MYERS-BRIGGS PERSONALITY TYPE

Stress and the Fourth Function

       Dr. Naomi Quenk is our national expert on the Inferior or fourth function. She has coined the term "in the grip of the fourth function" to point out the difference between consciously and purposefully using your fourth function, and its undesired eruption into consciousness when we are over-stressed. The "grip" can also come out when we have overused our dominant and auxiliary functions to the point of exhaustion. In her words, "You can get a good idea of what your inferior looks like by reading the description of your opposite type. However, in the grip of your inferior, you don't become a mature, well-functioning opposite type. You turn into a rather sorry example of your opposite type." She describes "the grip" as, "overreaction, a single-minded focus, a high level of emotion, and a readiness to generalize and expand single incidents into global or eternal 'truths'." In other words, during times of great stress, we turn into someone else entirely, often a person of whom we're not particularly proud.

       What are you like when you are physically ill, fearful, hungry, angry, lonely or tired? Have your friends ever said, "That was so unlike you!" after seeing you on a particularly stressful day? It usually means you became "seasick" during rough seas, and your fourth function came up on deck to push aside the Captain and take over the ship.

Using the Fourth Function for Stress Management

       Most people feel more joyful when they successfully manage their stress. Doing the activities in Ice Cream for the Soul will help manage stress, and bring more joy into your life, even if you don't use these type specific suggestions. However, by doing these activities in a way that lets you use your fourth function in a meditative state, you can give your ship a heavier ballast, and help you become more resilient to the effects of stress. Next time a wave of stress comes along, you won't toss and turn on the waves so much. You will also decrease the probability of becoming emotionally seasick.

       Let me share some stories to help illustrate this principle. Recently, I was ordering from a catalogue 800 number. Of course, I mentioned type since I am an ENFP and this is my passion. She knew her type (INFJ), and asked what sort of things she could do to feed her inferior function (extroverted Sensing).

       I suggested she do something that involved people and her environment, objectively attending to details, such as people-watching or portrait photography of strangers.

       She laughed, and told me I'd just solved a riddle for her. Over the Christmas holidays, she'd been stressed out with all her relatives in from town. Her daughter needed to make one last minute shopping trip, and even though she was dreading it, she took her daughter to the shopping mall. While her daughter shopped, she sat on a crowded bench, and watched all the people rushing around, took in all the Christmas decorations, flashing lights, and noisy toys in a rather detached and objective way.

       She became very relaxed as she waited for her daughter, and she was very puzzled about how she could find such a strong sense of peace and renewal while out in the hustle and bustle of the busy world since she is an Introvert. This is because she was feeding her fourth function by using extroverted Sensing with the help of her third function, Thinking.

Another Example

       On a more personal note, I found myself in the grip of my introverted Sensing when my sister was dying of cancer. I obsessively called eight or nine stores, looking for a pair of black running tights, that had both a blue and a red stripe down the outside leg, in a specific price range. On the other hand, when a fellow ENFP friend learned her brother had just died unexpectedly of heart disease, she glued herself in front of her computer and repeatedly played computer solitaire until she felt grounded.

       Think about solitaire for a minute. Red queen on black king, which black seven to move onto the red eight? Sensing done objectively and in a meditative state. While I was driving my self and my office mate nuts while in the grip of my introverted Sensing, Janet was feeding her fourth function, and becoming more emotionally balanced, and therefore more able to productively cope with her situation.

Using the Fourth Intentionally Versus Meditatively

       Using the fourth function purposefully and consciously, with the intention of developing it doesn't seem to work as well for stress management as using it meditatively.

       This may be explained by the fact that the fourth function's natural place is the unconscious. For example, I used to take ice dancing classes, an activity that requires mental concentration and internal focus on details. Am I on my inner or outer edge? Are my arms at shoulder height and straight? Is my head up? Are my hips tucked under, and my knees bent? Am I pushing off from the ball or my foot or my toe point? I was pleasantly exhausted and happy, but I didn't feel particularly relaxed after an hour of ice dancing class.

       On the other hand, I feel joyful, relaxed, and my enthusiastic ENFP self again after jumping into a hot shower with lavender bath soap and textured scrubby gloves. I keep my attention on the feel of the water, the smell of the soap -- not on what caused me to hop into the shower -- and I walk out of the bathroom with a smile on my face, thinking, "Oh well, there' s always tomorrow...."

       If you already know how to use your fourth function in a meditative manner, try out the Amusement Park activity from Ice Cream for the Soul.

       If not, please go to the next page for specific instructions on Feeding your Fourth Function

 

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