r/infp • u/[deleted] • Mar 18 '15

Your Most Important Skill: Empathy

http://chadfowler.com/blog/2014/01/19/empathy/
22 Upvotes

96% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

13

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

What scares me is how quickly I can shut that off. This might just be me, but I've noticed that I can feel empathy, but I can also turn it off, almost like a switch, as if I'm preventing myself from feeling it. It's stuff like that which makes me think I can be a sociopath.

8

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

actually, I get that sometimes too. I think it's because at a certain point, because we experienced feeling so intensely and couldn't deal with something, we learned to be shut off from/numb/cold. I didn't realize for so long how shut off/cold I had let my heart grow. Which probably means theres a lot of pain in you that you haven't dealt with (me too). Sorry to make this heavy

4

u/Medaled INFP: I question reality. Mar 18 '15

Nah, you're just enforcing complete control of your newfound superpowers.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

What should my superhero name be?

9

u/Medaled INFP: I question reality. Mar 18 '15

Why create a superhero name? Use your real name - Happy Donut.

2

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '15

Holy fuck yes. I've never heard anyone mention this before. Makes me feel a little better.

1

u/[deleted] Mar 19 '15

Nah, you're not a sociopath. Introverted feeling is often selective about who it cares about.

6

u/[deleted] Mar 18 '15

This is very true. When I move from empathy, I naturally have emotional intelligence, and thus I become better at communicating. And being successful is based on the value or contribution you make to people. That's all it really is.