Daily Mantras for INTP types

[tragula]

1. Always keep your sense of Humor. (Self explanatory, but important for INTP as this is one of our best qualities, and can keep us from going crazy.)
2. Don't try to be an Extrovert. (People don't like people who try to hard, or people who pretend to be things they are not. This is more important in E biased cultures.)
3. Memento Mori. (Latin for "remember you will die." INTP types should say this to themselves when they wake up in the morning so they don't sit around all day thinking.)
4. Don't expect other people to be Logical. (Maybe NT types can all communicate with each other, but with other types this expectation is a waste of time and energy.)
5. Don't obsess about life's pitfalls. (If life is a game of Snakes and Ladders [I grew up in the UK] then don't focus so much on the dangers that you miss all the opportunities.)
6. If other people want to be Practical that's their problem. (Most people can't see the forest for the trees. So what if we can't always see the trees. Who cares about the trees. We are Big Picture people.)

I thought maybe some people would find this interesting/helpfull...

[jimkopelli]

7. Don't worry, Darwin will get to the stupid ones eventually.
8. It could be worse.

[Chill]

My mantra was always:
I will not fear
Fear is the mindkiller,
Fear is the little death
That brings total Oblivion
I will permit my fear to pass
Over me and through me
And where it has gone
I will turn the inner eye
Nothing will be there
Only I will remain.

:D:D:D

[Zero Angel]

To add to the list, my mantras are these:

- Be yourself. Trying to be someone else, people will never know who you really are and you can miss opportunities of meeting someone who actually wants to understand you.
- If people dont like you, then thats their problem.

[SheepDog]

To add to the list, my mantras are these:

- Be yourself. Trying to be someone else, people will never know who you really are and you can miss opportunities of meeting someone who actually wants to understand you.
- If people dont like you, then thats their problem.
Good advice, but it requires patience.

[HeyBooU]

-Stay in control of yourself. Don't let your emotions get the best of you.

[SheepDog]

-Stay in control of yourself. Don't let your emotions get the best of you.
Or your ego.

[Strephonade]

Jump into a pile of packing peanuts whenever necessary.

It's remarkably therapeutic.

[Edmond Zedo]

"I'm a man who's sick
But I've got class
'Cause you only get respect when you're
Kickin' ass."

I believe that was written by an ENTP though. (Sascha Konietzko, KMFDM)

[indie]

- When faced with an annoying SJ, it's best to just pretend you didn't hear.
- When faced with an annoying ES, it's best to just smile and nod.
- Buy a cell phone. Not to use, but to have an excuse to extract yourself from awkward social situations.

[Zero Angel]

Good advice, but it requires patience. Thanks, but quick fixes are almost never effective. Just as running from a bully is the fastest short-term solution, it does not make you immune from future bullying. Developing a personal skill requires practice, fearlessness and patience most of all. Mantras are useful in that the thought presented can continuously occupy a portion of your conscious and subconscious thoughts, until they are fully integrated into your natural thought processes and thus, your actions.

[Lucas]

*When you understand, things are as they are. When you don't understand, things are as they are.

*What difference will this make a year from now? in 10 years?

*Just do it (quit thinking and go into action)

[Sackanaka]

My senior quote went something like:
"Play,laf,sing,cry,
live,lern,love,die."
It was abbreviated cuz of the length limitations. :/
Another one from Futurama,
"When you've done something right, people won't be sure you've done anything at all." -Binary God

[jimkopelli]

- Buy a cell phone. Not to use, but to have an excuse to extract yourself from awkward social situations.

This also works for some classes... Act like you have a call and pull a slow fade :whistle:... also losing people at movies... not that I've ever needed it for such, but if I do, it'll be bye bye blind date... too bad you weren't driving... :devil: ;P

[cloakable]

My mantra was always:
I will not fear
Fear is the mindkiller,
Fear is the little death
That brings total Oblivion
I will permit my fear to pass
Over me and through me
And where it has gone
I will turn the inner eye
Nothing will be there
Only I will remain.

OMG! The Litany Against Fear!
A Dune fan, are you?

And yeah, good pionts in this thread. I don't have any mantras that are not already in this thread.

[mgb]

This also works for some classes... Act like you have a call and pull a slow fade :whistle:... also losing people at movies... not that I've ever needed it for such, but if I do, it'll be bye bye blind date... too bad you weren't driving... :devil: ;P

Ouch that is harsh...but funny.

[Dman]

1. Always keep your sense of Humor. (Self explanatory, but important for INTP as this is one of our best qualities, and can keep us from going crazy.)
2. Don't try to be an Extrovert. (People don't like people who try to hard, or people who pretend to be things they are not. This is more important in E biased cultures.)
3. Memento Mori. (Latin for "remember you will die." INTP types should say this to themselves when they wake up in the morning so they don't sit around all day thinking.)
4. Don't expect other people to be Logical. (Maybe NT types can all communicate with each other, but with other types this expectation is a waste of time and energy.)
5. Don't obsess about life's pitfalls. (If life is a game of Snakes and Ladders [I grew up in the UK] then don't focus so much on the dangers that you miss all the opportunities.)
6. If other people want to be Practical that's their problem. (Most people can't see the forest for the trees. So what if we can't always see the trees. Who cares about the trees. We are Big Picture people.)

I thought maybe some people would find this interesting/helpfull...

I seem to deal with #4 the most. I have only 1 other INTP in my life (my Dad) who, unfortunately, I seldom talk to these days. There was only 1 other INTP in my class of 35 students (the class which gave us the MBTI test) and that was the professor.

#2, on the other hand, I think may need some exception. I think we can practice or try to be extroverts in some situations - as long as we don't forget who we are. Sometimes it can be a very interesting experience (good analytical material!). The trouble is when you try to be an extrovert all the time, or continue to act extroverted beyond your abilities. It's tricky ground, but I don't believe it should be completely shunned.

[SheepDog]

Also re #2, back when I thought I was supposed to be more Extraverted, I had a couple people tell me that it seemed 'forced'. Fortunately, Introversion is not forced. :)

[tragula]

I agree with the two above posts, that the key is not "forcing" it. Trying to be more outgoing could definitely be a good thing within certain limits.

I really like Lucas' *What difference will this make a year from now? in 10 years?

As for the suggested "7. Don't worry, Darwin will get to the stupid ones eventually." I wish that were true. It may make us feel better but it's just wishful thinking. For starters it's clear that our big brains are causing a lot of destruction on the planet. And it's also clear that society seems to reward a "herd mentality" more than it rewards independant thought. Sigh.

[antireconciler]

4. Don't expect other people to be Logical. (Maybe NT types can all communicate with each other, but with other types this expectation is a waste of time and energy.)

When I think other people are acting illogically, I usually find later that they actually were acting logically and it was me that just wasn't seeing the big picture and the motivation behind that person's actions.

Perhaps ... 4. It's nothing personal.

... but then, that sounds like 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6. It all unites, yet when we actually need some positive thinking to help us out, we need to listen to the same thing reworded as many times as we can get because most perspectives of the same thing mean nothing. Isn't that strange?

[Avengardh]

Just do it.

omg, I just looked up, anti, welcome back.

[antireconciler]

anti, welcome back

(^_^)/

It's good to hear from you! I don't get to be an INTP anymore, but it's still fun to play on thier board. *eg*

[indie]

4. Don't expect other people to be Logical. (Maybe NT types can all communicate with each other, but with other types this expectation is a waste of time and energy.)

Grr. . .I am having a major problem with this one right now. Add to the list, "Don't expect other people to be non-judgemental" . . . or "Dear God, thank you for not making me a close-minded jerk!"

[Arioch]

Don't stab them in the face (without a solid alibi)

[PonderBee]

It is what it is.

[songbird36]

Just do it.

omg, I just looked up, anti, welcome back.

This is an ideal mantra for an INTP. It should be recited 20 times every morning first thing!

[garak]

" I try and tell myself [stress] doesn't matter. Nothing matters . . . you do shows, you do this, you do that and then you have earthquakes in India where 400,000 people get killed. Honestly, it doesn't matter. That's how I handle stress." -- Donald Trump

"The strong do what they have the power to do and the weak accept what they have to accept." -- Thucydides

"As a man, you have to die once in order to live."

also, the two rules of life:
1. don't sweat the small stuff
2. everything is small stuff

And my sig.

[Architectonic]

This is an ideal mantra for an INTP. It should be recited 20 times every morning first thing!

As if its ever going to actually happen though....

[songbird36]

Don't expect other people to be Logical. (Maybe NT types can all communicate with each other, but with other types this expectation is a waste of time and energy.)
.

It seems to be a very popular and widely perpetuated misconception on this site that other types (especially the SF or NF types) are not, or are not capable of being, logical. If you read the theory behind the MBTI it quickly becomes apparent that this is complete nonsense.

SF and NF types are capable of being just as logical as NT types, it is just that they let feelings and human relationships influence decision-making more often than do NTs.

I have found the NFs on this site just as capable (if not more) of holding a logical and rational debate than the INTPs. And because they are generally more comfortable with their emotions they do not let ego get in the way of a rational debate nearly as often.

[Eileen]

INTPs use logic first, okay. I can accept that an INTP might feel more comfortable using logic than I do. However, I think that it's really very easy for an INTP to look at me, an INFJ, know that I'm a feeler--and if he's more knowledgable, know that my first used process is Introverted Intuition--and say, "she's saying something that I don't agree with and/or don't understand. CLEARLY, she is being utterly illogical." I think this is a type of laziness, not to mention arrogance and prejudice.

[garak]

It's definitely easy to use MBTI to assist in being narrow-minded. Double edged sword. :)

[Ascending]

Thats such an F thing to say.

Paraphrasing EZ. :)

Chill - I'm definatly a fan of that quote. When Dune will make it down my reading list line, I don't know.