Kombucha and Colour Podcast: The Enneagram
Every Monday Anna Marsh and I release a new “Kombucha and Colour Podcast”. We cover a broad range of topics from health and wellness to high vibe living to motivation and general girl chat.
This Monday, I interviewed the lovely Kate Holmes about her work as an life coach who uses The Enneagram as a tool for self development.
I had an Enneagram testing with Kate last year and I just LOVED the richness of data that I got from the testing and how it has helped in my relationships and life, that I wanted to bring her on the show to explain it in a bit more detail for those who are perhaps not familiar with it.
It is essentially a number system of 1 to 9 numbers – as I’ve presented it above.
We each have a “core type” number which influences what motivates us and what drives us forward in life. It is also then part of our pain point or what we aim to avoid. It is this core type which also determines our world view.
What motivates each Enneagram type:
- Having to do the right/good thing
- Have to be liked and be likeable
- Have to outshine the rest
- Have to be authentic/unique
- Have to understand
- Have to belong and feel safe
- Have to experience it all, have to feel safe
- Have to be in control, have to be strong
- Have to keep the balance, be settled.
As well as our overall core type, we also have a THINKING style (a 7, 6, or 5), an ACTION style (an 8, 9 or 1) and a FEELING style (a 2, 3, or 4).
We can use the Enneagram in opportunities of growth by knowing our style and the lines of stress/growth that lead away from them. (I’ve just illustrated 3 in this diagram!)
In the example I’ve drawn above – you can see the number 3 – The competitive achiever, has a line moving towards the 9 and a line moving to the 6.
In times of stress our natural tendency, if we have a low level of self awareness and are more disintegrated, is to move in the direction of the arrows. (Ie: A person with the 3 core type would move towards 9 – which would essentially mean they are trying to keep the peace with everyone and keep everything settled/balanced). If we are more self aware and integrated – we move against the direction of the arrows and adopt the thinking styles and patterns of another number (in the number 3 case it would be moving to the number 6 and adopting their qualities – which would feel very uncomfortable for someone who is settled in their pattern of thinking! But this is where the growth opportunities come!
The Enneagram system is way more complex than I could explain in this post and even far too complex to even explain in a 40 min podcast – but what we have shared today on the show is the overarching types, how you can use the Enneagram in your life. The way it divides and sub-divides and how it could be useful in a few real life examples.
I’d love to know what you think of the show! Have you done an Enneagram test before? What number are you?
I’m a 3 with a 2 wing!
Leave a comment for me below with your type – or get in touch with Kate Holmes on knh.holmes@gmail.com to have a testing and report back with her!