It's Cool to be a Swan

Today I found out I am an INFP personality type. Read on...

"To the INFP healing means mending those divisions that plague one's private life and relationships...helping to restore lost unity and integrity. They present a tranquil face to the world, but while to all appearances they might seem gentle and easy-going, on the inside they are anything but serene (can anyone say anxiety?), having a capacity for caring not usually found in other types. Healers care deeply, passionately, about a few special persons or a favorite cause, and their fervent aim is to bring peace to themselves and their loved ones.

They want to learn about the humanities, are preoccupied with morale...they are altruistic, credulous, mystical and base their self image on being seen as empathetic, benevolent, and authentic. They trust intuition, yearn for romance, and aspire to the wisdom of the sage. Intellectually, they are prone to practice diplomacy far more that logicstics and tactics.

Healers have a profound sense of idealism derived from a strong personal morality. To understand them, we must understand their idealism as almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for those they believe in. Isolated by their seclusiveness and infrequency (around 1% of the population) their idealism leaves them feeling even more isolated from the rest of humanity.

Healers seek unity because of a feeling of alienation which comes from their often unhappy childhood. They live a fantasy filled childhood, which sadly, is discouraged by many parents. With siblings who conform to these parental expectations (no offense Julesy), Healers come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. Other types may shrug off parental expectations that do not fit them, but not the INFPs. Wishing to please their parents and siblings, but not knowing quite how they try to hide their differences, believing they are bad to be so fanciful, so unlike their more solid (usually older) brothers or sisters (ahem!). They wonder, some for all their lives, whether they are OK. They are quite OK, just different from the others...swans reared in a family of ducks."

Um, okay, could this be any closer to reality? It goes on to explain that most INFP's are gifted in language and many become writers, but I will spare you. I am glad to know that my friend's graduate courses in psychology are good for something ;) I suppose it was worth the hour it took to take the test to find out that I am a "quite OK" swan. Gee, I had been wondering!