enneacents
sharing my two cents:
insights from an Accredited Enneagram Practitioner and Life Coach
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"A penny to you may seem a very insignificant thing,
but it is the small seed from which fortunes spring. "
-Orison Swett Marden
How to find your type
The Enneagram is a model of nine world perspectives understood as personality types. We see from all nine perspetives, in varying degrees. Hence, each of us is all of the nine Enneagram types.
However, there is one that you will access more than the others. It is called your core type, or your "type." The motivation of this type is the main driver behind your thoughts, feelings, and behavior.
One of the greatest “tasks” in studying the Enneagram is finding your core type. This is easier said than done! For some, it's obvious. For others, it may take a long time - months even. The journey is rewarding.
First, choose an Enneagram type that resonates with you. A quiz is a great first step. I like Truity's Enneagram personality test because it displays your results as a pie chart.
Other questionnaires that require a fee are typically longer and come with more accurate results, like the iEQ9 Enneagram questionnaire (more information about this questionnaire on my coaching page).
It usually takes further investigation to settle on a type. Try one on! Like you’re trying on a pair of pants to find out if it fits.
Tip: Think about how you feel when you feel secure, like everything is right with the world, verses under emotional stress. Read about the "subtypes" and “wings.”
Next, sit with it for a while and observe how often in your day your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are driven by the motivation of that type. With that awareness, do your thought/feeling/behavior patterns change? If it doesn't resonate, try another one on!
It's all about the underlying drive
You may not relate to ALL of the traits/behaviors associated with your enneagram type - and that’s okay - because the key to your enneagram type is the underlying and unconscious motivation (not external behavior).
This is why it's very difficult to guess another person’s type - because type is determined by unconscious drives, which others cannot see.
Learning the Enneagram is often more effective than reading a lot of self-help books because it provides individualized insight into what is driving our thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns and shows us a view of our growth path from behind our own specific lens.
9 Motivations
the driver for each type
Type 1: The desire to have integrity and wholeness, to be correct
Type 2: The desire to be loved, liked, and appreciated
Type 3: The desire to be valuable and have success
Type 4: The desire to be oneself and authentic, to find meaning
Type 5: The desire to be competent and capable
Type 6: The desire to be secure, safe, and supported
Type 7: The desire to be happy and satisfied, to experience pleasure
Type 8: The desire to protect oneself, to be strong and independent
Type 9: The desire to be at peace and experience harmony
No enneagram type is better than another
No enneagram type is better than another
You may initially find that you have biases favoring or against certain Enneagram types (i.e. personality types). However, as you learn more and more about the Enneagram, it will become clearer that what is vitally important is NOT one's Enneagram type, but rather, one's level of self-awareness, integration, and "health."
Your biases will be untangled as it becomes clearer that each Enneagram type is simply a different - yet equally valuable - perspective on the world. This learning allows us to feel more compassion for those who have a way to go in terms of self-awareness - including ourselves! - regardless of Enneagram types.
Essence
From the time we are born, we develop coping skills to help deal with conflict and frustration. Added to genetic predisposition, they contribute to the manifestation of our personality type.
Our "personality" can help us cope. It also has the potential for disservice, moving us away from the true, foundational nature of our being, from our inner Essence. We can forget the core of who we are.
We can become aware of our coping skills (specifically those that do not work in our favor), and what motivates us to use them. In doing so, we come closer to experiencing the Essence of our being.
Reactions to learning your E-type
You might feel unexpected emotions when you hear about your Enneagram type.
Maybe you used to think that everyone experienced the world the way you do and are surprised to learn differently.
You might feel relieved to understand an explanation for the way you operate within the world. It can be a great comfort to learn that there are others who see things the same way you do, that you are not alone.
There is also the potential for some emotional turbulence when you see personal lifelong struggles written out and explained on paper in front of you.
Remember that you are on a PATH away from and out of ineffective patterns, and a move toward liberation - tapping into resources that you didn't know were there.
Whatever your reactions may be, I send you mounds of positivity as you move along your path of self discovery.
Verbally processing what you learn
Learning one’s own Enneagram type can bring up deep memories about how personality has impacted you over the years, and feelings about how it is impacting you currently.
You might find it important to process that by talking to someone - a coach, therapist, family member, spouse, close friend, etc.
Please reach out and talk to someone!
Next...
Navigating Life with the Enneagram: The Enneagram as a Map
Understanding the 9 personalities: The 9 types
Make Big Shifts with the Enneagram: the Enneagram as a Tool
Copyright© 2022 Kara Koon. All rights reserved.
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