Enneagram - Centers of Intelligence
This month I’d like to explore more of the Enneagram with you. The Enneagram is a tool to help you understand your personality, your core motivation and why you do what you do. This tool breaks the different concepts into triads, groups of threes. So today I want to share the triad that is called the Centers of Intelligence. This is one way we can dive deeper into understanding ourselves and why we do what we do, while also learning how to grow in our path to wholeness and find balance in how we live life.
Our personality structure is a way we’ve learned to navigate the world and protect ourselves. As we look at our Centers of Intelligence, we will see that through our journey of life we often get out of balance with how we interact with circumstances we face; we don’t tap into all the ways we were originally designed to live.
The Centers of Intelligence refer to how we interact with the world through our Body (instinct), Heart (feeling), and Head (thinking) centers. So let's take a look at what these centers are, the issues and struggles each type in the centers have, and steps to learn so you can access all three of our centers to be better balanced.
Every human has all three of these centers, yet through child development and life circumstances we block parts of who we are and develop a preference for only one center. We grew comfortable navigating life with one center and believe it is the only way to approach life. Sometimes you might tap into a second center to support your dominant center, but the third center tends to be repressed or under used.
Now that you have a better understanding of the Centers of Intelligence and can see which center you tend to function out of, here are a few ideas to implement so you can find a balance by tapping into all three centers.
If your dominant center is the Body or Instinctual Center here is some advice for growth:
When you notice you’re acting from your intuition, listening to an inner critic, or experiencing anxiety physically, try to engage your head to problem-solve and your heart to identify the feeling of concern.
If your dominant center is the Heart or Feelings Center here is some advice for growth:
When you are flooded with emotions, without knowing why, try to engage your head by processing and reasoning about your emotions with a safe friend. To engage the body, try recognizing what is going on in your inner world, in the present moment, and trust your gut instinct.
If your dominant center is the Head or Thinking Center here is some advice for growth:
If you find yourself struggling to focus, try engaging your body and release your energy with physical exercise. And engage your heart by being self-compassionate and asking yourself how you’re really doing.
I hope this has been insightful. Let me know which center you are most dominant in? And let me know if this has helped you potentially understand your dominant personality type as well?
*Source: The Wisdom of the Enneagram, Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson and Enneagram University training materials.
With you and for you!
