Two days ago – during a double psychology lesson that revolved around said section in the nearest bookshop – I came across an incredibly interesting book. It’s called “The Enneagram” and was written by Helen Palmer (the original version is in English!), although I’ve seen many other books on the same topic. For a better understanding, I admit that I love personality tests and learning about different types of personalities. I was thrilled when we did the classical personality test in class – I turned out to be the only compulsive type of about ten people, by the way. Of course, there is no ultimate scheme where one type will fit nicely with you and the others won’t. There are always different degrees of identification for different people, even for the same person in different times of their life. There can be thousands of factors influencing who you are and what suits you … and it’s huge fun to think about your results.
On another note, I love the fact that personality types are some kind of self-fulfilling prophecies … You read everything about the type(s) that suit you, and then you continue with your daily tasks and keep thinking about and checking how much is right from what was written about you. And suddenly you start doing those things more. It’s crazy!
Anyway, I’m currently reading about a new set of personality types. Ennea = nine, so nine types. I’ve only read about a few that sounded interesting and found that two or three represent me most. Especially type number nine which is called the negotiator intrigues me.
Number nine lives more through the feelings of others than through hers. In her childhood she was mostly ignored by others which lead to a desire to please others in order to be recognized and valued. She thinks that everything she does has to be like others want it to be. Her mind is always filled with a lot of different things, memories and duties and little things that need to be done, and she can ponder on several thoughts at the same time. ...
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