mind filter and calmness

[deicruxified]

4am i went for my usual daily jog. as minutes passed by, i got to enjoy the park and zoned out then i accidentanlly landed my right foot on a loose rock and tripped off but i instinctively rolled (thanks to 6 years of aikido). my roll was not perfect so i still felt the impact on my left shoulder but then had i not rolled i could've broken an arm. things happened really fast i just found my self sitting on the ground and "talking" to my myself, "are you ok?" "are you feeling pain in any part of your body?". later, i felt the pain in my left shoulder which i think was dislocated but not as severe as the 2-inched one i had way back '05. so i tried snapping it back (hehehe) and the pain lessened. i asked myself again, "can you wiggle the fingers of your left hand and reach the lamp post" and i did. after my self assesment, i slowly stood up and jogged just to finish the last round of my jog.

then there was an instance before when a friend of mine made me angry. there were thoughts running in my mind but then i was naturally filtering whatever words i will be saying (because i met him later). from "you stupid asshole what the fuck have you done", when he came i just asked the reason why he made that mistake and ended up saying, "ok, just don't do it again next time."

last december, when we had our hiking trip, there was a hard rainfall at the peak and the place was flooded and one of our mates showed early signs of hypothermia (out of stupidity, he took off all his clothes except for his boxers and frolicked at the peak but then he couldn't get his clothes as it might get wet in the rain anyway). we were stranded for almost 3 hours there (our guide left us...) and we don't have an lidea when the rain will stop. while almost everyone was hysterical i just said, "relax be calm", again as a result of the natural mind filtering.

these are just a few instances of my "extraordinary" calmness as what my friends would like to call it. i would just like to know if all introverts also experience the "auto-mind filter". for everyone's info, my introversion as per recent test is 100. i also have an intj friend who is extraordinarily calm. we never knew he got cramps underwater until he told us.

..probably i might be facing an incident wherein i will have a mental block and freak out... i wonder when will that be.

[mabts]

I'm exactly the same way. In fact, I tend to enjoy and thrive on intense or extreme situations because it gives me a chance to act calmly, rationally, and effectively which I find very enjoyable.

[PolecatEZ]

One of the few things I actually enjoyed about combat. The fact that I was the rock when everyone else was either panicking or acting like a bunch of 4-year-olds playing GI Joe ("Let's go shoot us some terr'ists!"). It was one of the few times I could look at myself and say "compared to these 'tards, you're actually ok."

It was balanced by the hindsight though that I really couldn't do much to stop some of the stupidity, and the shock of seeing people that I had really respected acting like a bunch of twits in a life-or-death situation.

[Zilal]

I'm exactly the same way. In fact, I tend to enjoy and thrive on intense or extreme situations because it gives me a chance to act calmly, rationally, and effectively which I find very enjoyable.

I'm frequently a lot *more* calm in dangerous situations than I am when nothing's going on. I think it has to do with the challenge for me... a lot of my better qualities don't come out until I'm in a demanding situation. I can be worrying and fretting all day, and only when the car breaks down do I pull myself out of it.

[Jgib5328]

I'm always calm in most situations, I remember one time I was in an elevator in the tube and it got stuck. Everyone was freaking out and I didn't react at all, I was as calm as usual, maybe even more calm. There are a lot of situations where this happens. It's an INTJ thing probably. I'm always 'calm, cool, and collected'. When people freak out around me, I generally always stay calm. I just think it's natural for us to be like this. However, when exam time comes up, I do feel anxiety.

[muguly]

Yeah, I also have an oddly calm demeanor in bad situations. For me, the reason is because I know there is always two ways a situation can end: good or bad. Now, the variable inbetween differ, but the end results are the same. So instead of focusing on the problem, I focus on the solution and don't freak out about what happened. It happened, I can't change it so lets move forward.

[Rick]

Interesting, and something I've observed about myself.

Preconceived behavior.

[Tenacious B]

I'm the same way. I ride a motorcycle regularly (commuting) and have sometimes found myself to be exceedingly calm in near-accident situations.

For instance I'll be riding along in my lane when someone (usually on a cell) decides that the small region of spaced occupied by my body and motorcycle would be a most excellent position for their SUV. As veer towards me I'll calmly say to myself "I should move right and accelerate". No pulse rate change, heavy breathing, or road rage. That honestly worries me sometimes since you need a little bit of fear to keep you sharp.

It is always strange to me to look back at one of these situations and wonder why I wasn't more agitated.

[deepFlow]

It's funny, I seem to pickle myself in fear and worry juices a lot of the time, about what might happen... but then when things actually do happen in some way, it's like such a relief compared to the anticipatory worrying, and I manage to deal with it appropriately.

[Tenacious B]

It's funny, I seem to pickle myself in fear and worry juices
That's a great way to put it.:laugh: I couldn't agree more, but sometimes a get a strange feeling that I have just gotten off a little too easy, like something is not right when the actual event isn't as bad as my anticipations.

[Fergie]

It's funny, I seem to pickle myself in fear and worry juices a lot of the time, about what might happen... but then when things actually do happen in some way, it's like such a relief compared to the anticipatory worrying, and I manage to deal with it appropriately.

I would agree.
I'm very calm when I need to be, but I fret about possibilites (it's that INTJ damage control thing again I think - if it can happen, anticipate it and make sure it doesn't). But once events actually happen it's not as stressful to me as other people seem to have it.

I think it's a matter of efficiency too - why waste the energy to flip out if it won't help you in a situation?

[rwyatt365]

An example?
Many years ago I had a brand-new Honda V45 Interceptor, a high-powered, racer-boy crotch-rocket from the 80's. I was on my way to a bar in a northern suburb of Detroit, from work in rush hour traffic. Of course, being an indestructable racer-boy, I was going far too fast for the circumstances (something like 70MPH), darting in and out of traffic ("damn you slow-pokes, get out of the friggin' way!") when a person decided to change lanes directly in front of me.

According to the laws of physics (at least on the macro level), no two solid objects can occupy the same place at the same time. Realizing that, I quckly and calmly grabbed a handfull of front brake and looked around for an escape route. I was just a tad too aggressive on the brakes and began to slide the front wheel - virtually instant loss of control on a two-wheeled vehicle. At that instant mind mind said two things (which I heard in my own voice, in my ears); 1) "This is going to hurt", and 2) "Go completely limp, you'll avoid injury". It did, and I did.

After I "touched down" (i.e. hit the pavement) I felt myself first tumbling, then sliding (thank goodness for helmets, leather jackets and steel-toed boots). When I determined that I had stopped sliding, I put my hands down to pick myself up - a mistake because I had NOT stopped sliding yet. I still have the marks on the palms of my hands.

Anyway, after all of the "action" had stopped. I found myself against the center divider. I began wiggling toes, fingers, arms, and legs to make sure that everything was still connected, and functioning. I looked down and saw that my left pants leg had been ripped open and so I opened it up to look on a vision of raw hamburger interspersed with black flecks (burnt skin and asphalt - boy howdy!), then I saw that my palms were in a similar condition. I wasn't horrified, or repulsed - instead I was amazed at how much like raw meat my insides really did look like (maybe that WAS shock, but I felt completely lucid and relaxed).

I even started to get up to go pick my bike up - it was on it's side and gushing gasoline from a ruptured tank, I didn't want it to catch fire and cause a bigger mess. The bystanders (yes, traffic had stopped) conviced me that this probably wasn't a good idea. By the time the ambulance came to take me to the hospital I was making jokes with the crowd and all but leaning casually on the guard-rail.

Is that INTJ calmness? I can't answer, it's just what I did.

[DeadSpace]

Been in fires, storms, car accidents (i was not driving) near car accidents (was driving) never felt panic, always become instantly calmer. All side thoughts, the babble...all focuses on what's happening, analysis it, and spits out possible solutions. Been that way since i was 7. Did find out it's unusual at the same age, nasty accident...and i was the only calm one. Paramedics, and doctors commented on it later. After running tests to make sure it wasn't just shock :\