One of the great challenges that every human being must face when promoting their own personal development is something as complex and simple at the same time as knowing oneself. And knowing how to answer the question “who am I?” It is one of the fundamental ingredients of self-realization; If there are many aspects of our identity that we do not understand well, we will hardly be able to live in a satisfactory way that connects with our values, principles and real interests.
The enneagram is one of those key elements that help us know who is that “I” that we try to make happy through our actions in the short and long term, because its personality classification system is very interesting and gives a global vision about of each one’s way of being.
In this article We will see what the Enneagram test consists of and how it is related to the concept of personality But first, let’s stop to better understand the two main concepts that shape this topic.
What is personality?
Personality is a key concept in the field of psychology, and is part of the study of Individual Differences. Consists in the description of the most general psychic characteristics that influence the way people behave, describing trends in behavioral patterns that are relatively stable as the years go by. It encompasses the set of attitudes, thoughts, emotions and repertoires of actions that define people. Thus, the study of personality provides a certain ability to predict how individuals will behave, and helps to understand their motivations.
What is the enneagram?
The enneagram can be described as a personality classification system used especially in the field of coaching and personal development. Although it is not a concept used in the context of clinical psychology and does not serve, for example, to detect psychopathologies or personality disorders, it provides a useful tool to deepen self-knowledge.
On the other hand, enneagram tests are based on nine main personality types, and each of which has unique characteristics and patterns of thinking, emotional management and behavioral regulation. In turn, these nine categories are based on three major concepts, which refer to three types of intelligence: mental, emotional and instinctive. Thus, this way of understanding personality traits combines elements linked to cognition (that is, thoughts and beliefs) with elements of an emotional and irrational nature.
In short, the enneagram proposes a self-discovery tool that makes it easier when it comes to understand the motives and desires that intervene in our actions during our daily lives It is used for personal growth, improving relationships and developing social skills based on the predispositions of each individual.
The personality types according to the enneagram are:
How can the enneagram be used to enhance personal development?
One of the characteristics of the Enneagram test is that it is based on a very open and non-moralizing idea about what personality is: From this perspective, there are no ways to be better than others and the only thing that having one type of personality or another means is that when it comes to promoting our personal growth and self-realization, we will have certain advantages and disadvantages when relating to the world and to others.
In this sense, knowing ourselves better through the enneagram is a good way to know what strengths, weaknesses, threats and opportunities we will face in our lives, and from there, we can design our personal development project adapting to our characteristics and needs. Now, remember that even though personality traits are relatively stable, that does not mean that they never change or that we can’t do anything to make them evolve in one direction or another. Several studies indicate that yes, it is possible to change our personality, although not in the very short term, and it requires a lot of effort.