low arousal approach-arkiv

This post is about the INFJ Florence Nightingale Personality and how this type shows up in real life.

I am an INFJ – the Florence Nightingale type – and this is the story of how empathy, curiosity about the human mind, cold morning swims, and a lifelong calling led me to become a future therapeutic counselor.

Read this post in Swedish INFJ Florence Nightingale-typen

What Is a Jungian Personality Type?

When my work team took a Jungian personality assessment years ago, the purpose was simple: to understand how our differences made us stronger together.

The theory behind the test comes from Carl Gustav Jung, who once worked closely with Sigmund Freud.
Freud looked backward — into trauma, the unconscious, and what has hurt us.
Jung looked forward — into meaning, potential, and who we can become.

https://www.16personalities.com/infj-personality
https://www.simplypsychology.org/carl-jung.html

Jung’s model is built on four core preferences:

Dimension	Options	My Type
Energy	Introversion / Extraversion	I
Information	Intuition / Sensing	N
Decisions	Feeling / Thinking	F
Structure	Judging / Perceiving	J

My result was INFJ, often called The Advocate — or the Florence Nightingale personality.

It was not a surprise.
But it gave me a moment of understanding:
“Perhaps this is how others see me.”
And there was something comforting in that.

INFJ Florence Nightingale personality focused on empathy and care

An INFJ in Real Life

Seeing the Human Beyond the Behavior

I have always been more interested in the inside of people than the outside.
Where thoughts live.
What keeps a soul standing.
What makes someone continue even when life hurts.

I have read psychology the way others read novels — seeking to understand what shapes us.

Very early in my life, my grandmother noticed it.
She taught me that every person carries gifts, even when the surface looks broken.
She always saw talent — never flaws.
And that has followed me into every meeting with another human being.

I still take morning swims — a ritual I inherited from her.
She swam in the sea, I swim in the lake.
Different waters — but the same feeling of freedom and life.

Following an Inner Compass

No matter how my workplace changed, I always worked with people.

My aunt cared for children who needed a home.
I looked up to her.
She made a difference — while the difference was still possible.
I believe the first seed of my path was planted right there.

At 24, I began working at SiS, with young people placed outside society.
That is where I discovered that conversation is my most powerful tool.
Not rules. Not threats.
But a chair, two people, and the courage to speak the truth.

Later, I worked within LSS, where safety and respect allowed people to blossom — from the inside out.

Then came the years with unaccompanied minors — trauma and hope in the same heartbeat.
One day relief.
The next day fear of being pushed into the unknown again.

Eventually, I returned to SiS.
A full circle.
So many wounded spirits, shaped by exclusion and harsh words — and still a spark of belief remained.
One day. Maybe.

When Life Knocks — Once More

The question came:
“Can you take one more child?”

My heart answered before my mind.
One more.
One last time.

I resigned from my job as a treatment pedagogue to be where I was needed the most: here at home.

Not as a job.
But as a way of living.

We Make Room Together

A Place to Land

This is not just my journey.
My family carries with me.
We make room — in our home, and in our hearts.

Here, you are allowed to arrive.
To find pieces of yourself again.
To grow in safety.
To believe again.

Consequences Are Not Punishment

Life Is a Better Teacher

Here at home, reality guides:

If you sleep too little — you get tired.
If you do not eat — you get hungry.
If you neglect relationships — they change.

Punishment is about power.
Consequences are about life.
And life teaches better than threats ever will.

A Step Further — The Power of Conversation

I am now studying to become a Certified Therapeutic Counselor.
I am putting words and methods to what I have already lived: meeting people where they are.

I am learning:

CBT
MI
ART
Low arousal approaches
Positive psychology and Flow
CFT
Mindfulness

But everything comes down to one thing:
The human connection.

When Methods Live in the Body

Low arousal has always been my way of responding.
To stay calm when someone else has lost theirs.
Because emotions spread — so mine must be safe.

Motivational Interviewing has been my language.
Seeing what is possible, even in chaos.

I have worked creatively with ART:
What hides behind anger?
What did you really want to say — before it came out wrong?

Morning cold water swim for mindfulness and coherence as an INFJ

And mindfulness — a way of living, here and now.
Most clearly felt in the cold water during morning swims.
A moment where my body, breath and soul are one.
Where my sense of coherence returns:
I am here.
I can do this.
I belong.