Maybe you're here because you've already heard of the Enneagram and you're just... so stoked. Maybe you're here because a friend of yours has been referring to you as a number and you're tired of not knowing what that means. Maybe you're here because you're starting to realize that there's something about the way you are in the world that is good, but maybe it's also costing your everything..

Whatever the case, I'm glad you're here.

In this space I'm going to give an overview of what the Enneagram is, why it's so incredibly useful, and also some things to avoid in order to make sure it remains the amazing tool that it can be.

Humans are constant pattern-finders, our brains prioritize pattern-finding and pattern-recognition because these tools are incredibly useful methods for understanding a deeply complex world. One of the only mental processes that is of more value than these pattern processes is our brain's social networking center. It's the default center at play most of the time and generates our sense of self and our understanding of others. There's a great deal of overlap between these two systems which explains why we can't not type each other: our brains are built to attempt to understand one another, interact with one another, and relate to one another.

The trick, then, would not be to try and avoid typing others, but to do so in an ethical way; one that allows us to appreciate and honor one another's insight while at the same time allowing us to recognize when our perspectives are lacking.

This is where the Enneagram shines.

While other personality tests are useful for describing behavior and classifying observed tendencies in individuals, the Enneagram is a map for discovering perspectives, motivation, and meaning. Tools like the "Big Five" personality test measure behavioral tendencies in order to predict future behavior to varying degrees of accuracy (the Big Five is fairly predictively accurate, others... not so much). In contrast, the Enneagram does not attempt to describe behavior, but to map different centers of personal meaning and perspective and is, therefore, subjective rather than objective.

This leads us to our first rule: no person can "decide" the Enneagram type of another person.

Different types around the Enneagram have very similar behaviors, but very different rationalizations and motivations behind those behaviors. For example, though the "Two" is called the caring person, the "Six" is often mistyped as a two due to their propensity for being deeply caring as well. It's only when we go a couple layers beneath the behavior and begin to explore the motivations behind our behaviors that we come into the arena of the Enneagram.

In fact, since so much of the Enneagram is about personal motivation and meaning, discovering your own Enneagram type is ultimately something that you have to do for yourself. Having a guide who is willing to be patient, ask the right questions and sit with you while you discover your type is essential to having that process go well. Personally, when I'm meeting with friends and clients, I warn them that this process may not happen immediately and often advise a period of "sitting with different types" before deciding on one's type.

Now for that drawing...

Enneagram is a compound word coming from the Greek words ἐννέα [ennéa, meaning "nine"] and γράμμα [grámma, meaning "drawn"]. Technically speaking, there are thousands of enneagrams because an enneagram is any "drawing of nine". In fact, if you look back through different wisdom traditions and various notebooks of philosophers and scientists, you'll notice that different drawings of nine-pointed figures show up fairly often. For our purposes, though, we're looking at the Enneagram of Personality and the way that it's drawn is pretty important.

Starting from the top and moving clockwise, you'll see that the numbers start with the Nine and then progress in order from One to Eight around the circle. Connecting lines are sometimes drawn to form the circle and express the potential for different types to have "wings" (shared perspective with their neighbors). Sometimes those lines are left missing and only the internal "network of mobilization" is shown. This network of interconnecting lines describes how different types "mobilize for action" and is a deep source of personal insight once you understand it.

You may see the Enneagram drawn from time to time with the circle divided into thirds. This is done to demonstrate the three different intelligence centers for the types: the head, the heart, and the body. While all types have access to these centers of intelligence, these groupings demonstrate the "native" mode of intelligence (as a five, I have emotions and feelings, I just tend to need to think about them before I'm aware of them).

Your type is not your identity. In fact, our type-constricted nature is an oversimplification and restriction of who we really are. In this way, no type is good or bad; all come with strengths and weaknesses and are, on their own, insufficient for all of life. 

The Enneagram was primarily developed for use as a spiritual map in the sense that it enables us to perceive ourselves as being on a journey toward wholeness with the recognition that our own individual type is our "starting point". This is why, when I meet with clients, I talk about "type-constricted" versus "expansive" behavior. Each of us is more than just a number on a circle and when we allow ourselves to be constricted into our type we lose some of the beauty of who we are when we're fully alive. Expansion, in this sense, is about recognizing when operating in our type-constricted behavior would be disingenuous, hurtful, or otherwise unhelpful and choosing to view and to behave differently about the situation at hand. 

That's where the magic happens, friends. There's nothing better, in my mind, than seeing someone discover more to themselves than they were aware of before; to watch them come alive and realize that they are more than the patterns they've been living in. That's why I love walking through this with people and why I want more people to have access to these tools.