Introvert's Closet

2019-01-12T16:10:00.001-05:00

The Life-Changing Power of Setting Healthy Boundaries

2019-01-12T00:13:00.002-05:00

2019-01-12T00:11:00.000-05:00

Awesome Video About Introverts!

2019-01-12T00:02:00.001-05:00

Time Magazine's Take On Introverts

2019-01-11T23:57:00.002-05:00

Time Magazine's Take On Introverts

Peaceful, Introverted Winter Evening..

2019-01-11T23:49:00.001-05:00

2017-04-29T15:24:00.001-04:00

Check out Brenda Knowles awesome blog for highly sensitive introverts!

2017-02-10T14:45:00.001-05:00

Introvert Myths

2017-02-10T14:44:00.003-05:00

6 Myths About Introverts To Stop Believing

07/29/2013 08:07 am ET | Updated Sep 01, 2015

Carolyn Gregoire Senior Writer, The Huffington Post

If common stereotypes have anything to say on the matter, it’s that introverts are socially awkward loners who abhor large crowds and don’t like people very much. An introvert may not be a particularly friendly or happy person, but hey, at least they’re smarter and more creative than the average extrovert.

Photo credit: KIEFERPIX via Getty Images

Despite comprising an estimated one-third of the general population, introversion may be one of the most frequently misunderstood personality traits. But the silent revolution of introverts — catapulted into the spotlight largely by the work of Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking — is shedding light on the experience of introverts living in a culture that tends to value extroverted qualities like assertiveness and outspokenness over solitude and quiet contemplation.

Much of the problem stems from the lack of a simple distinction between introversion and extroversion — the difference is far more complex than being shy versus outgoing, according to Sophia Dembling, author of The Introvert’s Way: Living a Quiet Life in a Noisy World. The introversion/extroversion distinction has its roots in Jungian psychology, which views extroverts as being more naturally oriented towards the outside world, and introverts more focused on their own inner world.

“The description that introverts seem to relate most strongly to is the idea that Jung presented, that introverts are drained of energy by interaction, and gain energy in solitude and quiet, whereas extroverts gain energy in social situations with interaction,” Dembling tells The Huffington Post. “It seems to be most strongly an energy thing –- where you get your energy and what takes it out of you.”

If you’re an introvert, you might be used to feeling misunderstood (many introvert children are criticized for not speaking up at school, and grow up being told to “come out of their shells”) and having your actions (or inaction) misinterpreted. And if you’re an extrovert, there’s a good chance that you have a least a few misconceptions about those mysterious quiet types in your life. Scroll through the list below for six of the most common false assumptions about introverts — and why they’re wrong.

1. All introverts are shy — and all shy people are introverts.

Shyness is so often confused with introversion that the two words are frequently used interchangeably — but in fact, they’re remarkably different traits. As Susan Cain pointed out in a Psychology Today blog, Bill Gates is introverted but not shy: He’s quiet and bookish, but isn’t bothered by what other people think of him.

Whereas introversion, as Dembling explains, is commonly defined as recharging and gaining energy through alone time, shyness has more to do with discomfort and anxiety in situations involving social interaction. Many introverts aren’t shy; they may feel confident and at ease around people, but simply require more alone time to balance out the energy they expend in social situations. Similarly, an extrovert may seek the company of others but feel insecure or uncomfortable in groups.

“The number-one misconception about introversion is that it’s about shyness,” says Dembling. “The best distinction I’ve heard comes from a neuroscientist who studies shyness. He said, ‘Shyness is a behavior -– it’s being fearful in a social situation. Whereas introversion is a motivation. It’s how much you want and need to be in those interactions.’”

2. Introverts don’t like to be around people.

Although introverts do generally need — and enjoy — more solitude than their extroverted counterparts, the idea that introverts are antisocial or don’t want the company of others is completely false. They just tend to enjoy social interaction in a different way than extroverts do.

“There are a lot of negative labels placed on introverts — socially anxious, don’t like people, judgmental (because we sit quietly),” says Dembling. “Introverts may prefer one-on-one interaction ... we might enjoy large parties but want to sit and watch the action from the sidelines. Extroverts may interpret this as not wanting to have fun, but this observation is fun for an introvert.”

Introversion shouldn’t be confused with misanthropy — introverts do like people, but they typically favor quality over quantity in their relationships, choosing to focus on creating a smaller circle of close friends rather than a large network of acquaintances.

“I like to say that we may like people more than extroverts because we take the time to get to know them ... It’s just a completely different style,” says Dembling.

3. Introverts don’t make good leaders or public speakers.

Many introverts enjoy and excel in roles that involve leading others, speaking publicly, and being in the spotlight. Bill Gates, Abraham Lincoln, Gandhi and countless other leaders through history have been classified as introverts. These leaders may also foster a better team environment, as research has shown they might work better in groups than extroverts do. And according to USA Today, roughly four in 10 top executives test as introverts.

Research has found that individuals of both personality types can be well-suited to leadership and sales roles.

“The good news ... is that in some sense we are all born to sell and equipped to lead,” writes author Daniel Pink in a Washington Post blog. “And that means a hidden but urgent challenge for organizations of every kind is to shatter the stereotype of who’s an effective leader.”

And when it comes to public speaking, introverts aren’t the shrinking violets they’re often thought to be, and they might actually have the upper hand over extroverts. Because introverts focus on preparing projects and thinking things through thoroughly before acting, they can be excellent speakers, says Dembling. Susan Cain’s charismatically delivered TED talk on the power of introverts, for instance, was one of the fastest TED videos ever to reach one million views — and it’s just one of countless examples.

4. Introverts have more negative personalities.

Because they actually like being alone, introverts are sometimes stereotyped as having more depressive or negative-slanting personalities. This misconception likely stems from the fact that extroverts — who gain their energy from social interaction — might feel sad when they don’t spend enough time with people, Dembling says.

“When extroverts are in an introverted place for too long, spending time alone or being quiet, they can report feeling sad and depressed,” says Dembling. “Because they feel sad when they’re alone, maybe they therefore think we feel sad when we’ve been alone. That misconception is coming from a genuine concern, but it’s more putting their feelings on us.”

Most introverts don’t connect solitude with loneliness, unless it becomes excessive. That being said, although introverts do not innately have more depressive personalities, they do tend to spend more time thinking and analyzing — and if this turns to ruminating, it could potentially lead to depression.

“There’s a definite link between rumination and depression,” says Dembling. “Because introverts do like thinking and being alone, we need to keep ourselves in check.”

5. Introverts are more intellectual or creative than extroverts.

Many of the most celebrated artists and thinkers throughout history — including Albert Einstein, Marcel Proust and Charles Darwin — were thought to be quiet types. Introverts are sometimes touted as being “more intelligent, more reflective, more independent, more level-headed, more refined, and more sensitive,” as Jonathan Rauch writes in an Atlantic article, “Caring For Your Introvert.” But before any quiet types climb atop an intellectual high horse, it’s important to note being an introvert doesn’t innately make you a loftier, or more innovative, thinker. Extroverts are, of course, often incredibly intelligent and creative; there’s just a good chance that their best ideas happen while they’re in a more reflective, or introverted, mindset.

“Creativity occurs in an introverted space … but that doesn’t mean we’ve cornered the market on it,” says Dembling. “Without both introverts and extroverts, things wouldn’t get done. We’ve got one person thinking it through and one person going out and slaying the dragon.”

6. It’s easy to tell whether someone is introverted or extroverted.

Many introverts could easily go out to a cocktail party and talk up everyone in the room — and they may enjoy themselves doing it. But at the end of the day, they’ll look forward to restoring their energy by coming home and reading in bed with a cup of tea. Given our culture’s bias towards extroverted personality traits, many introverts have become accustomed to being the wolf in sheep’s clothing — behaving like an extrovert in social situations, and perhaps acting more outspoken and gregarious than they feel on the inside. Or they may enjoy the social interaction and attention, but later crave time alone to recover.

“Most introverts are very good at behaving like extroverts,” says Dembling. “A lot of us are out there behaving as extroverts ... but then we have to shut it down. I call it my ‘dog and pony show.’ But then you have to be quiet and regain your energy for the next time. The long I’m out there putting on the show, the longer I need to recuperate.”

“Introverts really do like people and we like socializing,” Dembling says. “We just like it in different ways than extroverts.”

2017-02-10T14:33:00.001-05:00

Introvert Truth!

2016-09-09T15:22:00.002-04:00

2016-09-09T15:21:00.001-04:00

2016-09-09T15:16:00.002-04:00

Human faces may hold more meaning for socially outgoing individuals than for their more introverted counterparts, a new study suggests.

The results show the brains of extroverts pay more attention to human faces than do introverts. In fact, introverts' brains didn't seem to distinguish between inanimate objects and human faces.

The findings might partly explain why extroverts are more motivated to seek the company of others than are introverts, or why a particularly shy person might rather hang out with a good book than a group of friends.

The study also adds weight to idea that underlying neural differences in people's brains contribute to their personality.

"This is just one more piece of evidence to support the assertion that personality is not merely a psychology concept," said study researcher Inna Fishman, of the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences in La Jolla, Calif. "There's some broader foundation for the behavior that you see … implicating that there are neural bases for different personality types."

Personality in the brain

There are many ways to describe someone's character — from talkative to anxious to hardworking and organized. Psychologists have found that many traits often go together and have grouped these traits into five overarching categories — extroversion, neuroticism, agreeableness, conscientiousness and openness/intellect.

Extroversion deals with the way people interact with others. Extroverts like to be around other people and generally enjoy social situations while introverts are the opposite. Previous studies have shown that people who are extroverted also tend to be more assertive, experience more positive feelings and get more out of rewards in general.

However, no one had looked to see whether extroverts are more sensitive to stimuli specifically related to social situations, such as faces.

To find out, Fishman and her colleagues recruited 28 participants ages 18 to 40 that ranged in personality from introverted to somewhat extroverted to very extroverted. Electrodes placed on the subjects' scalps recorded the electrical activity in their brains, a technique known as electroencephalography, or EEG.

The researchers studied a particular change in the brain's electrical activity known as P300. The change, which shows up as a deflection on a person's EEG, can be elicited by certain tasks or by a change in the environment, such as when the room is very quiet and you all of a sudden hear a loud nose. The brains' reaction occurs within 300 milliseconds, before the person is aware of the change.

To evoke P300, Fishman used a method known as the "oddball task" in which subjects see a series of very similar images, such as a bunch of blue cars, and then all of a sudden, a slightly different image appears, such as a red car.

In the current experiment, subjects saw a series of male faces and every so often a female face appeared. They were also shown pictures of purple flowers interspersed with pictures of yellow ones.

Faces or flowers?

The higher subjects had scored on a test for extroversion, the greater their P300 response was to human faces. In other words, extroverts pay more attention to human faces (P300 can be seen as an indicator of human attention, or how fast their brains' noticed that something has changed.)

There was no link between scores on extroversion and the P300 response to flowers.

Introverts had very similar P300 responses to both human faces and to flowers.

"They just didn’t place a larger weight on social stimuli than they did on any other stimuli, of which flowers are one example," Fishman said.

"[This] supports the claim that introverts, or their brains, might be indifferent to people — they can take them or leave them, so to speak. The introvert's brain treats interactions with people the same way it treats encounters with other, non-human information, such as inanimate objects for example," Fishman told LiveScience.

The results strongly suggest that human faces, or people in general, hold more significance for extroverts, or are more meaningful for them, Fishman said.

The study was presented in a poster session on Friday at the 118th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association.

Author Bio

Rachael Rettner, Senior Writer: Rachael has been with Live Science since 2010. She has a masters degree in journalism from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in molecular biology and a Master of Science in biology from the University of California, San Diego.

2016-09-09T15:14:00.001-04:00

Very Informative Article Regarding The Brain Differences Of Introverts And Extroverts..

2016-06-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

http://www.medicaldaily.com/brain-introvert-compared-extrovert-are-they-really-different-299064

Happy Thanksgiving To My Fellow Innies!!

2015-11-25T16:27:00.002-05:00

2015-11-25T16:25:00.001-05:00

2015-11-25T16:23:00.001-05:00

Top 100 Introvert Quotes Courtesy Of Michaela Chung

2015-11-25T16:22:00.000-05:00

After hours of searching and compiling, here it is: the most comprehensive list of introvert quotes in the universe! Find famous introvert quotes, quotes about being alone, solitude quotes, and other inspiring introvert quotes all right here for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!

“I am rarely bored alone; I am often bored in groups and crowds.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“I have to be alone very often. I’d be quite happy if I spent from Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I refuel.” ~ Audrey Hepburn
“You see things. You keep quiet about them and you understand. “ ~ The Perks of Being a Wallflower
“I’m very picky with whom I give my energy to. I prefer to reserve my time, intensity and spirit exclusively to those who reflect sincerity.” ~ Dau Voire
“There is a tremendous difference between alone and lonely. You could be lonely in a group of people. I like being alone. I like eating by myself. I go home at night and just watch a movie or hang out with my dog. I have to exert myself and really say, oh God, I’ve got to see my friends because I’m too content by myself.” ~ Drew Barrymore
“Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing.” ~ William S. Boroughs
“I think a lot, but I don’t say much.” Anne Frank
“People empty me. I have to get away to refill.” ~ C. Bukowski
“Quiet people have the loudest minds.” Stephen Hawking
“In order to be open to creativity, one must have the capacity for constructive use of solitude. One must overcome the fear of being alone.” ~ Rollo May
“Don’t underestimate me because I’m quiet. I know more than I say, think more than I speak and observe more than you know.” ~ Michaela Chung
“What if you love knowledge for its own sake, not necessarily as a blueprint to action? What if you wish there were more, not fewer reflective types in the world.” ~Susan Cain
“Please kindly go away, I’m introverting.” ~ Beth Buelow, The Introvert Entrepreneur
“Everyone shines, given the right lighting.” ~Susan Cain
“A good rule of thumb is that any environment that consistently leaves you feeling bad about who you are is the wrong environment.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“Introverts crave meaning so party chitchat feels like sandpaper to our psyche.” ~ Diane Cameron
“I am a minimalist. I like saying the most with the least.” ~Bob Newhart
“Let’s clear one thing up: Introverts do not hate small talk because we dislike people. We hate small talk because we hate the barrier it creates between people.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“Originality thrives in seclusion free of outside influences beating upon us to cripple the creative mind. Be alone—that is the secret of invention: be alone, that is when ideas are born.”~ Nikola Tesla
“The highest form of love is to be the protector of another person’s solitude.” Rainer Maria Rilke
“When you’re an introvert like me and you’ve been lonely for a while, and then you find someone who understands you, you become really attached to them. It’s a real release.” Lana Del Rey
“Stay true to your own nature. If you like to do things in a slow and steady way, don’t let others make you feel as if you have to race. If you enjoy depth, don’t force yourself to seek breadth.” ~ Susan Cain
“Introvert conversations are like jazz. Each player gets to solo for a nice stretch before the other player comes in and does his solo.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“Introverts are word economists in a society suffering from verbal diarrhea.” ~ Michaela Chung
“I want to be alone… with someone else who wants to be alone.” – Dimitri Zaik.
“Our culture made a virtue of living only as extroverts. We discouraged the inner journey, the quest for a center. So we lost our center and have to find it again.” ~Anais Nin
“Silence is beautiful, not awkward. The human tendency to be afraid of something beautiful is awkward.” ~Elliot Kay
“After an hour or two of being socially on, we introverts need to turn off and recharge … This isn’t antisocial. It isn’t a sign of depression.” Jonathan Rauch
“Your solitude will be a support and a home for you, even in the midst of very unfamiliar circumstances, and from it you will find all your paths.” ~ Rainer Maria Rilke
“There’s zero correlation between being the best talker and having the best ideas.” ~Susan Cain
“I talked to a calzone for fifteen minutes last night before I realized it was just an introverted pizza. I wish all my acquaintances were so tasty. ” ~ Jarod Kintz
“The secret to life is to put yourself in the right lighting. For some it’s a Broadway spotlight, for others, a lamplit desk.” ~ Susan Cain
“As a child I suppose I was not quite normal. My happiest times were when I was left alone in the house on a Saturday.” ~ Charles Bukowski
“In terms of, like, instant relief, canceling plans is like heroin.” ~John Mulaney
“Blessed are those who do not fear solitude, who are not afraid of their own company, who are not always desperately looking for something to do, something to amuse themselves with, something to judge.” ~ Paulo Coelho
“I was just confused about why I was feeling overwhelmed all the time and trying to adjust to having people work for me. Surprisingly, I think if you’re known on the Internet, you’re probably an introvert.” ~ Felicia Day
“’Come out of your shell’ – that noxious expression which fails to appreciate that some animals naturally carry shelter everywhere they go and some humans are just the same.” ~ Susan Cain
“I don’t have time for superficial friends, I suppose if you’re really lonely you can call a superficial friend, but otherwise, what’s the point? ~ Courtney Cox
“I owe everything that I have done to the fact that I am very much at ease being alone.” ~ Marilynne Robinson
“[Introverts] listen more than they talk, think before they speak, and often feel as if they express themselves better in writing than in conversation. They tend to dislike conflict. Many have a horror for small talk, but enjoy deep discussions.” ~ Susan Cain
“My imagination functions much better when I don’t have to speak to people.” ~ Patricia Highsmith
“For introverts, to be alone with our thoughts is as restorative as sleeping, as nourishing as eating.” ~ Jonathan Rauch
“Beware of those who seek constant crowds; they are nothing alone.” ~Charles Bukowski
“I’m self-sufficient. I spend a lot of time on my own and I shut off quite easily. When I communicate, I communicate 900 per cent; then I shut off, which scares people sometimes.” ~ bjork
“Loneliness is failed solitude.” Sherry Turkle
A happy life must be to a great extent a quiet life, for it is only in an atmosphere of quiet that true joy dare live. ~ Bertrand Russell
“Whatever kind of introvert you are, some people will find you ‘too much’ in some ways and ‘not enough’ in others.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“A wise man once said nothing.” ~ Proverb
“Don’t think of introversion as something that needs to be cured…Spend your free time the way you like, not the way you think you’re supposed to.”~ Susan Cain
“In an extroverted society, the difference between an introvert and an extrovert is that an introvert is often unconsciously deemed guilty until proven innocent.” ~ Criss Jami
“When I am alone I can become invisible. I can sit on the top of a dune as motionless as an uprise of weeds, until the foxes run by unconcerned. I can hear the almost unhearable sound of the roses singing.” ~ Mary Oliver
“Most people in politics draw energy from backslapping and shaking hands and all that. I draw energy from discussing ideas.” ~ Al Gore
“Solitude matters and for some people it’s the air they breathe.” ~ Susan Cain
“I don’t believe anything really revolutionary has ever been invented by committee… I’m going to give you some advice that might be hard to take. That advice is: Work alone… Not on a committee. Not on a team.” ~ Steve Wozniak
Wise men, when in doubt whether to speak or to keep quiet, give themselves the benefit of the doubt, and remain silent. ~ Napoleon Hill
“Solitude has its own very strange beauty to it.” ~ Liv Tyler
“I was never less alone than when by myself.” ~ Edward Gibbon
“You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait, be quiet, still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet. ~ Franz Kafka
“Wise men speak because they have something to say; Fools because they have to say something.” ~ Plato
“As an introvert, you can be your own best friend or your worst enemy. The good news is we generally like our own company, a quality that extroverts often envy. We find comfort in solitude and know how to soothe ourselves.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“Introverts dislike small talk, but we are fluent in the language of ideas and dreams.” ~ Michaela Chung
“You may think I’m small, but I have a universe inside my mind.” ~Yoko Ono
“Love is essential, gregariousness is optional.” ~ Susan Cain
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes” C.G. Jung
“Better to keep quiet and let people think you’re an idiot than speak up and confirm it.” ~ Rodney Dangerfield
“I restore myself when I’m alone.” Marilyn Monroe
“People say things to me like, ‘It’s really cool that you don’t go out and get drunk all the time and go to clubs.’ I appreciate that, but I’m kind of an introverted kind of person just by nature.” ~ Emma Watson
“I think I’m a weird combination of deeply introverted and very daring. I can feel both those things working.” ~ Helen Hunt
“E-mail is far more convenient than the telephone. As far as I’m concerned, I would throw my phone away if I could get away with it.” ~ Tom Hanks
“I really like to stay in my nest and not move. I travel in my mind, and that’s a rigorous state of journeying for me. My body isn’t that interested in moving from place to place.” ~ Bell Hooks
“I would rather sit on a pumpkin and have it all to myself, than be crowded on a velvet cushion.” ~ Henry David Thoreau
“Introverts, in contrast, may have strong social skills and enjoy parties and business meetings, but after a while wish they were home in their pajamas. They prefer to devote their social energies to close friends, colleagues, and family.” ~ Susan Cain
“I don’t hate people, I just feel better when they aren’t around.” ~Charles Bukowski
“Introverts are capable of acting like extroverts for the sake of work they consider important, people they love, or anything they value highly.” ~ Susan Cain
“I don’t want to be alone. I want to be left alone.” ~ Audrey Hepburn
“My alone feels so good, I’ll only have you if you’re sweeter than my solitude.” Warsan Shire
“Sometimes quiet people really do have a lot to say … they’re just being careful about who they open up to.” Susan Gale
“A bore is someone who deprives you of solitude without providing you with company.” ~ Oscar Wilde
“I prefer tongue-tied knowledge to ignorant loquacity.” ~ Margaret Donnano
“Alone had always felt like an actual place to me, as if it weren’t a state of being, but rather a room where I could retreat to be who I really was.” ~ Cheryl Strayed
“You only know part of me. I am a universe full of secrets.” ~ Lupytha Hermin
“An introvert may feel asocial when pressured to go to a party that doesn’t interest her. But for her, the event does not promise meaningful interaction. In fact, she knows that the party will leave her feeling more alone and alienated.” ~ Laurie Helgoe
“Living is like tearing through a museum. Not until later do you really start absorbing what you saw, thinking about it, looking it up in a book, and remembering – because you can’t take it in all at once.” ~Audrey Hepburn
“Kindly remove yourself from my personal space. Thanks.” ~ Gemma Correll
“People are always so boring when they band together. You have to be alone to develop all the idiosyncrasies that make a person interesting.” ~ Andy Warhol
“Most inventors and engineers I’ve met are like me. They’re shy and they live in their heads. The very best of them are artists. And artists work best alone…” ~ Steve Wozniak
“Never fail to know that if you are doing all the talking you are boring somebody.” ~Helen Gurley Brown
“Sometimes I just shut down and don’t talk to anyone for days. It’s nothing personal.” ~ Sonya Teclai
“Deep inside, she knew who she was, and that person was smart and kind and often even funny, but somehow her personality always got lost somewhere between her heart and her mouth, and she found herself saying the wrong thing or, more often, nothing at all.” ~ Julia Quinn
“I am lonely, yet not everybody will do. I don’t know why, some people fill the gaps but other people emphasize my loneliness.” ~ Anais Nin
“Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.” ~ Anne Lamott
“The more powerful and original a mind, the more it will incline towards the religion of solitude.” ~ Aldous Huxley
“I’m indecisive because I see eight sides to everything.” ~ April Kepne
“Study me as much as you like, you will never know me. For I differ a hundred ways from what you see me to be.” ~ Rumi
Loneliness is the poverty of self; solitude is the richness of self. ~ Mary Sarton
“What a commentary on our civilization, when being alone is considered suspect; when one has to apologize for it, make excuses, hide the fact that one practices it like a secret vice!” Anne Morrow Lindbergh
“People inspire you, or they drain you — pick them wisely.” ~ Hans F. Hansen
“How much better is silence; the coffee cup, the table. How much better to sit by myself like the solitary sea-bird that opens its wings on the stake. Let me sit here forever with bare things, this coffee cup, this knife, this fork, things in themselves, myself being myself.” ~ Virginia Wolf, The Waves
“Every time we stomp down our introverted nature, we crush part of our soul in the process.” ~ Michaela Chung
“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” – Mahatma Gandhi