Home | Blog | Development | balance

Development | balance

Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance, order, rhythm and harmony ~ Thomas Merton

Balance is something each Enneagram type could use more of, and the Enneagram shows us what that might be for each type.

Enneagram Ones | balance between work and play
Ones work really hard, even overly hard, and separate play and fun from work. Integrate and balance more play in your work and more work or discernment into your play.

Enneagram Twos | balance between self and others
Twos typically focus more on others than self, except under situations of extreme duress. Then the focus turns primarily to self. Focus more on both in your daily life to bring this inner and outer balance.

Enneagram Threes | balance between feeling and doing
Threes are doers, which can be an asset, but not when doing obscures your feeling center. Take time each day – in fact, take multiple times each day – to check in with your feelings, pausing and asking, “What am I feeling now?” And don’t take “I don’t know” for an answer. Pause!

Enneagram Fours | balance between feeling and objectivity
Fours are masters of feeling exploration, yet without a balance with objectivity, feelings can swirl and clarity can be lost. Find the balance between the heart and the mind.

Enneagram Fives | balance between head, heart, and body
Fives give so much weight or value to their minds, their hearts and bodies – or at least the awareness of what lies within them – lags behind. Find the balance among all three.

Enneagram Sixes | balance between trust in self and trust in others
Sixes alternate between not trusting themselves and not trusting others; trusting themselves and not trusting others; and not trusting themselves but trusting others. This can get very confusing. Learn how and when you can truly trust yourself and who and for what you can actually trust others. Find this balance, accepting that this balance may shift at times.

Enneagram Sevens | balance between joy and sorrow
Sevens pursue joy or pleasure and avoid pain and discomfort. When you find the balance between exploring, embracing and yet not attaching to either, you discover a more pure joy and a greater feeling of wholeness.

Enneagram Eights | balance between strength and vulnerability
Eights believe that vulnerability is weakness, but vulnerability is more accurately a kind of strength, when experienced and explored, a source of far deeper strength and something even more: receptivity.

Enneagram Nines | balance between humility and aggression
Nines are often perceived – and perceive themselves – as humble and non-aggressive. But lurking behind this non-assertion can be latent aggression. And, at times, their humility can be a form of “false humility,” that masks an inner sense of superiority. Embrace your desire to express yourself and to be seen through finding the balance between humility and aggression.

Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, the author of six best-selling Enneagram-business books, is a speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. She provides certification programs for professionals around the world who want to bring the Enneagram into organizations with high-impact business applications, and is past-president of the International Enneagram Association. Visit her website: TheEnneagramInBusiness.com. ginger@theenneagraminbusiness.com

0 0 votes
Article Rating
1 Comment
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
trackback

[…] Chaos or Harmony? I am both. But how can I balance these? I recently read up on type 9 again, and from this source I remember it saying that type 9 needs to find balance between humility and aggression, as the […]

X