing to catch them. A quiet sunset. A solitary walk in the forest. I don't know... star gazing?

But to what extent will you actually be able to loose yourself in these moments? Because isn't that what enjoying the moment is really all about? If you think about it it's quite simple. It's all about entering your flow state (#4). And the only personality type whose flow state would actually encompass true enjoyment of the present moment, as I see it, is the Se-dominant. In the case of every other type enjoying the moment would mean forgetting about it. Learning to be aware of- and respond to your physical surroundings is a good thing, but Ni-dominants will never learn to enjoy the details of the present, and frankly, we shouldn't have to. Ni needs to speculate, to simulate, to calculate. Truly enjoying the moment as an Ni-dominant is to leave it! That's the flow state of intuition. So go play a CRPG, read a science fantasy novel or... I don't know again... watch a YouTube-clip on hidden dimensions or something! 



naked
on a naked horse
in pouring rain 

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