The Honest Enneagram With Sarajane Case

Written by Alexa

Wellness pillar: mental wellbeing

SaraJane Case is the enneagram expert and boy oh boy did she give us so much insight on one of the topics we so deeply love to talk about.

What is the Enneagram?

The enneagram is an asset and tool that helps get underneath human behaviors and teaches us how to understand others. Can we get an amen?! It gives an access point for dialogues and the language to ask better questions. It so easy as humans we're always in our own heads making it sometimes difficult to see other perspectives, understand other people's fears, etc. Cue the enneagram to help you understand yourself and others.

What makes it different from other personality tests?

This is a personality typing tool that shows up in 9 distinctive ways, 9 distinctive fears, 9 distinctive motivators, and 9 distinctive personalities. When you find out which personality type you are it's really showing you what makes you feel welcome, okay, loved, and successful. Learning about the enneagram is learning that this isn’t what you have to be, that you can actually step out and stop holding yourself back when you dive in to learning about yourself more.

Somewhere along the way we learn that we have to be a certain way in order to exist. Maybe it's hiding your emotions, maybe it's giving all of your energy away, maybe it's the need to be perfect. Well, a lot of the work in the enneagram is releasing those tactics and letting everything we are coexist. To learn that your emotions are okay, you don't need to give away all of your energy, and maybe the need to be perfect isn't actually a need.

There are two levels to the Enneagram ...

Level 1 gives us insight on what someone is trying to learn in life and how someone is exists in life.

Level 2 is deeper and a more tender level. It shows us that we’re all just a little kid who got a message one day that we weren’t okay being who we are as we are and had to learn to be okay and to be someone else through the methods of their number.

What happens when you take the Enneagram test?

Know that tests are only about 50-80% accurate. If you do decide to take a test your first three types are purely a suggestion. Most likely, when you find a number that makes you feel exposed, that’s your number!

Tell me about the types already!

1 is the Perfectionist

Fear: being corrupt or evil

Desire: to be a good person, to do the right thing

Worldview: They view the world as a it being broken and think that it’s their job to fix it

2 is the Helper

Fear: not being loveable

Desire: to be loved and to be liked

Worldview: People are in need but I don’t have needs so I will give other people what they need instead of myself

3 is the Achiever

Fear: being worthless

Desire: being worthwhile

Worldview: They need to earn their worth and achieve their next goal or goals by not being stagnate to complacency

4 is the Individualist

Fear: there is something wrong with them or something people don't see

Desire: finding and expressing an identity

Worldview: I want to be seen for exactly who I am and I want others to want to be see the same way as well.

5 is the Investigator

Fear: being incapable or incompetent

Desire: being informed and capable

Worldview: The world is a difficult place and I need to be prepared and informed. Therefore, I need to make sure I am ready at all costs.

6 is the Loyalist

Fear: being without support or security

Desire: to be safe and secure

Worldview: world is an uncertain place and I need answers and certainty to survive

7 is the Enthusiast

Fear: being trapped in emotional pain

Desire: options, freedom, keeping options open

Worldview: I need to be satisfied and live a fulfilled life and explore all options

8 is the Challenger

Fear: afraid of being controlled

Desire: being able to make own choices

Worldview: People will try to hurt you and control you and you have to be on guard all of the time and it's your job to protect vulnerability

9 is the Peacemaker

Fear: loss of connections

Desire: maintaining own personal peace of mind

Worldview: If I show up as my full self I will lose connection and I need to make other people feel comfortable around me so they will see that connection.

How to use this as a tool to better connect and communicate better with people and not to judge based on someone else’s number:

When we simplify someone into a number we are objectify them. When we say something is such a “#x” we are turning a person into a number. It's important to use the enneagram for its language not its number.

Ex: When someone is a 4.

Is something missing in you right now?

Do you feel like there is something someone else has that you wish you had right now?

These is better than saying are you being a 4 right now.

Use this as a way to open curiosity and connection instead of giving answers and solutions. When we are using enneagram in a relationship we want to expand our connection. Sometimes we come up with something that we think we already know but we are missing out on the actual person and their view on it. Not all of each type are the same. Everyone has different wings, levels of health, stories, and experiences that we have to account for. Just because we have found a similar way to survive doesn't mean we know each other and need to remain curious.

Experience each other with love and compassion. Love people on purpose.

What are wings?

Your wings are the numbers on either side of your type. Essentially they are just a flavoring of your type. You have access to be both as they are assets of both. The wings are typically something you need. The goal is to balance them out, but we typically lean towards to one.

Healthy Vs Stressed:

You have a number you move towards when you are stressed out. This is an indicator that you need more self care and / or sometimes you live in this space because you think you should live there. That that is the right way to "be." When you are healthy you move towards the rest number. This is where we go when we feel safe, open, and vulnerable. Maybe this is even the truest version of ourselves.

Learn more about the centers, the things we avoid, how you show and receive love, based on your number by listening to this episode or finding Sarajane Case on instagram @enneagramandcoffee.