Becoming the  Best Version of Yourself Through the Enneagram

In recent years, I have learned more about myself by studying the Enneagram than I have through any other area of study. That is why it is featured first and foremost on this website.
 

The Enneagram is beginning to gain traction in our culture. There is a lot of information out there about the Enneagram. A lot of that information is centered on finding out what your number is. Certainly, that is a place to start, and we have information about how to do that here. However, I really began to grow when I explored the lines that connect the numbers. Without understanding the relationships represented by the crisscrossing lines, knowing your Enneagram number is just a curiosity. It’s just another online quiz like knowing your Hogwart’s house.
 

As human beings, we have aspects of all the personality types within us, but each of us has a dominate personality type; our number. Each number has a strength point and a stress point. When things are going well, we follow the line on the diagram and move toward our strength point. When we are under stress, we follow another line and move to our stress point.
 

Many have described this as going to the ‘dark side’ of their stress number or going to the ‘light side’ of their strength number. I reject those terms. There are no ‘dark’ and ‘light’ sides. It all belongs. Accepting this was a game changer for me.
 

Life is stressful from time to time. That is just a fact. When that stress comes, we move away from our ‘home’ number and follow the connecting line to our stress number. If we are not self-aware, we are going to take on the worst qualities of our stress number. When someone says that they go to the dark side of their stress number, I am hearing someone who is not very self-aware.
 

When you are under stress, you have full access to ALL of the energy of your stress number; the good and the bad. If you are self-aware, you can tap into the strengths of your stress number.
 

Since I am a 9, I will use the 9 as an example. Under stress, 9s move to 6. Six is all about fear. So, 9s stop being chill and relaxed and get all wrapped up in anxiety when they are under stress. Sixes live in that space and order their lives in ways that help them manage that fear. A 9, under stress, moves to 6 and now has full access to all of the energy of a 6.
 

So, as I began to learn to be more self-aware, I would say to myself: “I am under stress right now. That means I am moving toward 6. What would a 6 do if they found themselves in this situation?” Then, I would do that. Doing this has brought me both professional and personal success and strangely enough, I find myself operating from 3, the 9’s strength number. It is all connected. It all belongs.
 

I am convinced that all Enneagram types can do this. So, if you are studying the Enneagram, you want to read up on the characteristic of your stress number as well as your home number. When you are under stress, acknowledge that stress and ask yourself: “What would that number do, in this situation?”