Enneagram:
SEVEN
I) IN GENERAL
If you are a
SEVEN, you are gifted in many ways. In particular, you are:
O Optimistic O
Fun‑Loving O
Gregarious
O Creative O
Joyful O
Childlike
O Imaginative O
Adventurous O
Resilient
However, like
everyone else, you have your flaws. For example, you can be:
O Escapist O
Distracted O
Superficial
O Unreliable O
Hedonistic O
Undisciplined
O Narcissistic O
Addictive O
Manic
As an Optimist you strive so hard to be happy
and avoid pain that you become addicted to pleasure‑seeking. But you are
so oblivious to your gluttony that you deny how controlling and
destructive it is.
II) SUBTYPES
Like‑minded
friends are essential to you, and you value the support network these provide.
You like having a solid home base and generally spend a lot of time there, or
return regularly to catch up on the latest news and monitor the progress of a
variety of projects. Sometimes it feels as if you have never been away, as you
seem to be able to pick up things just where you left off. You dislike feeling
that you have missed out on anything.
The plans you
make with others for adventurous things to do are almost as enjoyable as the
reality. A good plan will ensure that you experience as much as possible.
Variety and excitement are the spice of life and are provided by your "family" network. You are prepared to take risks once the odds are in your favour. You tend to be calculating rather than reckless.
You are forever fascinated to discover new and exciting people and unusual or challenging things to do. You succeed in giving some people your exclusive and undivided attention, to such an extent that they are delightedly bowled over by the compliment. You get an immense kick from new one-to-one relationships, and effortlessly succeed in inserting yourself into other people's lives.
When the luster begins to fade, you romanticize the relationship to increase its intensity and your own boredom threshold. However, your charm is so seductive that you can sometimes end up enmeshed and feeling trapped. You avoid commitment by continually moving on to another relationship which offers more interesting possibilities-often to the dismay of those you have originally captivated.
C. Social: Focus
on Sacrifice
You are willing to delay gratification for a big enough reward, such as the well-being or happiness of the group. You appear more anxious, impatient, and determined than other Optimist subtypes. This is often because the burden of being responsible for the group's welfare clashes with your not wanting to be tied down, and with your constant longing for fun and adventure.
You like positive people who can enjoy life. An enjoyment shared is an enjoyment doubled. Experiences are heightened in company, so you feel obliged to endure the seemingly endless time-wasting of the group decision making process in order to experience the stimulation of being with interesting people. Other people's limitations frustrate you, but you nevertheless cultivate a large circle of friends.
III WINGS 6 & 8
As you grew up you began to realize that your clowning around, your glibness, fantasizing, lack of follow-through and commitment were a turn-off. After all, most people prefer to be with rather more stable, responsible, and realistic companions. So you began to rely on the personality style nearest to you to give your own style some balance. You may, for example, have spotted that non-commitment is among the list of your characteristic flaws. But loyalty is one of the strengths of your Six Wing. When you learn to incorporate your wing-strength into your own personality style, you begin to soar.
Six Wing: When you access the strengths of your Six Wing you have a head combination. The Six influence moderates your "reckless-adventurer" streak with a sense of duty. It also helps you plan for problems as well as for joys. Additionally, you become more "grounded" and present to people. There is a danger, though, that you may become more fearful and inclined to bravado in the face of what seems a hostile and threatening world.
Eight Wing: When you access the strengths of your Eight Wing you have a head/gut combination, and this will help you in a different way. With it, your natural happy-go-lucky approach is modified by added survival instincts. You develop a sense of realism in planning and moderation in pleasure-seeking. You become more direct and self-assertive and develop a greater tolerance for pain. You will, however, need to be careful lest you become even more driven in your compulsive consumption of people and things.
Proper balance is achieved by accessing the strengths of both your
wings and taking care to avoid their characteristic weaknesses. When you do so,
you learn to let go of your compulsive Optimist viewpoint and begin to experience the advantages of other points of view.
IV ARROWS 1 & 5
The Arrow
Theory of the Enneagram can be very helpful when you are feeling either
stressed or secure.
As an Optimist
you are motivated by your need to be happy and to avoid pain. You are stressed
when tied down to a single project or forced to confront painful issues.
Almost as soon
as the pressure begins to build up, you gradually tend to slide to the lower
end of your own personality style. When this happens your natural tendency is to
retreat into your head. You may start calculating, rationalizing, and, above
all, planning‑anything to avoid having to actually do something. You may
clown around, make jokes, and pretend it's a big laugh. Or you may indulge in
daydreaming about the good times you experienced in the past or hope for in the
future.
As your stress
increases you find yourself all too easily adopting the negative
characteristics of your One stress point. However, this need not be an
inevitable progression. You can, instead, get in touch with the positive side.
One: (Stress
Point)
‑ You become more judgmental and hypercritical.
‑ You develop "either‑or," "black‑and‑white"
thinking.
‑ You feel imprisoned and robbed of your natural zest.
- You feel resentful, peeved, dissatisfied, and irritable.
+ You keep your promises and meet your deadlines.
+ You delay gratification and put others first.
When you are
secure you are generally more in touch with the higher side of your personality
style. As a Seven this allows you to become anchored in the present. You become
willing to accept the rough with the smooth, and hold in balance life's mixture
of joys and sorrows. You are prepared to commit yourself to people and projects
in spite of the problems, and are ready to face the music rather than try to
compose another tune. You no longer need to treat serious issues as a joke,
attempting to laugh them off or explain them away.
All of this feeds
into the positive strengths of your Five security point. But, here too there
can be some negatives. Dealing with the pluses and minuses helps us grow.
Five: (Security
Point)
+ You look at things in depth rather titan superficially.
+ You accept the importance of being quiet arid contemplative.
+ You learn objectivity through being more reflective.
+ You are better able to make do with less consumables.
-
You avoid
responsibilities by living in your head.
-
You try to
get a quick theoretical fix on people.
V) HELPFUL SUGGESTIONS
1)
No seed ever
sees the flower.
2)
Settle
down and center yourself.
3)
Happiness
is an inside job.
4)
Less is
more.
5)
Face the
music and dance.
6)
Your
sorrow will turn to joy. (John 16:20)
VI
THE SEVENTH PORTRAIT OF JESUS: JOYFUL LOVE
What characterises this
seventh portrait of Jesus is the joy that pervades his life. Joy surrounds his
birth and his entire life is a journey towards the supreme joy of his
resurrection. The source of Jesus' joy is his intimate knowledge of the
goodness of his father. Jesus has an intense desire to share his joy with us.
He delights in helping us overcome our difficulties, in reconciling us to
himself when we go astray and in restoring our joy when he finds us desolate.
In all these circumstances Jesus' joy is a diet or a sober one that involves his
whole person and all his experience.
We catch a
glimpse of this portrait in the love of those whose lives are characterised by joy or
happiness. Theirs is a joy that is at the core of being human and it finds
expression in humour, laughter and celebration. They have a deep desire to
share their joy as they realise how central it is to human life. Since joy is
seen as being so important by them, their deepest wish for others is that they
would also be completely happy.
The people who give
us our deepest experience of this joy base their happiness on a holistic or all‑inclusive
vision. This allows them to live happily with their limitations and weaknesses
as well as with the gifted and graced person they find in themselves. Adopting
this holistic vision takes a disciplined effort to bring about the change of
mind and heart required if they are to develop the conviction of being loved
that their happiness rests on. However, those who embody this portrait for us
are good at overcoming the threat to their happiness that their weaknesses and
failures pose. They also have a facility in overcoming the depressing effects
of life's hardships, being good at restoring their joy when they find
themselves in poor spirits. Finally, their joy is a quiet or sober one as it is
a balanced mixture of all the levels of joy which are available to them.
VII
How The Features Of This Portrait Are Related In Enneagram Terms
A) A joyful love inspires a vision of a world in which
happiness is seen as central to being human.
It is a joy
to be shared since it is seen to be a priority for others as
ourselves. It involves
An abundance
of joy, placing no restrictions on the joy we have an unlimited
capacity for.
A
holistic vision sees
everything in life as a source of joy. It integrates into this joy our
limitations, hardships and times of darkness.
C) Developing our
potential for joy involves:
Holy
Work which is what is
required if we are to build the convictions on which true joy is based,
... the
conviction that our limitations and weakness can lead to joy,
... the
conviction that times of hardship can generate a new level of joy.
D) Sobriety is the virtue that establishes a healthy mixture of all the joy available to us from the different levels of our experience.