Discerning Your Style

An Overview

An Enneagram style has four interrelated components and you can discern your style by looking at yourself from these four angles of vision.

First, an Enneagram style is a focus of attention. We are not like computers that simply record what is in our environment. We go looking for what our style wants. Ones look at reality and critically compare it to an ideal, Twos notice what people need, Threes look for ways to accomplish work successfully etc. Examine yourself. What does your attention just naturally drift towards? Not all the time, but frequently.

Second energy follows focus, so do an energy audit, either on paper or mentally. Who, where, what gives you a surge of energy? What makes you tired?

Thirdly, if you were to complete the sentence, "The world is." what would describe your view of the world?

And last, what are your personal strategies for getting through life? What gets you up in the morning? How do you set about accomplishing or coping? When do your strategies fail?

How will you know when you have found your style? Well, frequently, a pronounced sense of revulsion may sweep over you. Some people cry? Others think "How did they know all that stuff about me?

Then after you think you know your style, go to either The Enneagram Spectrum or The Enneagram Made Easy and look over the list of adjectives that fit your style. You should have some sense of recognition.