The Enneagram: A Resource for Deepening Personal and Spiritual Growth
The enneagram can be a resource for deepening personal and spiritual growth. We are all born with a particular style. Enneagram teacher Jeanine Siler Jones helps us explore the value of this tool and how it can help cultivate compassion for ourselves and others. On the newest Talking Joy Podcast episiode, she touches on the 9 types as an introduction to this practice of self-discovery. These types are broken into triads- the centers of intelligence—head, heart and body. Our conversation highlights why we do what we do, what is the motivation and how we can gain a better understanding of ourselves and others.
Click Here to Listen to the Enneagram Episode with Jeanine
Heart of the Enneagram Podcast
In preparation for my Talking Joy Podcast episode conversation with Enneagram teacher Jeanine Siler Jones, I have been listening to the Heart of the Enneagram Podcast that she suggested with hosts Chris Copeland and Sandra Smith. I would suggest listening to this as a way for you to deepen what Jeanine and I discuss on my podcast.
The Heart of the Enneagram highlights why do we do what we do—what is the motivation? We want the enneagram to be a source of freedom. We are born with a particular enneagram style, it’s how we are wired and how we come into the world. It is not a typing system—don"t put me in a box. Instead, it is an internal map of me that helps me get out of the box. It is more about how am I getting out of my own way and finding a way to find myself so I come to a responsible choice—they call it space catching—creating new pathways. We are re-wiring the brain so we can come to a responsible choice.
The enneagram helps us cultivate compassion for self and for others. (Unless I know me and where I am coming from I will think you are me.)
No enneagram style is better or worse than others!
Every type has gifts and every type has challenges or shadows. And we have a little bit of all 9 types within us.
Are online tests good? Perhaps they are not the best way to identify... books are a little better—one chapter/type will feel like it was written about you!
The Enneagram Types
The Rational, Idealistic Type: Principled, Purposeful, Self-Controlled, and Perfectionistic
The Caring, Interpersonal Type: Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing, and Possessive
The Success-Oriented, Pragmatic Type: Adaptive, Excelling, Driven, and Image-Conscious
The Sensitive, Withdrawn Type: Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, and Temperamental
The Intense, Cerebral Type: Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, and Isolated
The Committed, Security-Oriented Type: Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, and Suspicious
The Busy, Fun-Loving Type: Spontaneous, Versatile, Distractible, and Scattered
The Powerful, Dominating Type: Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, and Confrontational
The Easygoing, Self-Effacing Type: Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent
*The Enneagram Institue
Books to Get You Started:
1. The Essential Enneagram: The Definitive Personality Test and Self-Discovery Guide
2. Helen Palmers book, The Enneagram
3. The Heart fo the Enneagram
Simple, joyful, fun.
-Pam xx