Category: Enneagram
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Enneagram Work + Contemplative Practices
The Enneagram describes 9 ways we deny reality.Enneagram work involves naming our patterned ways of denying reality, noticing them (with compassion) in action, & discovering how they keep us from fulfilling our core needs & desires. While Enneagram work helps name and observe the ways we deny reality, contemplative practices give us tools to practice…
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9 Invitations for Expansion Part 3: Body (Enneagram 8, 9, 1)
9 Invitations for ExpansionPart 3: Body(Enneagram 8, 9, 1) The Enneagram is a tool that can help us identify the specific ways we have zeroed in on a small portion of reality and provides pathways for expanding our perspective. This helps us to connect more fully and deeply with others, ourselves, and the Divine. Here…
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9 Invitations for Expansion: Part 2: Heart (Enneagram 2, 3, 4)
9 Invitations for ExpansionPart 2: Heart(Enneagram 2, 3, 4) The Enneagram is a tool that can help us identify the specific ways we have zeroed in on a small portion of reality and provides pathways for expanding our perspective. This helps us to connect more fully and deeply with others, ourselves, and the Divine. Here…
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9 Invitations to Expansion: Part 1: Mind (Enneagram 5, 6, 7)
9 Invitations for ExpansionPart 1: Head(Enneagram 5, 6, & 7) The Enneagram is a tool that can help us identify the specific ways we have zeroed in on a small portion of reality and provides pathways for expanding our perspective. This helps us to connect more fully and deeply with others, ourselves, and the Divine.…
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invitation to the unburdening
Image text: Enneagram work reveals how the weight of our armor has become more crushing than the things from which it was protecting us. Increased awareness is the beginning of the unburdening. Our personality is a gift that has allowed us to protect ourselves, but as we mature, we may begin to see that it…
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certainty vs. clarity
Image text: We can’t always have the certainty we want, but discernment allows us to find the clarity we need. One of the driving needs for Enneagram 6s is for certainty, though no doubt other personality types gravitate toward certainty-seeking, as well. We like to know what’s coming so we can prepare ourselves, even if…
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Breaking pedestals
We can’t have authentic relationships with others until they fall off the pedestals we constructed and are allowed to be human. Enneagram 6s tend to look for external authorities to follow or rebel against because we don’t trust ourselves. The natural consequence is that we sometimes need more from others than what they can or…
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judgment vs. compassion
Judgement shuts down vulnerability, but compassion paves the way for connection, which is the antidote to shame. Years ago, I was part of a small group where we were encouraged to share our struggles so we could support and pray for one another. I don’t remember the specific thing I shared (probably my struggle with…
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Enneagram 6s and Advent
I didn’t grow up in a tradition that talked much about Advent or Lent or the Liturgical Calendar in general, but I keep finding myself gravitating to these rhythms that connect me with God as well as other people of faith all over the globe. This year, for the first time, we have Advent…
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who were you before you learned to protect yourself?
Enneagram wisdom teaches that our personalities developed early on in our lives as a way for us to cope with hard things. No matter how ideal childhood may have been, we all enter a messy, imperfect world where we hurt and are hurt by others. Our personalities were good and helpful gifts that helped us…
Lindsay L. O'Connor 