Article # 8 – You

This is a roll up your sleeves kind of article. Historically, people, businesses, employers etc. have used Myers/Briggs, DISC, and strength finders as personality identification and evaluation methods. We have landed upon the Enneagram as the most effective process for getting to the true YOU. Going to the Enneagram Institute website enneagram@enneagraminstitute.com is an education on its own. Investing the 12 dollars to answer the 144-question test and getting the results is the labor part of this idea of discovery of the real YOU. (Remember we do not receive any compensation or kickbacks from our work here. Our basic content is always free.) Our event offering (article 36) has a detailed discussion about costs and benefits of a deeper dive. One of those benefits is the evaluation of your Enneagram reports.
Another resource is a book The Road Back To You written by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile. They do really good job of doing a deeper look into the 9 personality types identified in the Enneagram and unearthing some of the relationships between the types. For this rest area on your Soul Roadmap we will focus on the basic application of the material concepts.
We have found a three-stage process to be effective to work on this process of discovery of the real YOU. First, invest the time and money to go to the Enneagram website and take the 144-question test. Second, read the results as you sit quietly and ponder the report. Then read the book to develop more background on the concepts. Third, have meaningful conversations with people close to YOU, asking them how they see you showing up in the relationship you have with them. An additional possible stage is to invest even more time with organizations who have completed extensive training in the interpretation and application of the enneagram data. As with many elements of life, the data and the personal evaluation of it only gets YOU so far. It might be helpful to do some searching for someone close to you geographically who has this training. It is also possible to do this online as well.
Elaine and I are part of a small community who gather regularly to “do life together.” We completed the steps above together and shared our individual and collective results. We engaged an expert in the evaluation of Enneagram data to get a deeper clearer understanding of how to use the information. Understanding how we are built, designed, and maybe even programmed to respond to the world and people around us has been eye opening. We find it effective to dig out and review our original set of data every couple of years to remind ourselves of what we learned. Do you feel the tidal flow, continuous tugging at YOU in one direction and then another from our current culture? It is important to review so we continue to understand and remember who we genuinely are.
A few years ago, the group had a coffee cup made for me as a gag gift. It reads nice guy, good soul, a little odd. Elaine has one too it reads an angel with skin on.
After your work from this article what would your coffee cup say?