Enneagram Study Benefits: Personal Growth & Insights
There are several benefits to understanding and using the Enneagram personality typing system. To completely benefit from these, it is best if you understand what the Enneagram system was designed for and what its uses are.
The Enneagram system
The Enneagram system is an ancient personality typing system that uses a set of questions based on real life scenarios to determine a persons basic personality type. Every person is complex, and even though you will have a basic personality type that describes most of your actions and behaviors, you will have what is called wings, or tendencies, that relate to any two of the other nine personality types.
Unlike other personality typing systems, the Enneagram believes that you are born with your basic personality type, and that it remains constant throughout your life. This is determined by genetics and inborn temperament.
You will find that you basic personality type along with its two wings will describe most of your behaviors, even though it is common to see a little bit of yourself in all of the nine types. Your basic personality type will have a little bit of variation to it based on how healthy your are as a person - spiritually, physically and mentally.
The more unbalanced and unhealthy you are, the more of the negative traits of each of these types you will display. On the other hand, the healthier you are, the more of the strengths and beneficial traits of your personality will come to light. This also highlights the fact that no one type is better or worse than the other.
The benefits of studying the Enneagram system
The Enneagram system offers its students a variety of benefits. The more you get to know it and the more you learn, the more beneficial it becomes to every avenue of your life – allowing your personal growth.
Here are some of the main advantages of using and understanding the system:
1. First and foremost, this system helps you better understand yourself. Although we may have a good grasp of our strengths, we as humans often fall short in understanding our weaknesses and how they influence our lives. Understanding these and where they come from makes it much easier to deal with them and work on them – thus focusing on our strengths and avoiding triggers for our weaknesses.
2. Secondly, this system can help you improve your relationships not only by better understanding your part in each of your relationships, but also by better understanding your partner, friend and family members, and how their strengths and weaknesses affect your life. This fosters a sense of security and acceptance that allows relationships the opportunity to flourish.
3. Finally, it can improve your professional relationships and team dynamics. By better understanding team members, it reduces office politics, increases tolerance and understanding thereby improving communication and team effort. More acceptance leads to a better workplace culture and increased creativity and productivity. What company would not want that?