Okay, I want to run an experiment here. But first, a semi-unrelated explanation:
Several months ago, I stumbled across
a Tumblr entry about being an empath, and went, holy shit, that would explain so many of my stress and health problems. I hit every single point on all of
these lists. So: I am totally an empath. A really, really crappy kind of empath. I mean, it sounds like a Dungeons & Dragons character class, but my point is, I soak up everyone else's negative feelings. I don't know how to shield myself, and I don't know how to dump my mental browser cache. I have no firewall, people.
In a similar blog post, we are told that empaths can...
heal. I don't know about the laying on of hands and what-not, but I'd be willing to go with "make people feel better, in a non-Jesus kind of way."
So I'm fooling around instead of working last night, and for some reason, the Myers-Briggs personality test came up. I had saved my result somewhere, and I'm an INFP. Apparently this is statistically somewhat rare--1-5% of the population. And the Keirsey temperament of INFP is... the Healer.
After I had a couple of conversations on Twitter, I am starting to think that that's what "empaths" are--the INFP personality type. So, what I want to know is, how many of you are whichever personality type, and is there a correlation between the INFP type and empath-y?
So:
here is your free personality test link. Here is the chart matching up Myers-Briggs types to Keirsey temperaments. I mean, just to elaborate on the subject.
Depending on how much of this sounds like you, you may be an empath. Keep in mind: it's the unpleasantness that I recognized, not the special-snowflake psychic-healing business.
Now:
Poll Personality types Now all I have to figure out is what to do about the lack of firewall.
ETA: "Hey, you know those Myers-Briggs tests?"
MY MOTHER: "YES!"
"Wow, okay. So I took one again, I'd forgotten what I was, and I'm an INFP."
MY MOTHER: "YOU ARE SO AN INFP."
"See? I'm saying."
MY MOTHER: "I AM AN ENTJ! I am like the epitome of an ENTJ. And that's why I work in HR."
"Oh, well. Okay then."
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