The Enneagram of Personality

[Woody]

Who here is familiar with the Enneagram? I've become very fascinated with it in the time since I've been active here, and now that I'm temporarily semi-active, I'm super curious what you all's thoughts and types are! I identify as a Type Four, with a strong Five wing. For a time, I believed I was a Two, but acknowledged my Fourness when I realized the reason I was avoiding identifying as a Four was because others in my family/community identify as such, and I wanted my own unique type (for those who are unfamiliar, the need to be unique is a hallmark of the Four). After that, a lot of pieces clicked into place, including the traits I had identified as Twoish about myself (Two is Four's direction of disintegration), and the fact that I had been unable to identify either as having either a One or Three wing.

For myself, I really appreciate the insight this system has offered. Self-knowledge is really important and interesting to me, and I appreciate the pointers on personal growth this system and the many authors, speakers, and podcasters who teach it have given me. I'm also very attracted to the idea of using it as a tool for empathy and understanding others and their motivations. I really think there's some genius here.

So what are you guys' experiences? What do you find interesting or compelling about the Enneagram? Any authors or speakers you enjoy? Some of my favorites are Chris Heurtz and Richard Rohr. I also really love Sleeping at Last's Enneagram songs and their corresponding podcasts.

[Danadelfos]

I am a 4w5 as well! Although you can be more of a 4.

I know there is quite a bit to it, but one small point that was helpful for me is recognizing that I deal with negativity differently than a lot of people and it affects me in my already natural tendency to get down on myself or just the world in general. And then we had an Ennegram talk at work and he was talking about how for managers the best thing to do with 4s is to shield them from negativity.

Another point that the Enneagram has helped me is just in friendships. If I know their type it helps me to know how they see the world. And if we have conflict, much of the time it's because we're missing each other as we value different things.

[Kaida]

I don't know a lot about the whole thing. I mostly just look at memes with my friends or "the types as.." posts on instagram for fun. I haven't looked for how knowing my type would help me. I'm a type 9w8 I thnk. Sometimes I don't even know. I'm a chameleon. I become more like the people I am around. =p

[ByeByeBrownie]

Ngl, this one frustrates me. I feel like parts of all the types can apply to me, and I get a different one every time I take the test. I'm probably somewhere in the 1-3 neighborhood, though.

[Knight Fisher]

I am always immensely skeptical about this kind of thing but 8w7 fits me very well.

[Monty]

I don't know a lot about the whole thing. I mostly just look at memes with my friends or "the types as.." posts on instagram for fun. I haven't looked for how knowing my type would help me. I'm a type 9w8 I thnk. Sometimes I don't even know. I'm a chameleon. I become more like the people I am around. =p

I'm in the same boat, Kaida. I also feel like I'm a chameleon, and I get a different result just about every time I take it. They say that 9 type often gets mistyped as something else, I just don't understand how it can be relied on if that's the case.

[jelly]

For some reason a bunch of people in my life seems almost disproportionately into the Enneagram as of late, so it's forced its way into being a semi-prominent part of my worldview

I'm a pretty gratuitous four, I think, (what up, Woody and Danadelfos!), which I've actually found more helpful on a personal-awareness level than Myers Briggs or any of those other personality tests. And that's even without going into the extraordinary depths I know it can go.

Ngl, this one frustrates me. I feel like parts of all the types can apply to me, and I get a different one every time I take the test.

This for sure feels true. If I start to read too much about any one type, my mind finds ways of relating myself to it. I wouldn't really have much confidence about my type at all if it wasn't for reaffirmation fo what type I am from multiple voices in my life who know waaay more about this system than I ever hope to.

[Samwise]

I'm a 5w4. I covet random information. Also, my counselor wife swears I'm ADHD... and that also means I'm always collecting unrelated interesting bits of information all the time like an info-hoarding squirrel. Current subject of interest... What's the best budget circular power saw?