Benefits of The Enneagram
During the process of inner work people often come up against the “invisible barrier” in their lives. Meaning, those times where you know exactly what growth or change you want, what goal you’d like to reach, and you even (hypothetically) know the steps to get there—but for some reason you struggle to make it all materialize. What exactly stands in your way seems like a mystery, but you know something is tripping you up and it’s frustrating.
This is what it feels like to “come up against” your personality type. You find your automatic patterns standing in the way of the life you want, forming an invisible barrier that you can’t break down—because you can’t see it. The Enneagram makes your invisible barrier visible, so you don’t keep bumping into it.
There’s a wide variety of benefits to working with the Enneagram. Let’s take a look at some of my favorites.
SELF-DISCOVERY
Ever found yourself unable to explain your personal experience? Enneagram type (or “habit of attention”) is a direct route to answering the tough questions: “why do I feel this way, think this way, keep repeating this same behavior?” One thing keeping us stagnated is a lack of understanding for how AND WHY our habitual tendencies operate. When you find out that the REAL reason you keep doing “Behavior X” is because of previously unconscious “Motivation Y”, it’s rather illuminating.
OTHER-DISCOVERY
Ever seen somebody behave in a way that made you go, “Why the heck are they doing that? Why would ANYONE ever do that?” Learn about all 9 Enneagram types, and those moments won’t be such a mystery. When learning the viewpoints of personalities besides your own, there often comes a moment where you step back and say “Wait a second, some people actually think like THAT?” The answer is inevitably yes, they do. You’ll begin to see the value in other worldviews—something you perceive as senseless could seem completely natural and logical in the life of another person. I like to say that the Enneagram is “compassion served on a plate.”
LIMIT REACTIVITY
When it comes to relational discord, it’s helpful to know that personality-driven reality distortions are in play. When that possibility isn’t recognized, we’re left to assume all conflict is based on genuine disagreement. But all too often, conflict is based on miscommunications born out of differences in viewpoint. We perceive disagreement/criticism/attack where there is really just misunderstanding. As this truth comes into awareness, reactivity tends to decline.
RELAX THE HABIT
Everything described above only happens by way of self-observation. The first step is to make the unknown habitual patterns known, and to watch how they operate in your internal world. As you do this, your “habit of attention” begins to soften back—leaving more space for what could be called your True Nature, or Essence, to shine through. This is the transformational aspect of Enneagram work. You can be a little bit more yourself, a little bit more receptive to your lived experience, with each passing day.
If you’re ready to dive into working with the Enneagram to uncover your invisible barrier, check out some of our upcoming events or email us to work one-on-one with either Elaine or myself.