All Idealists (NFs) share the following core characteristics:

Idealists are enthusiastic, they trust their intuition, yearn for romance, seek their true self, prize meaningful relationships, and dream of attaining wisdom. Idealists pride themselves on being loving, kindhearted, and authentic. Idealists tend to be giving, trusting, spiritual, and they are focused on personal journeys and human potentials. Idealists make intense mates, nurturing parents, and inspirational leaders.

Idealists, as a temperament, are passionately concerned with personal growth and development. Idealists strive to discover who they are and how they can become their best possible self--always this quest for self-knowledge and self-improvement drives their imagination. And they want to help others make the journey. Idealists are naturally drawn to working with people, and whether in education or counseling, in social services or personnel work, in journalism or the ministry, they are gifted at helping others find their way in life, often inspiring them to grow as individuals and to fulfill their potentials.

Idealists are sure that friendly cooperation is the best way for people to achieve their goals. Conflict and confrontation upset them because they seem to put up angry barriers between people. Idealists dream of creating harmonious, even caring personal relations, and they have a unique talent for helping people get along with each other and work together for the good of all. Such interpersonal harmony might be a romantic ideal, but then Idealists are incurable romantics who prefer to focus on what might be, rather than what is. The real, practical world is only a starting place for Idealists; they believe that life is filled with possibilities waiting to be realized, rich with meanings calling out to be understood. This idea of a mystical or spiritual dimension to life, the "not visible" or the "not yet" that can only be known through intuition or by a leap of faith, is far more important to Idealists than the world of material things.

Highly ethical in their actions, Idealists hold themselves to a strict standard of personal integrity. They must be true to themselves and to others, and they can be quite hard on themselves when they are dishonest, or when they are false or insincere. More often, however, Idealists are the very soul of kindness. Particularly in their personal relationships, Idealists are without question filled with love and good will. They believe in giving of themselves to help others; they cherish a few warm, sensitive friendships; they strive for a special rapport with their children; and in marriage they wish to find a "soulmate," someone with whom they can bond emotionally and spiritually, sharing their deepest feelings and their complex inner worlds.

Idealists are excited and motivated by ideas, particularly those relating to people and relationships or an understanding of "Life." They seek out learning about topics, causes, and ideas they value. They prefer that teachers act as coaches or mentors who direct the Idealists' own self-directed learning. School, for Idealists, is merely the launch pad for independent thinking, a place to discuss concepts with peers, and a resource for books, information, and guidance. In college, Idealists often choose majors in the fine arts, literature, psychology, or the humanities.

Idealists are rare, making up no more than 8 to 10 percent of the population. But their ability to inspire people with their enthusiasm and their idealism has given them influence far beyond their numbers.

from Please Understand Me II by David Keirsey

The four types of Idealists are:
Healers (INFP) Counselors (INFJ) Champions (ENFP) Teachers (ENFJ)

E = Extraversion, I = Introversion, S = Sensation, N = Intuition, T = Thinking, F = Feeling, J = Judgment, P = Perception

me= INFP

People prone to Introversion seem more comfortable alone than in a crowd. They draw energy from private, solitary activities, reading, listening to music, working by themselves on their latest project or favorite hobby. They tend to have a few, long-time friends, and can remain in contact with larger groups only so long before their energies are depleted. If required by their job, family, or social responsibilities to be outgoing or on stage-to make a great social effort-they are soon exhausted and need "down time" in quiet places to rest and recharge their batteries.

People strong in Intuition seem more at home in the abstract, conceptual world of ideas-inferences, theories, daydreams, musings, speculations, symbols-all those things that can only be seen with the mind's eye. Focused as they so often are in their internal world, these persons can miss a great deal of what's going on right around them; for them, reality is not solid and present, but is more a mental image, or a stage of development toward some future ideal. The possible is always in front of these people: whatever "is" can be better, and they are fascinated by hypotheses and potentials. Because they listen so intently to their inner voice, even from an early age, they often seem to have "their head in the clouds," absorbed in their vivid and complex imaginations.

People prone to Feeling are more comfortable with a personal, emotional basis for what they do. When considering their course, they consult their feelings first and always show concern for others. These people are sympathetic and sentimental, and can be swayed by powerful desire or a touching appeal. And they are softhearted when making decisions, basing their choices on gentle, kindly considerations, hoping never to hurt anyone's feelings. They may not have more or deeper emotions than those on the Thinking end of the scale, but they let their feelings show more easily, and this makes them seem warmer and friendlier, and so usually gives them an easier time getting along with others. People given to Perception tend to keep their eyes open, gathering information and looking for opportunities and alternatives that might be available to them. They feel no hurry to nail things down, or settle on a finished product, but prefer to explore the possibilities and just see what happens. These people are often playful and spontaneous in action. Schedules make them feel hurried and over-controlled, and they tend to look upon deadlines as mere reminders to get on with the job. Also, they prefer their work to be enjoyable and to the purpose. If their task is mere routine maintenance or clean up, they may balk at doing it, or leave it to someone else. Easy-going, even somewhat impulsive, these people are usually quite tolerant of mess. Their personal spaces are often cluttered with an assortment of things they have picked up, used, then dropped and forgotten about.

Healer Idealists are abstract in thought and speech, cooperative in striving for their ends, and informative and introverted in their interpersonal relations. Healer present a seemingly tranquil, and noticiably pleasant face to the world, and though to all appearances they might seem reserved, and even shy, on the inside they are anything but reserved, having a capacity for caring not always found in other types. They care deeply-indeed, passionately-about a few special persons or a favorite cause, and their fervent aim is to bring peace and integrity to their loved ones and the world.

Healers have a profound sense of idealism derived from a strong personal morality, and they conceive of the world as an ethical, honorable place. Indeed, to understand iNFps, we must understand their idealism as almost boundless and selfless, inspiring them to make extraordinary sacrifices for someone or something they believe in. The iNFp is the Prince or Princess of fairytale, the King's Champion or Defender of the Faith, like Sir Galahad or Joan of Arc. Healers are found in only 1 percent of the general population, although, at times, their idealism leaves them feeling even more isolated from the rest of humanity.

Healers seek unity in their lives, unity of body and mind, emotions and intellect, perhaps because they are likely to have a sense of inner division threaded through their lives, which comes from their often unhappy childhood. Healers live a fantasy-filled childhood, which, unfortunately, is discouraged or even punished by many parents. In a practical-minded family, required by their parents to be sociable and industrious in concrete ways, and also given down-to-earth siblings who conform to these parental expectations, iNFps come to see themselves as ugly ducklings. Other types usually shrug off parental expectations that do not fit them, but not the iNFps. Wishing to please their parents and siblings, but not knowing quite how to do it, they try to hide their differences, believing they are bad to be so fanciful, so unlike their more solid brothers and sisters. They wonder, some of them for the rest of their lives, whether they are OK. They are quite OK, just different from the rest of their family-swans reared in a family of ducks. Even so, to realize and really believe this is not easy for them. Deeply committed to the positive and the good, yet taught to believe there is evil in them, iNFps can come to develop a certain fascination with the problem of good and evil, sacred and profane. Tutors are drawn toward purity, but can become engrossed with the profane, continuously on the lookout for the wickedness that lurks within them. Then, when iNFps believe thay have yielded to an impure temptation, they may be given to acts of self-sacrifice in atonement. Others seldom detect this inner turmoil, however, for the struggle between good and evil is within the iNFp, who does not feel compelled to make the issue public.

I am appreciative of any financial assitance I receive:

Created by Astartiel