YOUR RESULT:
Enneagram Type Four
THE ROMANTIC INDIVIDUALIST
Why we need Type Fours…
Enneagram Type Fours are authentic and creative. They are focused on finding and expressing beauty in themselves, others, and the world around them. They desire to be understood for their unique attributes and they work hard to experience the fullness of their emotions.
WHAT DRIVES THE TYPE FOUR?
CORE DESIRE
To be understood and find a significant meaning for their existence.
CORE FEAR
Having no identity or personal significance.
HOW DO TYPE FOURS SEE THE WORLD?
WORLD VIEW
The world is a place where I feel like I don’t quite belong.
FOCUS
What is missing? Can I express myself fully? Am I lacking?
SELF-TALK
“There’s something fundamentally lacking within me.”
THE VIRTUE AND THE VICE OF THE TYPE FOUR
EQUANIMITY
The ability to allow yourself to feel your feelings without getting swept away by them.
ENVY
The inability to find contentment with who you are and what you have.
What is the Enneagram?
The word Enneagram comes from the Greek words ennea (nine) and gram (points or drawing). It refers to the nine different Enneagram Types, identified as numbers 1-9, and teaches the 9 different ways of being in and seeing the world.
Each number, or personality Type, has unique core motivations that drive specific thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
The insights of the Enneagram are useful for self-development, self-compassion, empathy, relationship building, effective communication, conflict resolution, and improvement of team dynamics.
ARE YOU A HEALTHY TYPE FOUR?
Healthy Fours are empathetic, gentle, and compassionate. They are able to find balance between the highs and lows of their emotions by not speaking or acting on every feeling they have. They find beauty and significance in the more boring or mundane aspects of life.
Average Fours struggle to love and accept themselves as they are. They fall into episodes of melancholy and hold onto their longing like it is a comforting blanket. They spend large amounts of time dwelling on the past and wishing they would have done things differently.
Unhealthy Fours are stuck in a victim mindset, always blaming their self-loathing on other’s inability to understand them. They withdraw and isolate hoping to find value when others follow after them, or reinforcing their self-loathing when other don’t follow after them.
AN OVERVIEW OF TYPE FOURS
Type Fours represent the human capacity for creativity and authenticity. They strive to belong all the while standing out for their uniqueness. At their best they are empathetic, emotionally balanced, and compassionate. At their worst they are manipulative and
Fours are driven by shame and a desire to have significance. Shame often manifests itself in the form of rejection to the Four, and they have a tendency to overcompensate by retreating into their emotions. As a result, their shame tends to come across as self-isolation, extreme sadness, or seasons of depression.
THINGS THAT FEEL SHAMEFUL TO A TYPE FOUR
- Attractive characteristics that others possess
- Others’ impatience with their emotions
- Not living up to their unattainable standards of their ideal-self
- When their unique approach is not valued or appreciated
Type Fours communicate in a ways that are empathetic and meaningful. Their willingness to experience all emotions fully makes them great empathizers. When they are grounded, they are able to express themselves with balance.
Type Fours take an emotional approach to conflict. They want to feel and express their emotions fully and would find it inauthentic to repress or ignore them. It is important that Fours have the time and space to express themselves fully.
EXPRESS APPRECIATION
It is particularly challenging for you to live up to the ideal-self you have created in your imagination. You want to be idealistically creative, socially adept, and interesting; therefore you are constantly comparing your real self to your idealized self and you come up lacking every time. Take a moment to take inventory of the characteristics you already possess, the people who already love you, and the things you have currently accomplished. Then directly or creatively express appreciation for them. Take time to focus on what you do have, instead of consistently looking for what is lacking.