Enneagram type 9

The information below is all based on the following book (The Complete Enneagram | By Beatrice Chestnut) which is highly recommended, if you want to learn more and go much deeper on the enneagram and on type 9 specifically.

Emma, is selfless. She makes great efforts to blend and connect with other people.

She is flexible and able to accommodate others in her beliefs and actions.

Emma likes to stay comfortable and doesn’t like conflict and confrontation.

She does everything she can to avoid confrontation whether with her or even between other people.

Her flexibility and openness to different viewpoints make her a great facilitator and mediator.

Emma sometimes internalizes other people wants, needs and beliefs and adopts them as her own.

She struggles to think about what she actually wants and how she actually feels about things at a deeper level.

Inside Emma may be angry, but she won’t express anger. She may become passive aggressive without even realizing it.

Emma works really hard towards selfless goals in support of others.

She forgets to also focus on and work towards her own goals and needs.

She might struggle to learn how to do that even if she wanted to because it has been a long time since she tried.

When Emma was young, she may have felt unimportant. Insignificant in relation to a stronger personality in the family or multiple other more central family members. She learnt to adapt herself to the needs of others in order to feel the sense of connection, love and belonging that she craves.

The three subtypes:

Self preservation Emma likes the simple physical comforts in life. Eating, sleeping, reading, relaxing or even working. These things keep her busy and mostly unaware of her deeper feelings and desires.

Social Emma merges herself into groups. Working hard to support and advance the goals of the other members of the groups she belongs to and supporting their needs.

Sexual Emma blends herself with a single other living mostly for and through another person. She takes on the attitudes and beliefs of the important individuals in her life.

The growth path for Emma:

Becoming more aware of how she feels about things independently from the feeling and views of other people.

Embrace some conflict as healthy and a way for people to connect at a deeper level instead of constantly avoiding and preventing all conflicts at all costs.

Asking herself how she feels, what she wants and what her goals are.

Practice giving getting feedback from other people as a way to become more comfortable with being at odds with others.

Try MyQuestions

To learn more about Beatrice Chestnut and her work please visit her website at https://beatricechestnut.com/ were she offers books, coaching, trainings and workshops.

Originally published at blog.myquestions.co on June 17, 2018.