What's all the fuss about Subtypes?

Are you familiar with Enneagram subtypes?  

In my opinion, they are kind of a big deal.   

This month in The Practice, my self-care & Enneagram subscription program, we did a deep dive into the Enneagram as self-care.  Every month, I interview an expert in their field.  So, it was fitting that we got to hear from expert Enneagram teacher and the “Grande Damme of Subtypes,” Beatrice Chestnut.  

Beatrice is an author of two books, The Complete Enneagram: 27 paths to greater self-knowledge and The 9 Types of Leadership: Mastering the Art of People in the 21st Century Workplace.

Both are must reads.  The Complete Enneagram is my absolute favorite comprehensive book on the Enneagram, hands down.  Not only is it a deep dive into subtypes, it’s an academic overview of the Enneagram and its history.  

Beatrice is also a psychotherapist and coach, training practitioners and leaders to take their  Enneagram knowledge to a deeper understanding and application both in work and life.  

This is my passion as well: helping people harness the transformational power of the Enneagram in their own healing, relationships, and work.  

To sign up for The Practice and get a front row seat to this interview, click here.  In the meantime,  I want to parse out the major takeaways of our conversation.  Subtypes are, after all, a bit complex in nature, and can be easily misunderstood or glossed over.  

Let me tee this up by giving a quick overview of this system:

The Enneagram can be broken down into three centers of Intelligence: the head, the heart, and the body.  Within each center, or triad, there are nine interconnected personality types.  This we know.  If we peel back the next layer, we discover each of the nine types is actually a triad in itself containing three more definitive subtypes within the type.  So, we know there are actually 27 types as opposed to nine.  The three subtypes within each of the nine types is connected to these three driving animal instincts: self-preservation, social, or sexual (or one-to-one). 

Here are the three biggest takeaways from our discussion:

1. Subtypes help clarify type. Discovering type is often a difficult process. This is partly because there are only nine types and billions of us so it can feel downright limiting and often reductive to identify our dominant type as there is such variance within type. If you struggle to identify your dominant type, try on the subtypes within the types you feel closest describe you. You may discover a perfect match.
   

2. Subtypes are more helpful as a growth tool than wings. Wings are talked about much more than subtypes. I learned this is because there hasn’t been clear, compelling content written about subtypes readily available. Also, there is great confusion as The Wisdom of the Enneagram, the Riso/Hudson classic, calls them instinctual variants. Also, wings tend to be easier to identify. They are physically on either side of your dominant type. However, Beatrice explained that wings are more of a flavoring of type that can shift throughout life. Subtypes can be used in a deeper way to grow beyond limiting, unconscious behavior.
   

3. Instinct + Passion = Subtype. It’s so important to note the nuance of subtypes within each type. Like I said earlier, no two subtypes are alike even though there are the same three choices for each type. Instead, they can be explained by a person's predominant driving instinct (self-preservation, social, or sexual) fused with the specific passion, or emotional motivator, of a person’s type. This creates a distinct character type within each of the nine to really sink your teeth into. For me, this looks like the self-preservation instinct, as it is my dominant, mixed with envy, the passion of a type four.

To wrap it up and put a bow on it, I love working with subtypes because quite simply, they help us develop more balance where there is imbalance within our personality.  I hope you will join me moving forward in The Practice as we go deeper in our Enneagram wisdom and application!

Something You May Not Know About the Enneagram

In my new self-care Enneagram subscription program, The Practice, I teach people to use the Enneagram as a holistic tool for self-care—one that cares for the whole person: mind, body, and heart.  

This may take you by surprise.  If so, you’re not alone.  The ancient wisdom of the Enneagram suggests that we are three-brained beings.  In fact, modern neuroscience is finally catching up to the wisdom of the Enneagram that suggests we have neural cells in our brains as well as the lining of our stomachs and hearts.  That said, we have three centers of intelligence.

Why is this important to us as we practice self-care? 

I thought you’d never ask.

There are two big reasons this is important.  

First of all, it’s necessary to bust the myth that our most important intelligence is our thinking mind.  Whereas your brain is literally a genius and a highly elevated source of intellect and functioning, we must understand that living from the neck up, as we do so often, isn’t the only way.  

In fact, we overemphasize this capacity and as a result, experience an imbalance as it pertains to our other centers of intelligence, equally as powerful: the body and heart.  

I believe self-care is bringing balance where there is imbalance in our experience.  And so, part of the invitation as we learn to apply the Enneagram for self-care is to balance out our relationships to all three centers.  Essentially, to integrate into more wholeness.   

Secondly, the nine types are housed in three triads that correlate to these three centers of intelligence.  As a type four, I experience the world most readily through the lens of emotional intelligence.  Why? Because Enneagram 2’s, 3’s, and 4’s are in the heart, or feeling triad.  

This helps me cultivate a more specific self-care regimen because it tells me I need to dial up my relationship with my body center—learning to drop deeper into my instinctual capacity as well as being mindful to create structure and analysis where feelings tend to run the show.  

In a way, understanding the Enneagram as a holistic tool is necessary for building out a more whole and compassionate relationship with self.  

P.S. Want to do a loving thing for you and go deeper into your very own self-care prescription?  Sign up for The Practice today.

Still Confused About Your Enneagram Type?

Do you go back and forth between Enneagram types?  Perhaps you’ve taken a few online tests and they’ve given you different results.   The first one pegged you a seven.  But it was neck and neck with type two.  You waited a couple months and took another one only to learn you’re now a nine?  Wha?  You’re confused and little pissed off because you had to pay for that last version.  

HELP!?

First off, don’t be discouraged! This is totally normal and you’re not alone!  

The human personality is not static.  It’s constantly vacillating between healthy, average, and unhealthy levels (hopefully not too unhealthy the more self-aware we are!) throughout our days, weeks, and months. 

Online assessments can’t measure how tired, stressed, or emotionally aware you are.  They also can’t determine mood or how many cups of coffee (or glasses of wine) you’ve downed before taking them.  

Sure, they’re a helpful jumping off point.  (Some more than others!)  Yet fully knowing and understanding your Enneagram type requires a bit more digging.  In fact, I believe it’s part of its effectiveness.  

There are dozens of personality tests out there:  MBTI, StrengthsFinder, DISC, to name a few.  I love them all, too!  However, the Enneagram is unique in that it goes deeper than surface, personality-driven behavior.  Sure, that’s part of it, but the Enneagram also helps us understand the “why,” or story, behind our thoughts, feelings, and resulting behaviors.   Online tests simply can’t explain the sacred nuance of your story.  

However, doing the deeper self-study required to fully know your Enneagram type can.  

After all, we make choices, big and small, based on the story we’re living out of.  If we’re suffering, we must change more than surface tactics or behaviors.   In order to heal and transform, we’ve got to get to the root of the problem—we’ve got to understand our story.  

Self-discovery is a winding journey, not a mere moment in time.  It’s about deepening knowledge and understanding.  In fact, it’s really about self-befriending.  

If you’re on the fence about your type, good!  I believe it’s an invitation (and excuse) to deepen this beautiful self-friendship you’ve already started.   

So how?

You’re already further along than you think! 

I’ve got a helpful next step for you.  Scheduling a typing interview is incredibly helpful in fully unpacking your story and discovering your type. It’s some of my favorite work to do with clients. Basically, it’s a detailed inquiry process steeped in the Narrative Enneagram tradition that provides your top 2-3 probable types.  This allows some direction and margin for clients to then read up on those possibilities and live with them a bit before making a hard decision.   

We do this in a creative, collaborative way with clear next steps mapped out.   Best part? It’s really fun!   

Spoiler alert: you are not a pure type.  No one is!  You lead with a primary type, yet you have a bit of all nine in you.  We are complex and glorious creatures, remember?  The Enneagram has the dynamic infrastructure to meet and guide this complexity into greater understanding and opportunity.

I’m convinced your story is far too stunning to be put in a box.  Perhaps it’s time to take it out?

Curious about an Enneagram typing interview?   Sweet! Let’s talk. 

5 Mistakes to Avoid with the Enneagram

Do you have a funny taste left in your mouth with regards to the Enneagram?  I’m not going to lie, with its rise in popularity and the obsession with it in Instagram culture, I fear it has become something of a caricature of itself.  If I see one more meme about type, I may just boycott it altogether.

Ah, but that’s not the response of a self-aware, evolved, and gracious person living in wholeness is it? No, it’s not…

The Enneagram teaches us to grow beyond reaction and choose from a place of responsiveness—and power.  

I do, however, want to point out 5 mistakes to avoid when using this tool for life and relationships.  So here goes:

1. Don’t type other people. This is a biggie. The Enneagram isn’t just about the optics of our personality. It’s about the story, or motivations and beliefs that fuel our patterns of thought, emotion, and behavior. So unless you are familiar with the deeper aspects of someone’s core belief system and narrative, avoid typing them.
   

2. Don’t indulge your type. In other words, don’t use your type for an excuse for bad behavior. i.e.” I’m going to let her have it when I see her. She’ll never want to cross me again. I’m an 8 after all!” We identify type in order to better understand ourselves and grow beyond our personality tactics.
   

3. Don’t stereotype others based on type. Again, this is such a rookie move. To judge someone and make assumptions based on their type is a big no-no. Just as there are about 100 unique shades of white, not all persons in a type show up the same. Especially when you factor in subtypes, you can actually have two people who are the same type look nothing alike.
   

4. Don’t force it on others. Even though the Enneagram is a powerful, transformational tool, not everyone is willing or interested to subscribe to it. The worst thing we can do as Enneagram advocates is to force it on others, no matter how much it has helped us. We must learn to trust others’ process.
   

5. Don’t stay on the surface. Even though it’s incredible fodder for coffee shop or cocktail party conversation, the Enneagram is meant to be applied to our daily lives, not just talked about. Knowledge without application is, well, just knowledge.

P.S. If you’re in the market for a way to learn and apply the Enneagram, you’re in the right place.   Check out my brand new Self-Care & Enneagram subscription program called The Practice!

The Enneagram and Your Ticket to Self-Understanding

Turning 30 and then eventually, 40 (gasp) really didn’t phase me. I like to joke around with people who ask how it feels by saying, “It’s glorious. I feel like my age is finally catching up with my soul.” As an old soul since the womb, this really does feel accurate. I’ve always felt a kinship with those older than me. As a kid, I used to hang out for strangely long stretches at the dinner table to listen to conversations my parents would have with their dinner guests. They seemed far more interesting than the make-believe dialog happening in the playroom. When given the choice to linger at the adult table or play with barbies amongst the other youngsters, 11 times out of 10 I’d choose the first.

This balances out nicely when you’re a bit older and have the freedom to hang with whomever you choose, but in grade school and adolescence, it’s brutal. I perpetually felt misunderstood, alone, and longing for something deeper.

Enter Enneagram.

When I first discovered the Enneagram 14 years ago, I felt a massive wave of relief wash over me, explaining answers to angry questions I’d been asking God for a long time. Why did I do the things I did? How could I learn to make peace with the complex and often terrorizing crew of emotions always up loud? Could anyone explain the inadequacy and longing raging deep inside?

When I read about the character structure for the Enneagram Type Four, or Individualist, I quickly discovered the foreign language I’d been speaking all along was not what was wrong with me, but what was right with me. In fact, there were others who spoke this language and an entire road map dedicated to us who felt all the same feelings and needed all the same help. I wasn’t, in fact, underdressed and a day late to the ball. (God forbid ever showing up underdressed to a party. My Mama taught me better.)

Do you long for a deeper sense of self-understanding? Perhaps you’ve been asking yourself “why?” for quite a while now and are ready for some answers.

If so, I want to invite you to join me this month in the Practice, my monthly self-care & Enneagram subscription program, where we deep dive into new Enneagram depths. You’ll get  a front-row seat to my interview with Beatrice Chestnut, best-selling author of The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge and subtype guru. You’ll also receive meditations specific to your type and a brand new online Enneagram assessment created by Beatrice. Sign up here today.

I believe the Enneagram is much more than a personality test. It’s an open-ended invitation to embodying the truest version of you. Now that’s a party we don’t want to miss.

It’s also a gentle and wise companion for your everyday experience.

Trust is built over time and baked in safety. We’ve come a long way together. I can’t wait to write this next chapter of the story together.