Introducing the Enneagram

It's the New Year. People in the States like to make resolutions around this time Gyms are full in January and then a month later people have forgotten their big goal to stay fit or lose weight or stop yelling at their kids.

I have never really understood resolutions. Why do we need a special time of year to think about our lives and work on ourselves? Can we always keep growing? Perhaps our striving for things we don't really need gets in the way. If you are always watching TV, trying to be like the stars, maybe you lose sight of who you are and of your own dreams.

All of the "perennial" traditions, the paths of wisdom and spirit talk about an inner Essence, covered over by a false personality. We all needed our personalities to survive our childhood realities, and hence we became conditioned in certain ways. For example, your dad is distant but smart, so you develop your intellect to create some kind of connection with him. Or you mom is often depressed, so you end up developing a caring, pacifying personality. This, of course, is a simplification (because there are other factors, like biology, culture, etc.) , but you get the idea.

So, I thought today I would share with you a fun personality test I found (click this link to take the test!).

It consists of 50 questions and helps you determine your Enneagram Type. The Enneagram is a system of personality typing as well as a tool for personal transformation. On a fundamental level, the message of the Enneagram is that if we're human, we have personalities, our own personal strategies for coping with reality, and that we can become more aware of these strategies, and perhaps even become a better person.

Here are the Ennegram types:

Type One is principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.

Type Two is demonstrative, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive.

Type Three is adaptive, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.

Type Four is expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental.

Type Five is perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated.

Type Six is engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.

Type Seven is spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered.

Type Eight is self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational.

Type Nine is receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent.

Which one do you think you are? How abour your friends. The Enneagram is not only enlightening, but fun!

I find the Enneagram helpful in my own life in many ways. For instance, as a Two, I am very amused at how I sometimes forget my own needs and become a little too focused on helping others. It's also very helpful when interacting with others, especially at work or in relationships. For example, it's always helpful (and easy) for me to spot a Four (the Drama Queen), a One (the Perfectionist), a Seven (the Epicure), or an Eight (the Bully), and then I don't get so unnerved by their behavior. It gives me a little perspective and compassion.

Of course, you can't reduce anyone to a number. The Enneagram is simply a tool, helping us to become a little more patient, compassionate, and wiser (with ourselves and others).

Good luck and happy New Year.

Love,
Roni