What Enneagram Profile Type Am I?

(A collage that I put together from photos taken by Endlisnis on flickr)

According to the Enneagram, we have one core Personality Type. It appears that we are either born with it or that it can be the result of early nurturing. This core is home base. It describes you the most. If you are a bird, which is free to roam and to explore all other Types, you always come flying home. You reside in this sector; as if it is a familiar nest.

Confusion In Assessing Which Profile Type

Diagram A: Enneagram By Energy Centers

Going by the feedback from my last post on How Would You Cross the River, some of you clearly do not face any difficulty in deciding which profile type you are. Yet, there are others who confessed to having problems in deciphering.

Using the breath of your life experiences to gauge can cloud your mind from making the right analysis. It may be that you have operated out from a different Enneagram Type for a period in time. Then, life may have presented different challenges, which require a different set of attributes that you have built upon.

Additionally, you may at some point in your life, decide to explore some other aspects of who you are. If this has been the case, you would have probably been exploring the sectors that are most within reach to your true Type. Such sectors correspond to your adjacent wings or lines that direct to your stress or security points, according to the Enneagram grid.

In trying to make an analysis, it is possible that you identify with strengths and weaknesses from each sector of the Enneagram Type; hence, throwing you into confusion. Finally, your friends may wrongly assess you, when they base their conclusions on the actions they perceive that you have been taking. (Summary from the various comments to my last post: Only three bloggers got my Profile Type rightly; Irene, Hunter and Rita. Kudos!! The rest had either not ventured a guess or guessed wrongly.)

Based on what I learned from Raj Revindran, in order to make the right assessment, it is important to separate the behavior from the underlying motivation of your actions. The question to ask is: What drives your strategy? What is the underlying life strategy of your various actions? Raj put me through a series of penetrating questions that kept me awake for two nights.

Diagram B: Enneagram By Life Strategy

Crossing The River In Style

I finally arrived at the answer of my Profile Type. Go over my previous post here and scroll all the way near the bottom of my article. At the part where I asked my readers to make a guess as to what profile type I am, I placed the picture of a lady next to my question. The clue is found in this very picture.

It depicted: Ballet plus Water. Put them together, it becomes Water Ballet.

If you read over the nine styles of river crossing carefully, the answer can be deduced: I am a Type Four. The Fours use a variety of fancy styles and even do a water ballet (see above collage).

Raj went on to ask me to consider the possibility that I have a strong influence from my wings (wing of three and wing of five). Having an influence of attributes from both these wings might had prevented me from making a quick deduction of my true Ennegram Type, he explained.

So over the weekend, I borrowed a book that he recommended from the library, to explore the possibility. There on page 112 of Head Versus Heart–and Our Gut Reactions: The 21st Century Enneagram by Michael Hampson, it is said….

FOUR may be tempted to withdraw from the world – but waiting in the THREE wing are gifts for relating to and enriching the lives of others. FOUR can be tempted to look at the world with envy – but waiting in the FIVE wing is a more objective view of the lives that other people live. The gifts in the wings can even help develop the FOUR’s own gift of creativity – potentially a gift to inspire others, and containing seeds of wisdom. FOUR only needs to avoid having its temptation toward envy compounded instead by THREE’s temptation for making a false self-presentation to the world or FIVE’s temptation toward isolation and healing.

The paragraph hit home!

If you have been following my blog, you will note that my recent personal articles are mostly centered on dreams, visions, visualizations, design, images, photography, love, beauty, creating miracles, making mind movies, etc. Law of Attraction is something that sits very well with me.

Here is what I have gathered that is true of a Enneagram Type Four . I am at heart, a creative person, lover of beauty and highly aware of my inner life. Authenticity is what sits in the throne of my Being. My life plan is to convert pain, ugliness and illusions into beauty through creativity, inspiration, vision and compassion.

Diagram C: Enneagram By Gift

Raj pointed out to me that my search on this Earth is to know who I am. Fair enough. I have conducted this search both previously and even up to this day through engaging in a multitude of experiences.

Yet in recent times, I have come to know that the external journey can never be as enriching and fulfilling as the one that comes from within. Seeking seizes in the space that is free of all illusions. It marks an ending of my ego. In Stillness, I am my divine Self.

How To Determine The Profile Type You Are

Knowing my life plan and strategy has now definitely increased my conscious awareness.

Which brings me back to you.

What if you still do not know what profile type you are and hence, unable to determine the deeper meanings of your human existence?

I believe that most books or text on Enneagram would contain quizzes, such as this online test, for assistance. Even then, it may be hard for you to pick the answer in the format of a MCQ, if you have no clarity.

Well, I am a highly visual person. I prefer to work in pictures. So other than the pictures above, I have adapted and recreated images from the same book that I was reading over the weekend, for your easy analysis. Get a feel of which of the attributes that best describe you. You can use these, on top of quizzes and introspection, for a final deduction.

Diagram D: Enneagram By Animal

Diagram E: Enneagram By National Stereotype

Diagram F: Enneagram By Retail Road Vehicle

Kindly note that I did not come up with the descriptions that went along with each Enneagram Type. If you do not agree to your animal type or the vehicle that best describes your personality, please do not protest here! You can state whether or not you disagreed with the descriptions in the feedback below; but most certainly, write to the author of the book, with accompanying reasons.

Michael Hampson also did a nice job with other factors for comparison amongst the nine Enneagram Types; such as political alliances, temptations, temperature and people from the bible. While his book has a Christian slant to it, it is definitely an interesting read! For those of you who are interested, it also delves into the Seven Deadly Sins, biblical journeys, prayers and confessions that you can make, for spiritual growth.

Change Your Car; A Creative Challenge To You

Are you already driving the vehicle that best reflects your Enneagram Type? If it is not the case, will you consider changing your car?

What other factors do you think can be used to describe the 9 Enneagram Types? Pop stars? Food? Music? Please give examples, if you would like to take a creative stab at this challenge.

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Tagged as: Creativity, enneagram