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by Richard Rohr & Andreas Ebert
'The Enneagram: A Christian perspective' is exactly that! It's a very helpful explanation of the Enneagram system from a Christian viewpoint. It doesn't have the useful questionnaires that some of the other books do, but it has helpful descriptions of each of the nine types, particularly from the viewpoint of likely churchmanship, preferred styles of prayer and worship, and so on, as well as more general descriptions.
A little heavy in places, and it would be hard to follow if someone knew nothing about the Enneagram in advance, but recommended for anyone wanting to reconcile this fascinating personality system with Christian belief.
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Would You Like Help to Determine your Temperament?
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Type 1 Type 2 Type 3 Type 4 Type 5 Type 6 Type 7 Type 8 Type 9 |
To Get Happiness , Sevens Believe, If Life Gives You Lemons, make Lemonade
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To print a copy of an Free Enneagram ebook
The study of the Nine Temperaments is called the Enneagram and is described in the free ebook listed above. The Enneagram types (Temperaments) are not made up of lists of character traits, but are founded in a person's core values. Each Temperament represents what that person considers something very important to their life such as power, security, harmony, knowledge, fulfillment, i.e.
Your Temperament enables you to make a valuable contributions to your life; but it also causes you to neglect other values, creating a psychological ‘blind spot” for you. This is why, if you: “KEEP DOING WHAT YOU BEEN DOING, YOU WILL CONTINUE TO GET WHAT YOU HAVE BEEN GETTING.” Index of More Articles about Leadership
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How to Get Happiness
I'm a coach who works with clients on personal and professional development issues. While no client has ever specifically asked me to help them become "happier," I think it's the purpose, yes? Our goals, plans and dreams are all designed to make us happier.
But what happens when we achieve a goal? Well, have you ever talked to someone who finally got a book published, or won a political campaign, found the partner they wanted, had the new baby, or got the big promotion and found them somewhat down in the dumps after a week or so?
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It's a law of physics and a law of emotions that what goes up must come down. We need our successes, and certainly to have our goals and to reach them. This makes life interesting, allows us to explore ourselves and our potentials and talents, gives us a livelihood, and enriches our lives. We celebrate our successes with great joy and happiness, but this can only be a temporary state. What then?
Authentic and lasting happiness is a state of being not a state of mind. It must come from inner states, not external events. When you develop your emotional intelligence, you're more likely to achieve this state. It allows you to conduct yourself in happiness, in a positive state, through all the ups and downs of life.
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Why develop your emotional intelligence? As W. L. Shirer wrote, "Most true happiness comes from one's inner life, from the disposition of mind and soul. Admittedly, a good inner life is hard to achieve, especially in these trying times. It takes reflection and contemplation and self-discipline."
These are all emotional intelligence competencies which you can develop. It's well worth your time. Instead of focusing on "time management," or "stress management," or "leadership," or "communication," go to the foundational level and develop your emotional intelligence. Instead of taking a part, grab the whole. It will keep you off the "pleasure roller coaster," where you expect momentary highs to last forever, or to sustain you through the inevitable challenges.
If you expect the highs to continue indefinitely, you're going to be disappointed. You have to be able to appreciate, as well, slow days, calm days, boring days, and the ordinary day because on some days that's the reality, and all we have is the day we have. You can stay present, instead of going into the future or back into the past. The heights of emotion do not last. In the case of positive emotions, we are sorry. In the case of negative emotions, we are delighted. Think back on some major disappointment in your life, and process back over your emotional reactions. Surely there was anger, grief, sadness, frustration, even depression when it first occurred. (Or shock, which is a shutting down of emotions for protective purposes.) A week later, how did you feel? A month later? Now? You can retrace the same with positive emotions. Put another way, "after the honeymoon comes the marriage." But don't let this thought dismay you. It isn't "why bother because I'll always go back to a low level." Part of developing your emotional intelligence is being able to tolerate greater levels of emotion. And things overall can become much more positive. After all, for most of us it's the downward spiral after a failure or loss that's the most difficult to manage. This receding of the initial emotion will be the course unless you've failed to develop resilience, an emotional intelligence competency. Resilience means being able to bounce back from failure, disappointment and loss without losing your enthusiasm and hope for the future. The only permanent damage from any deep emotional event would be if you came out of it bitter, cynical, or hopeless and unable to move on. Learn to manage your emotions so you can keep a more even keel, enjoying the good, tolerating the bad, and knowing each will pass. This allows you to more greatly appreciate the good things, by the way. Sooner or later we learn to grab the moment when it's good, yes? How many times have you heard someone say, "I didn't appreciate it when I had it?" That would be a real loss in your life, yes? This is not about losing enthusiasm for achievements and goals. This is about laying the foundation that will allow you to maneuver better in all you do, have better outcomes and not sabotage yourself. You see, we obstacles we throw in our own way are the ones we need to eliminate. The fear of success and the fear of failure are both about emotions. After all, the result of success is a high state of emotion, and the result of failure is a high state of emotion. Get beyond that. Go for your successes! Learn to manage your failures! Learn emotional intelligence.
©Susan Dunn, MA, Emotional Intelligence Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc . I teach individuals to master change and transform their lives through the power of emotional intelligence. Individual coaching, Internet courses, and ebooks (http://www.webstrategies.cc/ebooklibrary.html ). EQ matters more to your health, success and happiness than IQ, and it can be learned. Mailto:sdunn@susandunn.cc for FREE ezine.
The Red Trangle in the above image points to the ASSERTIVE TEMPERAMENTS which move against their feelings. They are:
Temperament 3 – The members of this Temperament are aggressive against ANY feelings that may interfere with achievement or success. Feelings are put on hold while the task is accomplished. The problem is that they are rarely dealt with because there's always another task and another reason to not deal with them. Feelings simply get in the way and are unimportant to the goal. Image is preferred over feeling (in other words, they knows what feelings should look like and may even portray behavior that mimics appropriate feelings, but may not genuinely experience the feelings themselves). We call members of this Temperament - Achiever – Performers. Temperament Three examples are: Oprah Winfrey, Tom Cruise, Tiger Woods, Lance Armstrong, and Bill Clinton. These people are attracted to and value productivity, industry, and competence. They envision making the world more productive, organized, efficient, and smooth running. They see the universe as chaos and want to really make it a cosmos, a harmonious and orderly system.
Temperament 7 – The members of this Temperament are aggressive against NEGATIVE feelings. There's a constant effort to buoy life to the positive and pleasurable. An attitude of entitlement to the good things in life can sometimes be perceived. Reframing or putting a positive spin on life is a way of keeping any bad feelings from surfacing. Thinking is preferred over feeling. We call members of this Temperament - Visionary – Optimists. Temperament Seven examples are: Robin Williams, Steve Jobs, Tom Hanks, Anthony Quinn, and Terry Bradshaw. These people want to enjoy life and experience all its possibilities. They value joy and variety. They envision making the world a more delightful place to live.
Temperament 8 – The members of this Temperament are aggressive against exposing SOFT feelings. Feelings leave them with a sense of vulnerability. The soft underbelly is left exposed for people to take advantage of which goes against the desire to be strong. Feelings can aggressively be denied to the point of not even being noticed, in the self as well as in others. Doing is preferred over feeling. We call members of this Temperament - Challenger – Protectors. Temperament Eight examples are: Martin Luther King, Jr., FDR, Sean Connery, Donald Trump, and John Wayne. These people want to live life fully and freely. They are attracted to, appreciate, and effectively use power. They envision using their strength to influence others and bring about a more just world where power and resources are equitably distributed.
Temperament Two examples are: Bill Cosby, Alan Alda, Nancy Reagan, Dolly Parton, and Pat Boone. These people want to know they are loving. They want to nurture others and foster relationships. They value and are attracted to love. They envision making the world a more loving place to live.
Would You Like Help to Determine your Temperament?
Temperament Seven examples are: Robin Williams, Steve Jobs, Tom Hanks, Anthony Quinn, and Terry Bradshaw. These people want to enjoy life and experience all its possibilities. They value joy and variety. They envision making the world a more delightful place to live.
Temperament Nine examples are: Barack Obama, Ronald Reagan, Abraham Lincoln, Jimmy Stewart, Carl Jung, and Dwight Eisenhower. These people want to feel at one with others and at home in the universe. They value peace, harmony, and unity. They envision making the world a more harmonious, ecumenical, and comfortable place to live for everyone.
We use numbers to designate each of the Temperament Types because numbers are value neutral. They imply the whole range of attitudes and behaviors of each Temperament without specifying anything either positive or negative.
The numerical ranking of the Types is not significant. A larger number is no better than a smaller number.
No Temperament Type is inherently better or worse than any other. While all the Temperament Types have unique assets and liabilities, some Types are often more desirable than others in our society.
You may not be happy with your particular Type. You may feel that your Type is “limited" in some way. As you learn more about all the Types, you will see that just as each has unique capacities, each has different “limits.”
People do not change from one basic Temperament Type to another. Some Types are more valued in our society than others; it is because of the qualities that society rewards, not because of any superior value of those Types.
The descriptions of the Temperament Types apply equally to males and females, since no Type is inherently masculine or feminine. Not everything in the description of your basic Type will apply to you all the time because you fluctuate constantly.
This Program was developed by the Just Wait Foundation a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation to prevent drug, alcohol, and tobacco problems among teenagers. The Foundation provides one-year scholarships (two semesters) at a Community College or $1000 award to teens that completes the 4 year Just Wait Teen™ Positive Youth Development Program, obtains a GED, or graduates from high school - alcohol, tobacco, and drug free. The Just Wait Foundation has arranged to use of 80 acres to raise fruit and vegetables to finance the scholarships
We offer free training for any person or group that wants to start this program in their community.
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Index of Articles about the Visionary - Optimist
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