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Ways Your Enneagram Type
May Be Holding You Back
Beatrice Chestnut, PhD | Instagram: @beatrice.chestnut | beatricechestnut.comWays to Use Insights About Your Type to Liberate
Yourself and Embark on a Transformative JourneyKnowing your Enneagram personality type can help you see how you may be
unconsciously getting stuck in habits that hold you back—and how you can free
yourself to become more of who you really are.Beatrice Chestnut, PhD, is a licensed
psychotherapist, coach, author, and4
You unknowingly limit
yourself by not being fully
aware of the perceptual
bias of your type—for instance,
if you are a Nine, you may just believe
that “conflict is bad and should
be avoided.” So you stay stuck in
relationships or situations in which
having a positive, constructive conflict
would be a good thing—by bringing
you closer to another person or
allowing for a positive solution that
opens up new possibilities through an
honest discussion of contending ideas.1
You habitually avoid being aware of specific
emotions that you need to feel because they bring you
important information about who you are, what you value,
and what you need. For instance, some types may avoid
feelings of sadness and not question this tendency. But often
it’s important to understand what is making you sad so you
can address the situation and do things differently that allow
for that feeling to shift in a positive direction.2
You live your life according to
particular beliefs that you don’t question that
hold you back. For instance, Type Fours often believe in
their own inadequacy—almost always when they are
more than adequate and even super competent, lovely
people who don’t own their positive qualities when they
buy into the idea that they lack something essential.3
You repeatedly engage in habitual behavior
patterns, despite the fact that they don’t serve you.
For instance, Fives may continually avoid behaviors associated with
connecting with others and opening up and communicating more in a
way that allows for more, richer connections with people. When they
do this, they may be enacting a habitual behavior driven by a desire
to stay detached and more isolated, which may feel more comfortable
than taking action and engaging in behaviors that serve to deepen
relationships. This can be related to a belief in scarcity or a sense that
they will be depleted by interacting with others. But when they do this
in an ongoing way, they actually deprive themselves of the abundant
support that may be available to them when they take the risk to reach
out to people more actively.4
Hold a strong intention to be
open to seeing, understanding,
and integrating your blind spots.
Learn what your specific areas of Shadow are
according to what type you are. Ask people you
trust about what you may need to see in yourself
that you habitually don’t see. Notice what you pay
attention to—and what you don’t pay attention to.
Be honest with yourself.Engage in a practice of
learning to observe yourself
more deeply more of the time
in an honest way.
Use your type description as a guide to help you
recognize your habitual patterns of thinking,
feeling, and behaving—and your deepest
motivations. Mindfulness meditation practices
help with this.Learn about your type’s
“passion.”
As in “crime of passion”—the main
emotional motivator driving your personality
defenses. Work to make it more conscious by
taking note of all the ways it manifests.Notice your type-based
habits at work in your
relationships and take the
risk to do things differently.
Our relationships with the people around us
make a perfect training ground to learn what
we do that doesn’t work and try to act in ways
that may be healthier, if less comfortable and
familiar. This can transform your experience
of yourself and your life. Talking about
the Enneagram with friends can also be a
way to bring type-based insights alive in
relating with others.1
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