The Enneagram: Pathways to Happiness

Discovering the Enneagram

Until we discover the Enneagram, most of us have been going through life unaware of the behavioural patterns that have been negatively affecting the way we live our lives. We act in habitual ways, reacting to other people and life circumstances as we always have, without any awareness that it might be possible to be different. Perhaps we even say “I’ve always been this way. It’s just the way I am.”

Many people try to improve self-worth and bring more balance and ease into their lives by using a variety of methods such as healings, crystals, workshops, courses, affirmations. All of these are of value and many help for a while; however, most people discover that life soon resumes the usual pattern and they slip back into their old ways without having gained any real understanding of their deeper selves.

The truth is, the way we experience life is a direct reflection of our inner world so if we want life to change we have to change our inner world. However, it is hard to make lasting personal change if you have no real understanding of why you are the way you are. Working with the Enneagram gives us, however, the opportunity to facilitate rapid and permanent spiritual growth because, unlike those other methods that work from the ‘outside in’ - resulting in little lasting change - the Enneagram works from the ‘inside out’. By studying the self-defeating patterns of our personality type and becoming aware of the ways in which our patterns limit us, we can finally begin to change our inner world and experience real and lasting improvement in our experience of life.

For most people, discovering the Enneagram for the first time is a revelation, an exciting time filled with new horizons of understanding about ourselves and others. Suddenly our own inner world starts to make sense as we discover why we are the way we are and we find ourselves looking for the patterns of the other personality types in everyone we meet. And as we continue to work with the Enneagram knowledge, we gain further insights into our own behaviour patterns whilst those of others also become clearer - with the result that, instead of seeming complex, other people become easier to understand and to live with.

Even more exciting is the realisation that we have finally found the key to positive change, both within ourselves and our lives. As the Enneagram reveals truths about ourselves that we never knew, we begin to recognise how much of our lives have been run by the negative patterns of our personality; moreover, we realise that, rather than remaining stuck where we are, imprisoned by these apparently unavoidable patterns, we have discovered the way out into expansive freedom and limitless potential. Instead of reacting to life as we always have we finally realise that we now have a choice about the way we react to our world; in other words, we can start coming off ‘autopilot’ and start living life as our true selves.

The Enneagram is the key to positive change

Having discovered the Enneagram it becomes difficult to imagine how we ever lived our lives without it. Our previously familiar world now seems like an exciting new place that needs to be explored and rediscovered. Rather than stumbling aimlessly in the dark, we walk through life feeling as if our eyes are truly open for the first time, our world illuminated with understanding and insight. If persevered with, and used in a positive and proactive manner, the wisdom of the Enneagram stretches deep into the inner workings of the conscious, subconscious and higher-conscious states of being, unlocking all the secrets of that (apparently) complex inner world.

The knowledge that is contained within the Enneagram is powerful and universal, but as with all forms of power, its ability to bring about change is limited to the way in which it is taught, understood and applied. Merely being aware of what the Enneagram teaches us about the personality is not necessarily sufficient to initiate personal growth. Knowledge only becomes wisdom when it is applied. If approached in a superficial manner, or with a closed mind, the Enneagram can be used to ‘justify’ negative behaviour. People have been known to say “Well, of course I behave like that. What else can you expect – after all I AM a One... Two...Three... ” or whatever type they are. This is the sort of approach which will just keep us stuck in patterns that do not serve us by reinforcing previously held paradigms and bias and can reduce the Enneagram to just another method of boxing human behaviour.

If however, the Enneagram is approached with personal honesty and compassion for self, with real openness and willingness to change negative patterns of thinking and behaving, then the amazing knowledge and wisdom provided by the Enneagram offers unlimited potential for growth, expansion and contentment, enabling each of us to embrace all that life offers with high self-esteem and ease within our relationships