Narrative Responsibility

Feature Vs. Bug: Calculating Relational Needs With MBTI

Our psychological type - our MBTI type preferences - has a profound impact on our relational needs and capacities. That is, how we tend to want to be related to in order to feel acceptance, connection, and intimacy with other people, and what we have a lot of energy for doing with other people to meet their needs. Let's unpack the eight Jungian functions' relational needs and consider whether we're describing features or bugs in the operating systems of ourself and those around us!

Type As a Lawful Neutral Narrative

When two people look at the same situation and come to different conclusions about what ought to be done, each of them can easily read the worst into the other's perspective. And Western culture encourages a binary right/wrong mentality. Psychological type provides and alternate narrative that allows you to ask what else might be going on. It functions as a "lawful neutral" story that describes rather than judges both sides and offers principles and ordering that apply across situations.

Your Best Life

Are you living your best life? That question is a personal development mainstay. But what does it really mean - and is it really the best question to be asking yourself as a guide to living well? 

Let the Universe Be Your DM

In tabletop games, the dungeon master, or DM, sets up storylines for characters to play through in order to gain XP points, level up skills, and just, you know, enjoy experiencing. All too often we try to be the DM for our own lives. But the DM isn't a player, and we have a whole universe able and willing to act as our DM...if we can let it. What are some of the obstacles to trusting the universe to be your DM? What are some of the benefits?

Life in an Attention Economy

In an attention economy, attention equals currency. What are some of the reasons for this? What are some of the innate hazards of living in attention economy? How can content creators and information curators act ethically in a system that fundamentally rewards selling vices rather than virtues? Buckle up for a deep dive into the social philosophy you signed up for when you subscribed!

The Cast Irons of Samwise

Shadow work often creates a sense of displacement inside the self, while the egoic identify dissolves and re-forms. How do we lean into this instead of resisting it? Are there any tools you can carry with you on an expedition to Mordor, to make the journey less distressing? Are there ways to nourish yourself even when you are deep in your Shadow? Can you, like Sam Gamgee, pack some metaphorical pots into your backpack and stare Sauron in the eye while you eat some stew?

Mordor Fun Run

The Shadow...is that like Mordor, or something? Let's see, all the best monsters, the painful searing truth revealed by an all-seeing gaze, and a volcano hot enough to melt your most precious pretensions?...yeah, basically. Don't forget to bring your Sam!

MBTI + RPG Growth Alignment Dynamics

A sneaky bonus episode to conclude the discussion of correspondences between the MTBI system, Jungian cognitive functions, and my growth alignments chart! What happens when you have a "split personality" where your favorite psychological lens fits into one style of growth, but your second-favorite fits into another? Or when you have a personality type made of a dominant and/or auxiliary function that can shift between two growth styles? Or when your personal energy reflects a method of growth that your functions might not match? 

MBTI + RPG Growth Alignments Part II

In which we continue our comparison of MTBI type preferences and RPG growth alignments! Today, in Part II, we explore the Jungian cognitive functions for Judging: Fi (introverted Feeling), Fe (extroverted Feeling), Ti (introverted Thinking), and Te (extroverted Thinking). Interestingly, this aspect of type yielded a different spread in our categories of Controlling, Envisioning, and Emerging approaches to growth. Any theories why? 

MBTI + RPG Growth Alignments Part I

Let's expand our understanding of the MTBI system AND our RPG style growth alignments chart by looking for the correlations between them! There will be two episodes on this topic. Today, in Part I, we explore the Jungian cognitive functions for Perceiving: Si (introverted Sensing), Se (extroverted Sensing), Ni (introverted iNtuiting), and Ne (extroverted iNtuiting). Any guesses where they fall on the growth alignment chart?