Personal growth is all the hype right now, as it should always be. People are beginning to take time for themselves to figure out who they are and what they want in this world. Everyone raves about being the best version of themselves, figuring out their strengths and weaknesses, and practicing self love. The Enneagram is the perfect tool to help anyone and everyone in their journey to self-discovery.
The Enneagram is a personality test that gets down and personal, revealing your core desires and fears. If you know about the Meyers Briggs Personality Test and others alike, this is a step up. Learning about your type is like a breath of crisp winter air. It hurts at first, but then you feel as if someone has walked in your exact footsteps. It’s a complex system that takes time to learn about, but once you start, you’re in for a ride. Today I’m going to go over the basics.
This system is made up of Types 1 through 9, and they are displayed in a circle. They are named by number to show that while each number is unique in their own way; they are all equal and connected. Each person has a basic personality type that represents them, but the life goal is to find a balance between all the positive characteristics of each type. Below are general characteristics of the nine Enneagram types.
Type 9: The Peacemaker – receptive, reassuring, complacent, and resigned.
Type 8: The Challenger – self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational.
Type 7: The Enthusiast – spontaneous, versatile, acquisitive, and scattered.
Type 6: The Loyalist – engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
Type 5: The Investigator – perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated.
Type 4: The Individualist – expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental.
Type 3: The Achiever – adaptable, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.
Type 2: The Helper – generous, demonstrative, people-pleasing, and possessive.
Type 1: The Reformer – principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.
Your basic personality type will land within one of the three centers known as the Instinctive Center (types 8, 9, 1), the Feeling Center (types 2, 3 ,4) and the Thinking Center (types 5, 6, 7). The types within these three centers all share common assets and characteristics with each other. Furthermore, these centers all revolve around a common emotional response. The Instinctive Center’s specific emotion is anger, the Feeling Center is powered by shame, and the Thinking Center involves fear. In times of stress, these particular emotions affect the numbers within their centers. Each individual number uses their emotion in a different way, but that is a bit complicated for this article.
Your Wing Type is like your side dish to the main meal. It influences your basic personality type and can make two people with the same main number be completely different. Your wing is going to be one of the numbers to the left or right of your basic type. Generally, you will have characteristics from both wings, but many people lean towards one side more than the other providing them with a specific wing type.
Those are the very basics to the Enneagram, but there is so much more. There are plenty of online resources that will dive deeper into the Enneagram and go on to explain how we are only ever one main type, but how we portray different characteristics from all types depending on our motivators, the stresses in our lives and even the level of development we are at. Some of my favorite ways to learn more about my Enneagram is through Instagram accounts such as @enneagramexplained and @enneagramandcoffee. If you love memes, @okayenneagram and @enneagramandmemes are also the perfect way to find relatable content.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked about the Enneagram to my friends and family because I truly believe it is such an amazing way to better understand yourself. Not only will it tell you what your greatest strengths are, but more importantly it will help explain why you act the way you do, and what you can do to be a better version of yourself.
If you are interested in discovering what your Enneagram Type is, then click here, to be taken to an online quiz you can take. Remember to answer the questions as you truly are, and not as you wish you were or how you portray yourself to others. I recommend taking the Classic Enneagram Test. This will provide you with a score that will guide you towards your type, but do not assume that this is a definite answer. The only true way to determine what your type is is by reading about them all and figuring out which one speaks to you the most. They say the one that makes you the most uncomfortable is most likely yours.
This may seem like a lot of work, but I promise you it will be worth it. Through the Enneagram test, I have discovered that I am a Type 9 wing 8. Type 9’s are known as The Peacemakers. My 8 wing explains my ability to go from passive-aggressive to confrontational, and my core desire is to be at peace. My biggest strength is being able to see all perspectives in a situation, but my weaknesses involve having difficulty sharing my opinions in fear that they will create conflict. Through the Enneagram, I have learned why I act the way I do in specific situations. I am able to form healthier relationships and make conscious decisions according to my type that will help me better myself.
Again, there is so much more I could talk about, but I will leave it at that for now. Consider taking the time to look into The Enneagram! I promise you, you won’t regret it. Your journey to self-improvement will be enhanced like never before. If you’re interested in learning more about the Enneagram head over to The Enneagram Institute, where they give amazing explanations and summaries of each type, and everything else involved.