Learning to understand ourselves

It is quite usual, on discovering our Type, to be a little underwhelmed. We look at the other Types and think they have it 'easier', 'better' or are 'more interesting'. But what part of you is saying that? It's the ego. And part of this, I think, is because we know our challenges more than we know our gifts which can often be taken as so much of a 'given' that we don't even see them. And if we don't see them, we don't know them and, even less, appreciate them.

Or sometimes, as we start to become aware of the Enneagram and the different Types, we can see some of the less healthy behaviours of particular Types playing out in our friends or loved ones and start to feel antagonistic towards that Type in general. It is not the Type that is at issue however, but the level of health (or awareness) at which that person is operating. Every Type, starting in the lower average Levels of Development and below, manifests behaviour that is difficult to deal with. The lower down the Levels we are, the more we are caught up in selfish patterns of behaviour which are not only counterproductive to us getting what we want but can often end up alienating those people closest to us who can help us the most.

But as Madonna once said, and I agree with her:, 'No matter who you are, no matter what you did, no matter where you've come from, you can always change, become a better version of yourself'.

And that's what it's all about. It doesn't matter what Type we are, it is important, however, that we know what Type we are, so that we can know and appreciate our gifts and how best to use and develop them. And also to understand our challenges to be able to better deal with them. And, in so doing, we move up the Levels of Development.