Tag Archives: improve

The Wisdom of the Enneagram

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enneagramHave you ever bought a car, one you think is unique and as soon as you own it, you notice the same model everywhere you go?

The Enneagram (pronounced ANy-a-gram) is like that for me. A fellow member of my speaking mastermind group suggested I read the Wisdom of the Enneagram when I was wrestling, yet again this spring, with what to be when I grow up.

I borrowed the book from the library and answered 75 quiz questions for each of the nine personality types. I later learned they are available online, see http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/

Over the last three decades I’ve taken a number of personality tests, Myers-Briggs-type measurements of who I am. Some measure me in colours, (I am blue or green or red, depending on the test). Some peg me by letters, CV or IF. Others use animal names to describe the personality types: owls and otters come to mind. Some tests are like horoscopes.

No test has ever come as close to pegging me as the Enneagram did.

In June, I signed up for some ten-minute business coaching. To my surprise, my coach was familiar with Enneagram. She was able to suggest actions to improve my habits that fit with who I am. She helped me focus on my gifts and find tools to work around my weaker areas.

Here is what the Enneagram has taught me so far: I am a Seven, the Enthusiast. I love new beginnings. One of my obstacles to success is my propensity not to finish things, and Enneagram said, especially educational pursuits.

It’s true. I’ve taken several courses and never written the exams so I could get the piece of paper. The knowledge has always been what interests me; the accolades are less important.

But accolades and various pieces of paper matter to the world, especially when one is a leader and expected to show proof of one’s ability to do the job.

A light came on for me. I had agonized whether I would finish my Toastmasters path. I had just one project to go to achieve Distinguished Toastmaster, (DTM), a rather arduous one-year commitment to mentor four Toastmasters clubs. I decided to change my life: to get my DTM by the end of the Toastmasters 2014-2015 season. I’m already three months into the year commitment. And I will finish.

The final bit on synergy I want to share with you (remember that new car?): a few weeks ago I attended a business women’s networking meeting where I met Eileen Head, a lovely woman who spoke about her failed 35 year marriage and how she was using the Enneagram to help others heal their relationships.

Having survived two failed marriages myself, it wasn’t hard for me to imagine how much more enhanced relationships would be if we understood ourselves better. Truly knowing the way others see life would make it easier to collaborate and reach mutually beneficial solutions.

I’ve included a link to Eileen’s business. www.EileenHead.com I urge you to discover your own Enneagram and consider calling on Eileen to help you heal your relationships using this amazing tool.

The best part for me about Enneagram was its declaration of my greatest gift: the joy of living. This is so true of me and now that I know it for sure, I look for ways to celebrate and help others celebrate life everyday.

There is wisdom in the Enneagram.

 

Black Friday Blues

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Black Friday Blues

Black Friday Blues

We interrupt today’s mindless worship of consumption with this burning question:

What did you create today?

In the frenzy of Black Friday I am struck by an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness.

I like a good deal as much as anyone and Black Friday is reportedly The Day of the Year for Best Deals.

And not just in the USA. Black Friday has sneaked into the Canadian shopper’s lexicon.

How many of us actually need more stuff?

I realize retailers count on this next month to flush them out of the red and into the black. Our countries’ GDPs rely on strong retail markets. The goal is always growth.

But what is all that growth doing to us? Consider this:

  • Canadians carry record consumer debt; our southern neighbors are similarly burdened.
  • Our governments both struggle to service massive debt.
  • North Americans continue to consume a disproportionate share of the world’s resources.  As developing countries strive to our standard of living the earth is straining under the pressure.
  • I’ll wager that a significant portion of the crap that is purchased this month will be in landfills by spring, likely before the credit card bills are even paid!

How long can this go on? When will we grow ourselves right off the face of the earth?

What would happen if we turned around our thinking?

What if, instead of consuming, we created something to give back to the world?

We don’t need another set of dishes or a TV for the bathroom or more “collections” to dust.

The world needs solutions to its problems, especially solutions unfettered by entities whose sole reason for being is making money at any cost: human rights, pollution, lying.

Some of the best solutions will change the world without making their creators rich. That doesn’t make those solutions any less valuable to the earth. Or any less satisfying to the creator.

A recent news story touted a cancer cure discovered here in Alberta. Sadly, money to conduct solid scientific research is not available. Big Pharma isn’t interested because the promising material cannot be patented. Most of the money raised for research goes to pharmaceutical companies. It’s likely that cure will be buried along with the thousands of patients that die from chemotherapy and radiation poisoning every year.

If more of us keep our credit cards in our wallets during this seasonal consumer free-for-all and if we channel those resources into something to improve the world, we all win. Maybe we should crowd-source (raising money online) the cancer cure and claim ownership of it for the people. We could give it away and save money (on cancer poisons) and save lives.

If we continue in our wasteful indulgences, the world will perish and all the money Obama can print and all the junk you can buy with it won’t make a speck of difference.

To review: creation not consumption.

At least consider it.