Oh my goodness, perhaps I am hyping this up too much but what can I say? I like the Enneagram personality typing system. It has opened up new ways of seeing the people around me that just might lead to greater understanding and more harmonious relationships.

Could all personalities fit pretty neatly into 9 different types?

So I am only about halfway through my book on the Enneagram system titled "The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge" by Beatrice Chestnut. But I already feel like I understand myself, my husband, and a good friend of mine much better than I used to.

My husband is a 7, which means that he likes to focus on enjoying life and wants to avoid feeling bad.

My good friend is a 6, which means that she is most focused on security and is always on the lookout for danger.

I am a 5, which means that I love exploring ideas, and can sometimes substitute ideas for actual connections with people.

I guess the thing I am appreciating most is that of all the 9 types and 27 sub-types, none of them are perfect. Go figure. They all have a shadow side, mine as well of course. I think I have been focused on seeing the shadow side in the people around me and thinking it was something they needed to fix, but it's really just a reflection of how they see the world.

I also like that this offers up a model of personal development that is personalized. It recognizes that individuals are different and won't necessarily fit into a one-size fits all model of personal growth.

I am sick of hearing about how we all should just think positive.

At any rate, I cannot say if the book I'm reading is the best one on the subject or even that you will find this topic at all interesting. There are a lot of free resources about it on the internet, including a lot of YouTube videos. If this sounds at all interesting to you, you might want to start there.

So please leave me a note if you feel so inclined. Are you interested in personality typing systems? What others are you familiar with? Which have been most helpful for you?

Thanks for reading!!