What Enneagram Type Am I?
I was often asked this question by those who are confused: What Enneagram Type am I?
As an Enneagram Executive Coach, I’d like to offer the suggestion to first read about each of the 9 personality types that the Enneagram comprises of. Below is the follow up to the updated post on Enneagram Quiz: How Would You Cross the River.
According to the Enneagram, we have one core Personality Type. It appears that we are either born with it or that it can be the result of early nurturing. This core is home base and it doesn’t change. It describes you the most. If you are a bird, which is free to roam and to explore all other types, you always come flying home. You reside in this sector; as if it is a familiar nest.
Confusion In Assessing Which Enneagram Type You Are?
Diagram A: Enneagram By Energy Centers
Going by the feedback from my post on How Would You Cross the River (updated), some of you clearly do not face any difficulty in deciding which profile type you are. Yet, there are others who confessed to having problems in determining which Enneagram type they are.
Using the breath of your life experiences to gauge can cloud your mind from making the right analysis. It may be that you have operated out from a different Enneagram Type for a period in time. Then, life may have presented different challenges, which would require a different set of attributes that you draw upon.
Additionally, you may at some point in your life decide to explore some other aspects of who you are. If this has been the case, you would have probably been exploring the sectors that are most within reach to your true Type. Such sectors correspond to your adjacent wings or lines that direct to your stress or security points, according to the Enneagram grid.
In trying to make an analysis, it is possible that you identify with strengths and weaknesses from each sector of the Enneagram Type; hence, throwing you into confusion. Finally, your friends may wrongly assess you, when they base their conclusions on the actions they perceive that you have been taking.
To make the right assessment, it is important to separate the behaviour from the underlying motivation of your actions. The question to ask is: What drives your strategy? What is the underlying motivation of your various actions?
Diagram B: Enneagram By Life Strategy
Crossing The River In Style
I finally arrived at the answer of my Profile Type. There are clues that I have placed in How Would You Cross the River.
Through various tests, I have also been assessed as a Type Four with a 5-wing….which explains why I love to write and create quizzes, books and coaching programs 🙂
In Head Versus Heart–and Our Gut Reactions: The 21st Century Enneagram by Michael Hampson, it is said….
FOUR may be tempted to withdraw from the world “but waiting in the THREE wing are gifts for relating to and enriching the lives of others. FOUR can be tempted to look at the world with envy but waiting in the FIVE wing is a more objective view of the lives that other people live. The gifts in the wings can even help develop the FOUR’s own gift of creativity potentially a gift to inspire others, and containing seeds of wisdom. FOUR only needs to avoid having its temptation toward envy compounded instead by THREE’s temptation for making a false self-presentation to the world or FIVE’s temptation toward isolation and healing.
Generally, the life path of an Enneagram Type Four: to convert pain, ugliness and illusions into beauty through creativity, inspiration and self-love!
How To Determine The Enneagram Type You Are
Knowing my life plan and strategy has now definitely increased my conscious awareness.
Which brings me back to you.
What if you still find it difficult to determine which Enneagram Type you are?
Well, most books or text on Enneagram would contain quizzes. Even then, it may be hard for you to decide which answer to pick if the questions are being asked in the form of a MCQ. For a start, it means getting to know yourself first. It involves a self-discovery process.
As a visual person, I prefer to work in pictures. So other than the pictures above, I have adapted and created images from the same book that I was reading over the weekend, for your easy analysis. Get a feel of which of the attributes that best describe you. You can use these, on top of quizzes and introspection, for a final deduction.
Diagram C: Enneagram Type By Soul Gift
Diagram D: Enneagram Type By Animal
Diagram E: Enneagram Type By Retail Road Vehicle
Kindly note that I did not come up with the descriptions that went along with each Enneagram Type. If you do not agree to your animal type or the vehicle that best describes your personality, please comment below with your reasons.
Michael Hampson in Head Versus Heart–and Our Gut Reactions: The 21st Century Enneagram also did a nice job with other factors for comparison amongst the nine Enneagram Types; such as political alliances, temptations, temperature and people from the bible. For those of you who are interested, it also delves into the Seven Deadly Sins, biblical journeys, prayers and confessions that you can make, for spiritual growth.
Change Your Car by Your Enneagram Type?
Are you already driving the vehicle that best reflects your Enneagram Type? If it is not the case, will you consider changing your car?
What other factors do you think can be used to describe the 9 Enneagram Types? Pop stars? Food? Music? Please give examples, if you would like to take a creative stab at this challenge.
Love and Abundance always,
Evelyn Lim
Abundance Alchemy Coach
Certified Enneagram Coach
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