Working with the Enneagram
An interesting little worm of an insight exploded in front of me recently, illuminating my world for a moment like the flash of a photograph, or the refraction of light through a window.
It started—or did it?—with a recent podcast interview of Russ Hudson on Sounds True. Hudson is an expert on the Enneagram, a personality typing model with ancient roots. I was impressed enough with the podcast to take an online assessment, then purchase a book to learn more. I was captivated. Maybe even obsessed. What a wonderful adjunct to my innate interests and my work!
As often happens when an idea excites me, I had to share it. Remembering my friend had recently taken an Enneagram class, we shared discoveries together. We’re the same type, so it was fun to notice how the same characteristics display so differently. After a Facebook post, a friend reminded me it was probably she who had initially introduced the topic long ago, planting the seed that sat in repose for so long. Meanwhile, my friend shared with another friend, delving deeper.
The book describes the Healthy, Average, and Unhealthy levels, states we all go to at various times in our lives as we deal with the joy and turmoil being human, and the direction of Integration (improvement) or Disintegration (decline) that are experienced by each Type. This gave me a way to see where I’m on track and how I trip myself up. It was also clear to me how quarantine amplifies both my helpful and unhelpful characteristics, allowing me to find a reset point.
And because there’s nothing quite like looking into an exceptionally reflective mirror, I was reminded once again of the importance of being compassionate toward oneself. Self-love is a core philosophy of mine and even though I’m never perfect about it, I know for sure that loving yourself—the true version, not the glossed-over one—allows the love you wish to receive from others to pierce that veil.
Quantum physics continues to reveal how our bodies, emotions and thoughts are truly connected in ways that have real consequences in our health and well-being. As not only the Enneagram points out, our underlying fears sabotage our efforts. And only by looking inward can we correct them. Not all of us are naturally inclined to do that, as the Enneagram book also points out. But when we can be completely open and honest, in the privacy of our inner hearts, we have the opportunity to heal, to strengthen where we are weak, to put ourselves back on a path of Integration, rather than Disintegration in a way that no one can do for us. It’s worth the effort.
Hypnosis and NLP can be a wonderful way to begin that process, putting you in a receptive state, elevating your mood, deepening your compassion, bolstering your courage to look into that mirror with love. Always with love.
My website, Inner Answers Hypnotherapy, offers a number of options for hypnosis and NLP. Is it time to start that journey of self-discovery and healing?