Cracking the Personality Code—3 Things You Need to Apply the Enneagram in your Everyday

The enneagram is an ancient psycho-somatic-spiritual framework that outlines nine unique personality archetypes and their unique approach to navigating the challenges of being human. 

Discovering your enneagram type is a powerful tool for cultivating radical self-awareness, deeper connection with yourself & others, and for navigating times of loss & change.

When discovering your type, there's a feeling of being seen—sometimes exposed—when unearthing the shadow side of your nature. 

Like, “how does this book know my most secret inner workings?"

That's often followed by googling what it means to be your type, trying to figure out what a "wing" is—and what it even means!—and following some new accounts that provide you with bits of insight into what it means to be your type.

Too often, the work stops there: you know your type and have all this information, but you're not really sure what to do with it. 

Because knowing all the descriptive words about your type and getting a laugh from a meme on Instagram isn't going to change your life.

The enneagram became a game-changer for me was really when I started to see it as an intricate three pillared system: mind, heart, and body.

Enneagram work requires more than the radical self-awareness of understanding the enneagram framework (the psychological, mind piece) but also somatic practices (for the body) and soul work (from the heart) that are required to integrate this wisdom and truly let it transform how you experience your life.

3 Things You Need to Apply the Enneagram into your Everyday

1. To know your enneagram type.
I know it sounds obvious, but when you’re ready to invest your limited energy in applying this wisdom, you want to make sure you’ve got your dominant type right. This radical self-awareness is the first step. Discovering your type's patterns give you the awareness to identify your skills, see your blindspots, and awaken to the ways you’ve been operating on autopilot. 

If you need some help connecting with your dominant type, I’d really recommend learning more about all the types and find which one truly resonates. And with this recommendation comes a gentle reminder that it’s often in the lower level behaviour that we really start to recognize ourselves or feel seen. Be gentle with yourself. 

Unsure of your type? Start your process of self-inquiry with my free Enneagram Quiz. 

Know your type already? The first step looks like going deeper into your knowledge to understand yourself better: things like your growth and stress points, defence pattern, social stance, dominant intelligence center, and instinctual subtype. These concepts can help you understand your type's relationship to the head, heart, and gut can help to inform which practices will best serve your nature. Get my Nurture your Nature course to start understanding why you do the things you do, and how you consciously evolve into who you want to be. 

2.  An open heart. 
When you are willing to see yourself like the enneagram asks you to see yourself, you need to be able to tap into the heart energy to be able to forgive yourself for the ways you've self-sabotaged and to connect with the inner knowing of your hearts' desire.

Openness, the ability to forgive, and a connection to the heart space happens by being in relationship with how you feel. Be open to pause, check-in, to be quiet, and listen tothe whispers of your heart.

In your everyday, this can look like making time and space to journal, to reflect, to meditate, to pray or chant. Whatever brings you into a receptive state will help to cultivate a connection to your inner knowing.  

3. A daily practice.
Cultivating grounded presence is key in helping you embody the potential of your type: that high level, healthiest expression of you who is connected to your purpose and taking action on her path forward.

And it comes from showing up for yourself everyday.

I'm sure this isn't news to you, as the benefits of a daily meditation practice have been confirmed by science to reduce cortisol levels and increaser overall well-being—but a daily practice doesn't happen on it’s own. It takes commitment and discipline it doesn't happen when start your day with screens, make excuses when the perfect moment doesn't arise or you’re being a shlump on the couch. 

So if you're ready to take your enneagram work into you body, so that you can start to em-body that sweet potential of yours, I invite you to bring dedication, devotion, and discipline to your daily practice. 

My favourite app that keeps me consistently showing up to move, breathe, and be still is the Open app. There are tons and tons of amazing on-demand and live classes with amazing instructors, a beautiful interface, and push notifications to remind you to keep showing up. Click here to enjoy a free 30-day trial.

Applying the wisdom of the enneagram into your everyday is really a spiritual practice of seeing your patterns (radical self-awareness), forgiving yourself & letting them go (soul work), and taking action towards a more embodied—less reactive—state (somatics). 

What’s most important when getting started with this framework isn’t doing it perfectly, but rather showing up in small sustainable ways each day.

No matter what your enneagram, I believe that a more peaceful and present you is possible.

Xo

Rachelle