Knowing your Enneagram type helps discover the motivational drive behind your actions and your deep emotional needs. Knowing yourself at this intimate level helps make better choices and leads to more satisfaction in career, relationships, and life in general.
Some people can accurately type themselves after merely reading type descriptions. Most people, however, need some help.
One important thing to remember is that your core type characteristics are natural. It doesn’t require any effort to be your type. We struggle only when we attempt to adopt the best characteristics of other types.
According to the Enneagram, there are nine personality types — all interconnected and influenced by each other; however, you should be able to identify one personality type that describes you more fully and accurately than others.
According to the Enneagram theory, each person has a core personality type they developed as children due to various events, most notably their relationship with their parents and other important people in their lives.
Members of each personality type can be healthy or unhealthy and may display the best or the worst traits of each type.
The Enneagram theory is different from the four temperaments model, but the two do not contradict each other. While the four temperaments model deals with hereditary factors or inborn traits, the Enneagram model represents the way people adapt themselves to the world due to their unique circumstances.
Depending on circumstances, your psychological potential may deteriorate or develop from the original starting point. Knowing your type helps turn things around and develop more natural positive characteristics while becoming aware of your blind spots.
So what is your Enneagram type?
The One
Healthy: idealistic, responsible, orderly, appropriate, perfectionistic.
Unhealthy: inflexible, overly critical, controlling
The Two
Healthy: loving, warm, attentive, compassionate
Unhealthy: needy, manipulative, possessive
The Three
Healthy: adaptable, successful, inspiring, sociable
Unhealthy: fake, self-absorbed, superficial, attention-seeking
The Four
Healthy: empathic, unique, humane, elegant, sophisticated
Unhealthy: needy, envious, overly sensitive, depressed
The Five
Healthy: calm, knowledgeable, objective, attentive
Unhealthy: cold, detached, arrogant
The Six
Healthy: protective, loyal, reliable, strategic
Unhealthy: fearful, anxious, uncertain
The Seven
Healthy: optimistic, energetic, adventurous, spontaneous
Unhealthy: bored, restless, unreliable, disloyal, self-indulgent
The Eight
Healthy: confident, decisive, generous, supportive
Unhealthy: rude, aggressive, mean, arrogant
The Nine
Healthy: peaceful, calm, patient, selfless, humble
Unhealthy: slow, procrastinating, indifferent, complacent
All Enneagram posts here.
