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Rumi series | enneagram eights

Rumi is a 13th century Persian poet who has captivated the minds and touched the hearts of the modern day Enneagram community, among others. In this 9th blog of the series, the focus is on Enneagram type Eight, using the Rumi poem above. As for all of the Rumi poems in this series, the message, hopefully, speaks to all of us, no matter what our enneatype.

Who wants to have his or her heart broken? Isn’t there a more gentle, less surgical way to open our hearts? Perhaps, but this Rumi poem instructs us that our heart will be broken sometimes, and this is a way to know we have loved. And rather than close a broken heart or harden and fortify a broken heart, a healing heart that becomes increasingly open as it heals then becomes a bigger, deeper, and more open heart.

This is a big lesson for Enneagram type Eights who, for all their bigness and boldness and aura of invincibility, are actually petrified of having their hearts open and, in their view, vulnerable to being broken. For Eights, this is weakness; for others, it is openness and receptivity. When Eights do open their hearts – and yes, these open hearts can be hurt, but not broken – they realize that the heart is also a muscle. And muscles get stronger with exercise and practice.

Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, the author of five 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

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