It was a sunny day with a refreshing nip in the air. I made my way to a seat next to an ordinary looking young man, thankfully he didn’t appear to be listening to music. I quickly became immersed in the chatter of my mind. Occasionally I noticed details for the first time on buildings I had frequently seen before. I was vaguely aware of the bus stopping and starting as it often does on weekday mornings going into the city along Parramatta Road, Sydney, Australia.
Suddenly, the person next to me stood up.
I’m usually hypersensitive of others being about to do something. The shock of movement from next to me jolted me to the core. I experienced a yoyo feeling somewhere in my upper chest. Assuming the man wanted to alight from the bus. I hurriedly grabbed the bags on my lap, stood, stepped into the aisle, and sat down again after he had gone.
Memories of similar situations connected in my mind. Why did I react in the way that I did? My childhood training has stayed with me, I excuse myself and thank people when I need to get past them!
I would be interested in reading your experiences like this.
theINFP 
Thank you for sharing this experience. Similar things happen to me and it feels like a giant wave of panic overtaking my body. I’m not entirely sure if is just my feeling alone or perhaps feeling the panic of someone else’s fears. Maybe both. We are highly sensitive people Robert, so it is a gift…and then some. 🙂
Very glad you wrote about it. I love your work here and even though I can be a little late in checking in, I always find it interesting, creative and informative. Thanks, Richard.
Thank you for sharing your experience, Richard. It is reassuring to know that I’m not alone.
Some of us seem to have a constant radar assessing our environment. If we have something tugging us to go inward, we turn it off and then miss the warning signals, so changes are a shock.
I think what you describe may be a stage of development for an INFP. As we approach mid-life, we start getting more balanced in our preferences. When developing in our less preferred traits, we literally sometimes die to our strengths. It’s very disconcerting in the beginning. A very real dying to self. You may find yourself losing the hyper awareness of people and the possibilities of a situation and becoming more aware and simply accepting of things around you, rather than people and possibilities.
I used to be a consultant on the Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator. But that was a long time ago.
Thank you for your insight, Eileen, I have been noticing differences as the decades roll by.
Excuse me is the proper term for such situations. Less is rude.
It happened again on a train on Thursday, a young woman this time. Something I will have to get used to, I suppose.
😱😖😫