You’ve probably heard of the Enneagram. It’s all the rage these days, in spite of the fact that it’s been around for quite some time. It’s become increasingly popular over the past 10-20 years, especially in Christian circles, probably because of writers like Richard Rohr. With it’s rise in popularity, it has become commoditized and the beauty and sacredness of it diminished. The reality is that the enneagram has so much richness and depth. It’s a tool that can be used to help us grow and become better humans. It’s a tool that can help us understand others and how we all relate to each other. And because I believe we can all use any help we can get to move towards the direction of self love and open creativity, I thought I would share about why I think it’s been an important piece in my own creative development.
Instead of trying to force an over simplified explanation of what the enneagram is, I’m going to direct you to a website that I trust deeply. The Enneagram Institute is the best place to go for all information as it relates to the enneagram.
I’ll wait while you go read up…
Disclaimer: if you just have absolutely zero interest in the enneagram, then leave it and find something else. I promise there will be something else. In fact, I’ll probably talk about something else because I LOVE learning about this type of stuff and how to incorporate it into my own life. I find spiritual messages in all things, including pop culture, so you tell me what you like and I’ll find a way.
If you are interested in the enneagram, here are some basic principles you need to know. Even if you *think* you already know your type, continue to read unless you’re an enneagram expert in which case, you can skip to the bottom!
- The online tests results vary because what determines your enneagram number is not your *behavior* but your *motivation*
- In addition to your number, there are also three instincts that affect how you act within your number. They are called Instinctual Variants. There is some argument within the enneagram community that instead of wings, it’s actually the instinctual variants that determine the differences between numbers. So my suggestion is ignore information about wings.
- There are 3 centers that divide the numbers into 3s. The Gut Center (which contains 8, 9, and 1). The Heart Center (which contains 2, 3, and 4). And lastly, the Head Center (which contains 5, 6, and 7). More about centers here
- There are 3 stances that divide the numbers into 3s. Aggressive Stance (3, 7, and 8), Dependent Stance (1, 2, and 6), and Withdrawn Stance (4, 5, and 9). More about stances here
- To help you find your number, if you can read through the centers to determine that, then read through the stances and determine that, you will have your number. Why? Because no one number overlaps in each group.
As you can see, the enneagram is MUCH more complex than what we see in bite size segments on the internet. It’s not that those things are wrong but it can be easily discarded as insincere and we miss the value of how it can be such a beautiful tool for creative development.
The question remains, how does this help me grow creatively? How is this tool effective in helping you, as the artist, tap into a wealth of creativity and inspiration? The key to understanding how to grow in any capacity as a human is to know oneself. I was first introduced to this idea of analyzing my strengths and weaknesses and using them to grow in 12 step recovery. It was imperative to look at the things we had done wrong in our lives and make amends to those we hurt. We had to review our character defects, not from a place of shame or guilt, but from an objective view, understanding that we are loved, no matter what, and that from that place of love, we deserved to surrender the darkest parts of ourselves to a power greater than ourselves.
The 12 steps are just one medium available to us as a tool for personal growth. Meyers Briggs is another, though I have found that this has become more of a tool for employers to decide if they think you’ll be productive on their team vs a tool to help one grow. In fact, there are all kinds of tools one can use to grow, I even find messages and inspiration in pop culture. The enneagram has a level of depth to it that, in my opinion, is unmatched by any other. It’s also much more relatable to those, especially in Christian circles, than something like Astrology (which I also love). For that reason, this is one of my preferred tools to help others to get in touch with themselves.
Ideally, I would go through each number and help one understand how their particular type can utilize the enneagram to tap into their creativity. There are 9 types and 27 subtypes, so to do that would be time consuming. Instead, I want to give a general overview in the hopes that you take time to explore this for yourself.
I’ll add a little plug here that I offer one on one mentoring sessions where we would explore this type of stuff
To be creative, one must really know themselves. One must have courage to become vulnerable and allow pieces of themselves to be seen through his/her/their work. The depth to which we allow ourselves to be vulnerable is the piece that elevates our work beyond “this light looks pretty, stand here”. I see so many photographers taking editing classes to find their *voice* but I think one’s voice comes through when we allow ourselves to be seen in our work. What are our darknesses, our secrets? What are the pieces of us that we’re afraid for others to see? To tap into our creative selves, we have to know our shadows. We have to know the pieces of ourselves that need work and love and attention.
As a 7, the thing that I fear the most are my emotions. They can be overwhelming and scary, which is why I spend a lot of time seeking comfort in things outside of myself like food, shopping, and tiktok. I have a fear of intimacy because I don’t want you to see my emotions either. The artists I fear the most are the broody types who’s feelings emanate from their work. The gratuitous nature of their emotions makes me cringe because I want to always be of love and light (not genuinely, in a very fake, shallow way). I also am a self preservation 7 which means I prefer solitude over the other 7s who thrive in social settings. For me to reach a new level of creativity within myself, some things I have to do are
- pay attention to my body and actually feel things
- allow myself to become intimate with others – face to face and within my work
- explore my emotions and how I can create images from them
- spend time with something. Instead of constantly seeking the next new thing, I have to force myself to be bored and uncomfortable so I can see what comes of it
I have a friend who is a 6. I asked her how she thinks understanding her number helps her grow creatively. One of the things she discovered about herself is that creative constraints are one of the biggest ways she can expand. As a 6, she is someone who prefers structure and parameters, so when she sits down to create without any kind of idea in mind, she can become paralyzed. She struggles with where to begin and gets caught up in her head about what to do. Having some type of creative constraint gives her the structure that makes her comfortable and it opens her up creatively.
1s have a need to be perfect and so, part of their growth might include letting themselves make mistakes. 3s need to excel and achieve, so maybe something to help them grow would look like creating without showing anyone. 8s need to be in control, so maybe taking a class completely out of their comfort zone would be beneficial. As we understand ourselves, our defects of characters, our places where we feel the most resistance, we can see how to push ourselves out of our comfort zone and into a place of vulnerability. From there, we grow, we are opened up to the source that inspires us.
To summarize my entire post into some sort of conclusion, the enneagram is a wonderful tool to help you get to know your strengths and weaknesses. And through knowing yourself, you can learn to grow creatively as well. Having insight to who we are helps us elevate our work beyond aesthetics and into more of an art form, no matter what that form is.
If you would like to explore this more deeply, I want to mention again that I am now offering one on one mentoring sessions. Of course, as a photography mentor, this includes helping one with technical skills. You can create art at any skill level, but understanding how to do it in a way that will allow people to see it is important. The other piece of what I want to offer, though, is how to tap into the part of you that deserves to be seen but you’re either too afraid, or just unsure of how to get there. This includes meditations, journal prompts, learning more about oneself, etc. Here is the link for more information. And here is how to contact me in case you want to ask a question. As always, thank you for reading.
