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Succulent
ENNEAGRAM

The

Ancient symbol. Modern psychology. 
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NOW AVAILABLE
The Enneagram Type 9 Journal:
A Guide to Inner Work & Self-Discovery for The Peacemaker

Check out the newest resource now available for your Type 9 Enneagram journey!

POINT NINE: THE PEACEMAKER

Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable, and Complacent

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BASIC DESIRE

to have peace and harmony, maintain inner stability and peace of mind

PASSION / BLINDSPOT

Sloth:

manifests as a deep state of denial and avoidance of all things: feelings, reality, challenges, hope, presence, humanity

BASIC FEAR

to experience loss and separation, to have their peace and harmony disrupted

 

FIXATION / TRAP

Indolence:

avoid external influences that may force them to wake up to the pain, suffering, or anything that may be disturbing, numbing out and becoming checked out so as to not disrupt their inner peace

CORE MOTIVATION

to create harmony in their environment, to avoid conflicts and tension, to preserve things as they are, to resist whatever would upset or disturb them and their inner peace

VIRTUE / GIFT

Action:

find presence to recognize their own strength and power and then take right action to bring peace and harmony to not only themselves but to everyone around them

CENTER OF INTELLIGENCE

Body / Gut / Instinctual

wisdom held in the body is used to maintain a boundary between external environment in order to protect their inner boundaries

 

Repress their anger and expel energy outward to prevent anything from disturbing them

Internal pain often transforms into bodily action & instinctual rage that they suppress and internalize

WINGS

EIGHT

negative — inability to control anger, rebellious and confrontational, aggressive and assertive when provoked 

positive — willingness to fight for truth and justice and find solutions with strength and perseverance

 

ONE

negative — highly principled in maintaining their rigidity, passive-aggressive and self-righteous

positive —  principled in finding harmony, balanced perspective and a strong focus on helping improve lives of others

ARROWS / LINES

THREE

negative — easily overwhelmed and concerned with how others will view them

positive — establish their voice with confidence, value, and charisma, actively seek out and maintain connections to others

 

SIX

negative — scattered and overwhelmed with fear and anxiety, indecisive, reactive, and insecure, outbursts of irrational anger

positive — Energetic and alert, accountability and responsibility become driving motivators, reflective and focused

OVERVIEW

Nines are accepting, trusting, and stable. They are usually creative, optimistic, and supportive, but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace. They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting. They typically have problems with inertia and stubbornness. 


Nines exemplify the desire for wholeness, peace, and harmony in our world. They are easygoing, emotionally stable, open and unselfconsciously serene, trusting, and patient with themselves and others. Their openness allows them to be at ease with life and with the natural world; as a result, others generally find it easy to be in their company. They are genuinely good-natured and refreshingly unpretentious. Because of their peaceful demeanor, Nines have a talent for comforting and reassuring others and are able to exert a calming, healing influence in difficult or tense situations. They make steady, supportive friends who can listen uncritically to others' problems as well as share their good times. They can be excellent mediators, able to harmonize groups and bring people together by really healing conflicts. 

LEVELS OF DEVELOPMENT

Healthy Levels of Development:  Nines become engaged and forceful defenders against all threats to our collective humanity. These are the people willing to face conflict with an unexpectedly powerful impact and a calm but present serenity. They become fierce defenders of humanity, a quiet but surprisingly assertive leader on the frontlines of the battle for love, compassion, and reconnection. They navigate life through inner strength and the courage of honoring their authentic selves in the face of divisiveness, confrontation, and conflict. The need for maintaining inner peace and stability at any cost evolves into an externalization of finding peace and harmony for everyone through honest, reasoned, and harmonious approaches. They have the ability to take right action and remain present without the fear of being affected by disruptive influences. They recognize the power of their presence in facing challenges across differences and serve as defenders of the reconnections to humanity

Average Levels of Development:  Nines are projecting a false sense of calm, unwilling to engage authentically, hopelessly indifferent, blindly neglectful, stubborn, angry, cruel, and apathetic. They can become emotionally numb and self-effacing, they deflect authentic reflection, embracing a “going with the flow” mentality they fall into apathy caused by the inability to maintain presence. Their disregard for other people in the hopes of preserving their inner peace leads them to turn a blind eye to blatant atrocities that may be happening right under their noses. The “not my problem” outlook becomes a fallback, leading Nines down a dark path of denying or justifying their complicity in the widespread dehumanization of people. They may experience a flicker of hope when they begin to find presence, but it is short lived as they find the presence too disruptive to their routine of passivity.

Unhealthy Levels of Development: This level fosters deeply repressed, ineffectual, blindly loyal, and painfully angry individuals who justify their actions and beliefs from the unhealthy energy of Point Nine. These Nines are capable of embodying true apathy; destructively cavalier, distant, unfeeling or indifferent, a repressed anger lurking within a cold and detached individual. Anger and denial are the primary motivators that distort their reality resulting in a disdain for humans who may disrupt their inner peace or force them to wake up to or acknowledge their anger. These asleep Nines feel hopeless in the face of challenges and change and often revert to a level of numbness that allows their inner peace to remain falsely still. They can often be found among the masses of the unquestioning and complacent, blindly attaching themselves to anything that lets them release their anger even if it is misdirected or unrelated. These are the individuals so detached from humanity that they develop a complete disregard for basic human decency. Presence is a true challenge; when they neglect the importance of their inner voice and bury their true emotions they remain too stubborn to “wake up” and deal with reality.

IDEA CONNECTIONS: TRIGGERS • BIASES • DISCONNECTS

Triggers / Biases: Unnecessary conflict, polarizing views, control/power dynamics, inaction by others, aggressive views, dismissal of personal value, unwillingness to compromise, disunity/dissent, people disrupting the collective harmony with anger, force, and cruelty, being forced to deal with conflict, having to accept change with no notice or warning, having their passiveness brought to attention causing a “volcanic” reaction, having to deal with large problems that seem impossible to fix or mediate.

IDEA Challenge: Many Nines share the experience of being complacent during times of conflict, which can cause them to fall asleep to themselves and to the true depth of their powerful presence in the world. They seem to have a natural ability to find a way to communicate and find common ground across differences, even when others are unable to get there. However, the deep fear of having their equilibrium disturbed in one way or another may cause them to repress true emotions and feelings believing that they won’t matter anyway. While radiating an energy that manifests the appearance of a calm serene human who has it all figured out, the indifference at Point Nine is equally as powerful as the presence. The passive stance and seemingly lackadaisical apathy say more than they think, especially during conflicts that may arise. When they let themselves become present to their true strength, there is a fierce, passionate, and engaged human sometimes hidden under a calculated stoicism.


Disconnects: They often experience a blindspot for repressed reactions and self-deprecating beliefs. A typical disconnect for Nines is the experience of being complacent or of being seen as hopeless and indifferent. One of the biggest obstacles for Nines to gain access to the gift, or virtue, is the daily repression of the authentic self in order to not feel anything that may affect their environment—passive-aggressive behaviors, saying yes when they really mean no, avoiding conflict to maintain false connection with others, choosing to remain asleep to addressing their own pain and suffering, thus denying the existence of the pain and suffering of others. Becoming present is just another step to becoming a whole human being who strives to do better. Nines avoid dealing with anger and instead numb out and deflect true emotions. This will only lead to more disconnects and deprive the Nine of true peace. Presence is the main obstacle for most Nines, whether in the IDEA space or in their everyday lives

RESPONSES TO CONFLICTS ACROSS DIFFERENCES

Unhealthy Reaction: passive-aggressive behaviors, avoidance, denial, repression, “numbing out”, self-effacing attitude, deflection, extreme dissociation, “volcanic” outburst of  repressed/misplaced anger, turning a blind eye to someone in need, complete disregard for basic human decency when faced with difficult situations that may force the Nine to wake up to their own anger and pain, acceptance of a delusional approach to life, in order to protect themselves from being disrupted or forced to wake up they run away from challenges, oftentimes seeking out painless solutions to detach from being held accountable for their actions, this leads to a sense of fatigue when they become overwhelmed or disheartened by the current state of things


Healthy Reaction: pausing for reflection and finding the strength of their presence, action, forcefulness, engagement, passion, supportive with purpose, open and receptive to ideas while maintaining universal truths, strong drive for peace and harmony bolstered by right action, kind-hearted approaches, genuinely caring, down to earth, easygoing mentality, and generally calm, persistent, loyal, dedicated to the cause

THE ENNEAGRAM

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TRINITY TRANSITION
CONSULTANTS ONLINE

Dr. Deborah Egerton and her team of Trinity Transition consultants are inclusion, diversity, equity, and anti-racism specialists. Our culture change initiatives utilize the Enneagram and trademarked TTC tools to design workplace and community workshops. Our work creates the mindset shift necessary within communities and organizations to respect the diversity of every individual at all levels of society. We coach individuals, organizations, and communities to move from the space of apathy & tolerance to acceptance & inclusion.
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