The Enneagram, pronounced “ANY-a-gram” is a powerful tool for personal growth and development and collective transformation.  The word stems from the Greek words ennea (nine) and grammos (written symbol), and is a map of our inner landscape, represented by nine distinct strategies for relating to self, others and the world. It has been described as nine different worldviews, or nine ways we get lost and nine ways we can return to our true self.  It is a dynamic diagnostic tool, not a permanent diagnosis.  Simply put, the Enneagram gives us a specific roadmap back to ourselves by helping us identify our unconscious core motivations and the strategies we have put in place to survive.

 

Each of the nine archetypes has a different way of thinking, feeling and acting that arises from a core motivation or worldview.  Once we understand the “why” of how we think, feel and act we can start to work with the habitual and patterned behaviors.   Bringing the unconscious into consciousness opens up the opportunity of self-acceptance and our worth becoming less tied to an idealized self. From a practical standpoint, our relationship with self and others can improve, we begin to make more conscious choices and we can live a whole-hearted life. 

 

We are all born with a dominant type.  Not everything in the description of your type will apply to you at all times. No type is inherently better or worse than any other and each type has both higher capacities and limitations. 

 

Lastly, only you can identify your Enneagram type.  Online Enneagram tests provide one data point for identifying your type, although they are often inaccurate in the results.  The Narrative Enneagram developed an interviewing system that allows trained Enneagram teachers to ask questions to individuals in a way that their motivations and worldviews can be reflected back to them and their Enneagram type becomes more clear.  If you are interested in discovering your Enneagram type click on the link above to book a typing interview.