The Enneagram is a powerful personality typing system that examines your core motivations, fears, and desires. There are nine personality types interconnected in various ways, but they each stand alone as a primary way of encountering the world. Do you know your type? Check out my Enneagram resources page to get started.
Mindfulness is a regular practice of seeing and accepting things as they are. There are a variety of rituals or practices that can lend to mindfulness: meditation, breath work, thought work, or belief work. Many spiritual paths have mindfulness incorporated into it, and it’s rising in popularity in the last few decades. Even though it’s very trendy, it has deep roots and can have a powerful impact on how we view the world.
Each Enneagram type can benefit from mindfulness in different ways. Read on to learn more about each type and how mindfulness can be useful to them.
Type Ones are self-controlled, principled, rational, moralistic people. They are visionaries and champions of causes and call the rest of us to be better. Their passion for good can make them critical or judgmental. They feel driven by an internal moral compass that can at times be cruel. They can also become resentful when they feel others aren’t working as hard as them or doing the right thing. They can feel continually frustrated that reality isn’t matching up to the ideal of what it could be.
Mindfulness can help Ones with things they don’t approve of. Instead of criticizing people in their lives, they can practice a lack of judgment. Ones can be very hard on themselves, so with mindfulness, they can embrace acceptance and simple awareness.
Type Twos are generous, people-pleasing, interpersonal, kind people. They are deeply involved with others, and enjoy spending love, time, and effort on their relationships. They feel driven by an internal system to love others and sacrifice for them. They pride themselves on being selfless, and if they feel their efforts aren’t being returned, they become angry and resentful towards people.
When a Two practices mindfulness, they can connect with other people on a deep level. Instead of seeking validation from others, they can help people more authentically. Twos have high expectations of how people should return their love, so mindfulness will give them grace and humility. It can also help them connect with their own needs, which they often reject.
Type Threes are hardworking, competitive, excelling, pragmatic people. They are continuously trying to outdo their personal bests and often times, the “bests” of others. They adapt to the culture’s idea of success because they subconsciously believe it’s the only way to earn love. They work hard to achieve their idea of success, but they can often neglect their emotional world for the sake of coming out on top.
Threes can use mindfulness to connect with their inner worlds once again. By recognizing and allowing certain emotions, they can lead themselves into a more authentic place, beyond what other people think. Mindfulness will also help Threes be more aware of the needs of the people around them instead of viewing them as competition.
Type Fours are sensitive, withdrawn, emotional, expressive people. They feel naturally alienated from others, so their lives become a piece of art to draw significance and meaning from their isolation. They amplify negative emotions to show the “realness” of life and tend to look down on others who don’t understand the depth of suffering. They can feel continually frustrated that reality doesn’t match the depth of what they experience.
Mindfulness can help Fours see the present moment without the filter of overwhelming emotions or projections. The practice of seeing reality as it is will bring Fours out of a self-absorbed view of the world and open their field of view to those around them. When Fours are able to connect with the present and with others, they can see things aren’t nearly as awful as they tend to believe.
Type Fives are analytical, cerebral, nonintrusive, innovative people. Like Fours, they feel naturally alienated from others, and they seek insight by diving deep into a mental world. They reject their own needs and instead offer their discoveries to others. They’re hypersensitive to others crossing their boundaries and seek self-sufficiency to rationalize their distance from the outside world.
Fives live in their minds, and mindfulness can be a powerful practice to help them reconnect with their bodies and their emotions. Being accepting of the moment can counteract Five’s tendency to escape reality and over-intellectualize everything. Mindfulness can give Fives perspective on the larger picture of the moment as opposed to the hyper focus on particular topics.
Type Sixes are loyal, responsible, engaging, anxious people. They are deeply human, outspoken, and friendly. They’ll invest deeply into networks that offer security and stability for the individual Six, whether that be religion, family, a work place, or the arts. They feel driven by an internal need for truth. They lack confidence in themselves, so will turn to outside systems of guidance, but they also lack confidence in others, so many Sixes have a pendulum way of thinking and living as they seek out truth.
Sixes have very active minds, continually assessing their environment, weighing options, and analyzing things. Mindfulness can help them simply observe their thoughts. The act of observing their thoughts as just thoughts and not moral judgments may help them make decisions with more confidence. When Sixes rest in the moment, they see how the natural dichotomies of life can coexist peacefully.
Type Sevens are fun-loving, scattered, busy, multi-talented people. They seek freedom through new experiences, magical thinking, and laughter. They’re larger than life personalities and can be quite assertive with what they want or need. They reframe everything positively, ignoring the negativity in life and doing all they can to avoid pain. They feel continually frustrated that reality doesn’t live up to their imagination.
Although on the surface, Sevens seem like they don’t have a care in the world, much of their activity is driven by anxiety. Mindfulness can help connect them with the deeper, more uncomfortable emotions they’re seeking to avoid. Being present with those emotions will give them space to explore the shadowy sides of reality. It can also help them appreciate the positives of life deeply before they move on to the next adventure.
Type Eights are direct, confident, dominating, practical people. They deny that they have any vulnerabilities and project strength instead. They’re seeking control over reality and can be very reactive when situations or people don’t conform to their will. They identify with their anger but also can be quite calm and collected. They fight for people in their circle and seek to uphold, inspire, and protect others.
Mindfulness can help Eights embrace their vulnerabilities by being present with their needs and emotions. When an Eight sits with their anger instead of acting on it, they can embody strength without needing to assert themselves over others. Eights also benefit from seeing the moment as it is, not as an assault on their autonomy or anything to be controlled.
Type Nines are easygoing, agreeable, complacent, people. They’re down to earth and naturally accepting of others. They desire harmony above all else, so they will minimize conflicts if they threaten their sense of peace. They have permeable boundaries and find it easy to take on other people’s agendas, emotions, and opinions. In so doing, they can often forget themselves and their own presence. When they embrace their own elemental instincts and desires, they can be powerful healers and creative forces for good.
Being present helps the Nine recognize their own needs and desires in the moment instead of being swept up by others. Nines are disconnected from their bodies, so practicing mindfulness can be a path to reconnect with their instinctual self. It’s also a way for the Nine to be with conflict without the need to positively reframe it or disassociate from reality when it becomes too overwhelming.
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You can read more about mindfulness here on the blog. I help people with a mindfulness practice in my life coaching. If you’re ready to incorporate it into your life, get in touch today!