There are a variety of Enneagram related things that flavor how we show up as a given Enneagram type including Wings, Levels of Development, and Instinctual Variants. AND, our life experiences and even generational residue also impact us in powerful ways. At the end of the day, every person on this planet is unique!

We come into the world with an inborn temperament that is the main determinant of our type. So, in a sense, we are born with a predisposition to our dominant Enneagram type. This inborn orientation affects the ways we learn to adapt to our early childhood environment as our ego personality takes shape with particular ego structures. By about the age of four or five years old, we have developed a separate sense of self with core ego structures of our Enneagram type. We continue to develop, of course, and continue to be affected by our environment in very powerful ways, changing in many ways over the course of our life while our core Enneagram type ego structures remain the same and affect the ways in which we change.

Once I know my Type I have an opportunity to “get real” with myself (without judgment!) and explore my actual experiences more deeply. The Enneagram helps me to know the kinds of things to look for. I can notice habitual patterns showing up and inquire into all that lies beneath those patterns. Through inquiry, I bring the previously unconscious underlying fears and beliefs into my conscious awareness where they can be digested. I begin to see things that my ego personality has been holding onto that may not be serving me well. Through this process, the fears and beliefs that have been driving me begin to loosen their grip. It’s an ongoing process that, over time, is the path of lasting personal growth.

Discovering your dominant Enneagram Type is a process of learning, exploring, and practicing honest self-awareness – learning the Enneagram system, exploring the nine territories of Enneagram Types, and being honest with yourself about your own experience. While there are quite a few Enneagram “assessments” available, they serve only as pointers to possibilities for dominant type. You must take the journey!

Identifying your dominant Enneagram Type is not the end goal! The purpose of the Enneagram is to help us develop a greater and greater capacity for self-awareness and self-knowledge. Self-knowledge alone, however, may only further the ego’s view of who we are. Self-knowledge also tends to tempt our superego to launch self-improvement projects to “fix ourselves.” Superego driven projects will not drive lasting personal growth. The practice of Presence must be married with self-awareness we gain from the Enneagram in order to open ourselves to experiencing and living from our deepest and truest nature. Self-awareness and Presence serve as the primary path for lasting personal and spiritual growth.