More Self Discovery

People fascinate me. I’m always interested in learning why people do the things they do. I think that’s one of the reasons I chose to get my doctorate in business leadership. If I can figure out why business leaders act the way they do, I can help them act the way their employees need them to so the employees, leaders, and companies grow together.

There is a lot of philosophy out there around people and their character attributes. One of my work friends taught me about Enneagrams (she actually teaches me about a lot of things, I find her fascinating!). According to Enneagrams, there are nine basic personality types and every one has one dominant personality and two….I’m going to call them helper….personalities. You can find out more about Enneagrams and take the Enneagram test on Truity.com’s Enneagram Personality Test page. My friend is pretty good at figuring out people’s personality types. I was very impressed.

After learning my scores today, I made an interesting connection, which is what I want to share with you. My dominant (by 1% so I really feel it is co-dominant) personality type is 5 The Investigator followed by 4 The Individualist and (almost 20% below the other two) 9 The Peacemaker. According to theenneagramatwork.com type 5 is the observer. An intellectual type who is perceptive and likes to learn about things. Type 4 is the romantic who is feelings based. Lastly, type 9 is the mediator who is balanced and harmonious (and stubborn….). While there are bits of each of these personality types that don’t seem to fit me, when you take them together they do.

So, I was in the bathroom at work (where I seem to do my best thinking) and it dawned on me that my personality types go right along with my dominant chakras. If you read my blog post Telling Stories with Tattoos, you will have seen the chakras tattoo on my ankle. It has the second (symbol) and sixth (script) chakras. The second chakra, located in the abdomen (represented by the color orange), represents creativity and feeling. The sixth chakra, located in the forehead where the third eye is said to be (represented by an indigo-ish color), represents knowledge and intuition. It is interesting how my chakras are in direct alignment with my personality types.

As for personality type 9, I like balance and harmony….and am incredibly stubborn. In fact, I have been stubborn since before I was born. My dad really wanted a leap day baby…..and my mom went into labor with me before February 29. I was SO stubborn about leaving her womb I wasn’t born until almost 21:00 on March 1. My dad still complains about it every leap day. I just remind him that I gave him fair warning of my stubbornness.

I am excited to learn more about Enneagrams. My friend told me that there are also theories that tie Enneagrams to Astrology, which peaked my interest. My dominant personality type is definitely into researching that! But…..maybe after I finish my dissertation.

Until next time, stay safe out there!