I started my Deep Dive workshop this past week. My goal: Educate, hold space, and grow as a facilitator. Their work as participants is just that - their work. I guide them with some weekly reflection topics and we come together to share our findings. I think it brings life to the Enneagram and helps me get out of my head and into my heart. There are 14 topics to cover in 6 weeks and while it is a six-week Deep Dive, there will be lifelong work to do. I am however very confident each and every one of my participants will walk away with a new toolbox.

I start the Deep Dive with the Centers of Intelligence hence the reference to my head and heart. We each have three Centers of Intelligence but one dominates our reactions and responses. As I tell every Free Enneagram Typing session client, the goal of the Enneagram is to balance our Head, Heart, and Body Centers of Intelligence but we can’t do that until we bring awareness to which one dominates us. Mine is my Head. I’m a type Five.

Types 8, 9, and 1 are body types. They use their somatic sensations to give them information about a situation. Their most readily accessible emotional response is anger and they are motivated by control. When speaking with these types, they have a visceral feeling and they use this feeling to mentally process their next move.

Types 2, 3, and 4 are heart types. They use their feelings to assess the situation. Their most accessible emotional response is fear or shame and their motivation is connection. These types (especially Fours) have high Emotional Intelligence as they are not only in touch with their feelings but those of others - hence the motivation for connection.

Types 5, 6, and 7 are head types. They immediately start mentally processing a situation. Their most accessible emotional response is anxiety and distress and their motivation is concern (for safety, usually). The Sixes I have spoken to about their Center of Intelligence say they are always in their heads. I can relate as a Five.

The first step into the Spiral of Discovery begins with understanding your Center of Intelligence. Then and only then, can you recognize the imbalance in your life and begin to tap into the other Centers we all have access to but have laid dormant because of the way our personality has been formulated over the years. It is time to come out of the slumber and begin to answer the question “When will you begin that long journey into yourself?”