Most likely, you've heard of your star sign and may have taken the Myers-Briggs personality quiz to determine your type. How much do you really know about your Enneagram type, however?

The Enneagram of Personality is a collection of nine different ways of thinking, feeling and acting in the world. These are represented by the numbers 1 through 9. The nine types of enneagram are organized around three central points: the body (Types 8-9 and 1), the heart (Types 2, 3 and 4), and the mind (Types 5, 6 and 7).

The Enneagram helps us to understand our subconscious selves. This can be particularly useful for midlife. Your Enneagram type might be more complex than you think.

Jim Gum, Enneagram expert, sat down to explain what the Enneagram was and how it can help you find your type.

Let's start with what is an Enneagram?

Gum, who has been a practitioner of the Enneagram for more than 30 years, stated that the Enneagram shows our "unconscious patterns--patterns and thinking, feeling, behavior."

Gum said, "At its most basic, the Enneagram consists of how people think, feel and behave." "Some people think or feel or act too much, others don't think or feel or act enough, while some people are completely out of touch with their thoughts and feelings."

Imagine a lighthouse. It rotates and has a beam. My beam of light can rotate so I can see all things. The Enneagram would tell my beam of light that it has gotten stuck and can no longer rotate. What I focus on is a small slice of reality. The Enneagram identifies nine different slices of reality.

"And because everyone sees a small slice of reality, there are two mistakes. We believe our light is going around and see everything. We believe that everyone sees the same things as us. This also explains why we have a shadow selves, which is because we are blind to certain things or choose not to see them.

Midlife Personality Shifts

Gum said that midlife unrest is often due to our fighting selves.

To survive the first half of your life, you must develop a personality. This helped you get through your family and gave you direction. That's the first half. However, by your 30s and 40s, the strategy you used to navigate the world, your way of being, is no longer sufficient. It is not enough.

The question is: Do I keep being the automatic self that got me through childhood and helped me find a partner and have children? Do I realize that my automatic self may not be as satisfying or sufficient as I thought?

Gum quoted Carl Jung as saying: "We cannot live the afternoon according to the program for life's morning."

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Midlife is the time to evaluate which parts of our individual ways of thinking, feeling and acting are most effective and which are not.

"That work is hard work. Gum stated that we have to be open about the things that aren’t great. This type of self-reflection can be done using the Enneagram.

Learning to embrace light and dark

"There are great things about every type. Gum stated that there is also a lot of bad stuff. "Some people don’t like to dwell on their weaknesses. Some people do. This is a function if type. The second half of my life [is] about accepting the light and darkness within me.

"Midlife is about embracing the light and accepting the darkness. It will not control you, but if it does, it only gets stronger.

Gum is an example of Type 2 (the female archetype or helper). They overhelp. This is their strategy.

It can be intrusive and obtrusive. People say, "Hey, back off!" But they really want to be seen as helpful. This is a very serious emotional crisis. This is not about 'do i help or not', which would be simple to resolve. It's 'when is help coming from a healthy, happy heart' and 'when am I needed to help?' Each type faces one of these dilemmas.

Find Your True Enneagram Type

Knowing our Enneagram type will help us identify these urges and desire so that we can control them, rather than them controlling.

But unlike your run-of-the-mill online personality quiz, your Enneagram type delves deep into your unconscious motivations. Without a competent guide or deeper understanding, it can be difficult for you to identify your type.

Gum stated that the Enneagram is difficult to determine because there's no definitive test (like with Meyers Briggs personality types) Gum. It's all about shadow work, which can be difficult for everyone. How do you get the things you don’t want or see?

A practitioner of the Enneagram helps you see your inner shadow self clearly.

Gum stated, "As an Enneagram practitioner, I can make a lot progress with someone over core issues that keep them up but they don’t know why." It's difficult to see that stuff. It takes both being open to it and being kind to yourself as well as others to see the beauty. It is amazing how much insight you can get in such a short time.

Related: Shadow Work? How to dig deeper into your emotional graves

"The Enneagram focuses on our automatic routines. Gum stated that it's how we live our lives. "The work or awareness of consciousness is the work of consciousness. The Enneagram can be used to quickly understand what motivates and where we get stuck.

Jim Gum is also an Enneagram coach and hosts Story Enneagram a podcast that features stories, interviews and reflections. He also pens the Story Enneagram blog.

These online resources provide valuable information about how to identify and understand your enneagram type, so you can navigate midlife more positively, thoughtfully, and effectively.

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By: M. Davis-McAfee
Title: Skeptical Of Enneagram? Here’s Why It’s Helpful, Especially In Midlife (It’s Less Woo Woo Than You Think)
Sourced From: www.suggest.com/what-is-enneagram-benefits-in-midlife/2710332/
Published Date: Tue, 03 Jan 2023 12:45:00 +0000

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