32: How the Enneagram can help prepare you for the impact and stress of COVID-1

Coronavirus and how your Enneagram type handles crises

It’s Enneagram Tuesday and this week I am talking about something that has been affecting all of us, in every single aspect of our lives—the COVID-19 coronavirus. I discuss how the Enneagram can be used to build self-awareness, compassion, and understanding of those around you, and how it can be used as a tool under stress and in crises. When you understand people’s motivations and triggers, you are able to empathize and support them without judgement. In the current crises of coronavirus, we all need a little more empathy, love, and understanding of one another to get us through.

Listen to this episode to hear what each Enneagram type’s superpower is in high-pressure circumstances, where each type goes under stress, and ways you can relieve your anxiety and feel supported in social isolation.

Navigating our new normal

We are in week two of the coronavirus and it’s been really interesting and eye opening to see how the world is coming together as a collective, adjusting, and how were all handling this differently as individuals. In the current climate of the world, surrounded by uncertainty, fear, and unknown of what tomorrow will bring, it is important to be present and self-aware, so we are prepared to navigate through whatever comes next.

Enneagram types in crises

I discuss how the Enneagram can help us learn about each other and our motivations, fears, and where each type goes in crises, and how this knowledge can eliminate judgment and help grow self-awareness and empathy towards one another.

I go through each Enneagram types superpower in crises and how to recognize each other for those strengths. Although there are multiple ways these personalities are expressed, I go through how the wings, past trauma, and health of a person can influence their personality.

Use this time to find your Enneagram type, your journey, and yourself

If you recognize you are under stress, it is crucial to have the correct type identified so you have the right compass to find your journey back to yourself. The best way to do this is to have a guide, and now, with all of our schedules cleared, is the perfect time to start internal work and healing.

Now is the time to get to the healthiest part of your personality, and the Enneagram can help you do that. The enneagram can help you navigate the soul journey you are meant to be on, no matter the external circumstances around you.

Quotes:
“For some of us, crisis may lead us to numb out; we can appear calm and resilient on the outside..yes you types 5’s and 9’s.” 3:18

“Some may be downplaying the impact of stress and crisis on themselves and the whole thing altogether, and try to focus on others and what they can do...types 2’s, 7’s, and 3’s.” 3:59

“The dutiful types, the ones that just handle things.. these ones move toward others and begin organizing support and resources for everybody—the 1’s, the 2’s, and the 6’s.” 5:58

“Under stress, the 1’s take on the unhealthy 4; so they can become moody, irrational, a little obsessive compulsive.” 7:52

“When a 1 is healthy, they take on the healthy traits of that 7 The Enthusiast, they’re more discerning, wise, rational, objective, spontaneous, they aren’t all in their head.” 8:02

“Each one of you types, we need you. We need you in your superpower, especially right now.” 8:47

“When a 2 is under stress, they take on the unhealthy traits of an 8.” 9:17

“The beautiful thing about 2’s when they are growing is they take on the healthy 4 traits— self-nurturing, emotionally aware, compassionate, creative.” 10:02

“The 2’s superpower is empathy and compassion.” 10:40

“A 3 under stress can disengage. They take on the unhealthier traits of the 9 The Peacemaker, so they can disengage especially from their own feelings, and they can become even more opportunistic.” 11:57

“The beautiful thing about understanding the Enneagram is when we recognize and understand where each type goes understand stress, it allows us to have compassion and not judgement.” 12:17

“4’s under stress can become a little melodramatic; they can become over involved .” 14:23

“4’s when they are on a growth pattern, they are objective, principled, level-headed, they don’t rush to judgement.” 5:13

“A 5 under stress, all of a sudden that quiet, introverted person, can become scattered, hyperactive, avoidant, frazzled.” 17:13

“In hard times, the strength of a 5 is that wisdom, that insight, and that attention to knowing all the things. They don’t get wrapped up in the fearmongering, they look for the facts.” 18:32

“When a 6 is under stress, they take on the unhealthy traits of a 3. They can become a little arrogant or competitive.” 19:42

“A 6 under stress right now at the line in Costco.. is freaking the f*ck out.” 20:00

“When 6’s are in a growth pattern, they take on that healthy 9 Peacemaker—that relaxed, optimistic, the Yoda kind of wisdom comes into play.” 20:36

“Social distancing and isolation feels like a slow hell to 7’s.” 21:36

“A 7 under stress takes on all the unhealthy traits of a 1– that perfectionistic, super critical, will go to the death thinking they’re right.” 22:35

“I, as an 8, can go to the unhealthy traits of that 5 The Investigator, and I can become very secretive and fearful and like a private investigator and super skeptical and isolating.” 26:09

“9’s, when you’re under stress and you’re not too healthy you become so anxious and worried, and you become that chameleon just trying to keep the peace even if it isn’t the right thing to do.” 29:03

“The most important thing you can do during times like these is don’t judge yourself or others. When we go into judgement, that means we are trying to avoid feeling something.” 36:05