Sometimes the best support for yourself is to embrace your type

Enneagram is a fascinating tool to help us to navigate as we explore ourselves on a deeper level. It provides support in understanding ourselves and that which we are experiencing, better. As we go deeper into our understanding we also begin to discover suppressed sides of our personality that can be judged by us as "not good". 

We have heard from many students of the Enneagram that once they fully accept the benefit of this knowledge, they begin to see themselves in a broader light, including hidden motivations behind actions and behaviors that they are not proud of, leaving them in a constant state of self-judgement. But with this in mind, allow me to remind you that each of the aspects of ourselves that we deem negative, when explored and experienced consciously, can become the catalyst to our unique and greater understanding of life.

If, for example, we look to the Enneagram type three, success can have a very different meaning before embarking on the path of inner work, when it has the potential to be unhealthy, or after, when it can become assimilated in a more harmonious way and instead be experienced from a fundament of connection. To arrive at this new perspective, the path can include much exploration, self-inquiry, release of certain aspects and a deepening of understanding. The result is then that the same, previously negative or isolating quality, now becomes harmonious and powerful, not only in serving the individual but all of humanity.

Our qualities are not here to be judged but instead to be explored for their greater purpose, giving them their deeper meaning and through this understanding, serving humanity. It is important to remind ourselves that through the spiritual work we engage in daily, we gain knowledge and deeper experiential understanding of certain qualities that is not available to other Ennegram types. 

Each Enneagram type has a different role to explore and provides their greater understanding for the benefit of others.

Each of these messages is provided to support us and to remind us that although sometimes our habitual patterns can appear not to be as we would like them to be, they serve a greater purpose. It is only for us to see how our experiences constantly give us opportunities to see different perspectives of the same quality. Our job is to regularly practice awareness of our qualities, observing our actions and motivations with compassionate understanding. Even behind the actions that we sometimes judge as being destructive there is a great need that is motivating our choices and we have the opportunity to support and honor that need in a more harmonious way.