Enneagram Eights in Five space…

“Knowing how to be solitary is central to the art of loving. When we can be alone, we can be with others without using them as a means of escape.”

— Bell Hooks

Mary Oliver

Part of our responsibility as we work to be the kindest, healthiest versions of ourselves is recognizing when we've been the axe. Makes amends where you can and give yourself grace where you can't. The work is hard, but it makes all the difference.

lately i been haunted by the phrase

'the axe forgets but the tree will always remember' because

for my whole life i been the tree but

i lie awake at night terrified, horrified, wondering

how many times have i been the axe and

forgotten

“(The itch to ask whether I’m still loved; and the itch to say, I love you, half-fearing that the other has forgotten, since the last time I said it.)”

— Susan Sontag, As Consciousness is Harnessed to Flesh

Do you love me enough that I may be weak with you?

Everyone loves strength, but do you love me for my weakness?

That is the real test.

- Alain de Botton

“oh how does this rage find me. i try so hard to disappear into the happy.”

— Akilah Oliver, from “she said, meditate on rage,” the she said dialogues: flesh memory

One of the many things the Enneagram reveals to us is the beautiful gifts that each of us can offer the world. Often we focus on the things with which we struggle, the negative patterns that show up in our lives, but we are full of goodness too. We can make and reveal beauty all around and we should never forget that part of ourselves. — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/36oijI9

We all fall into patterns that keep us from finding the connection we crave. The Enneagram can help us to identify these patterns so that we can move past them. #enneagram — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/36n4r15

We come into the world as essence, as spirit, united by our common spark. Over the early years of our lives, we develop and adapt. We hear messages and we reject messages. From that comes our core type, our character structure; the things that inform our patterns of behavior, of communication. The impulses and instincts that fuel the way we engage the world. Our character structure reveals our strengths and the great aspects that we bring to the world, but it also reveals our weaknesses and highlights the places where our vulnerabilities lie. And so, personality develops like armor encasing our most fragile parts. As life happens, our personalities evolve more and more until it becomes difficult to remember who we are beneath it. Although we still function from impulse and within our character structure, we allow personality to run rampant. We behave badly. We hurt those around us regardless of our intentions. We hurt ourselves. The farther we move from our essence, the more dangerous we become. And yet, imagine if we could break down the layers of personality and restore ourselves to our fundamental character. Imagine returning to the essence of you. Imagine what the world could be if we gave ourselves permission to be the truest version of us. #enneagram #EnneagramWork — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3p2H7ge

Every Number brings unique gifts to leadership and we are better as a society and world when we have all of them represented. #enneagram #leadership — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3bBee6R

At the core of #EnneagramWork is the recognition of what is behind our actions, why we get stuck in the same patterns, and why we (dis)engage the world the way we do. By knowing what is driving us, we can know how to use it for our good and the good of all those around us. — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/2LIwkJ9

As the world gets more and more polarized, it becomes even more essential for each of us to develop compassion, for ourselves and for others. Through working with the Enneagram, we are offered a unique look into the way we engage with the world and those around us. #BetterConnectionThroughCompassion #enneagram — view on Instagram https://ift.tt/3sa7jaH

Why learn the Enneagram?