The Enneagram of Personality Types - Identification vs. Transformation
In my twenty-some years of working with the enneagram, one of my biggest thrills is when someone figures out their type. I call it the “oh crap” moment. It is that split second when you realize that this enneagram thing that you are learning about actually has something to it. In that second it is revealed to you that you have been living in one of nine simple energetic patterns. How is it possible? Only nine?
It is in that moment that most of us start to fill out heads with information about our enneagram type. We read loads of books, take as many classes as we can and watch endless hours of online videos that tell us that it is okay to be the number we have just discovered. “Look how many people struggle with the same things I do.” This usually makes us feel pretty good at first. But then it starts to set in that when I look at my type, I see a few gifts, but mostly I see things that I should NOT be doing. And so it begins. I start to push away from “who I am”.
Instead of recognizing that I am a complete human being and that people love all of me, I start to push away parts of me that I determine as “bad” or “not lovable”.
Richard Rohr tells of a story of when he wrote out a list of all the things he did not like about himself and shared it with his friends, they had an interesting response. They told him that the things on his list were actually things they loved about him. Go figure.
To me this encapsulates how the enneagram leads us to the beginning of our personal journey of self-love. Though the enneagram helps point out the patterns that hold me back, it shows me my completeness and how I am lovable, warts and all.
So now the tough part…
Can I use this new found knowing of myself to help me see how I am a beautiful person? Can I see past my identification with my enneagram type by using my type to justify my compulsive behavior? “ I can’t help it, I am a ONE.” Can I see how my type is just that “my type” and how to use this new knowledge to grow?
Each time we pause in our lives and recognize we are being swept away by our enneagram pattern, can we see how we have a choice? This is the choice to continue compulsively identifying with our patterns, or to choose to act differently. Sometimes you may just say “@#$% it” and act from your type and sometimes you may choose to act from a deeper part of your truth. But at that moment you will realize that you have a choice and “choice” is freedom and “freedom” is where our transformation begins.
Dale - Inspired Enneagram