Posts Categorized: Personal reflection

Helen Palmer and David Daniels, MD co-founded the Enneagram Professional Training Program (EPTP) in 1988, the first program of its kind. Now, 32 years later, the EPTP is still going strong and has certified more than more than 1000 Enneagram teachers and practitioners. Helen and David were an impressive team! They were smart enough, inspiring enough and persistent enough to enroll many of us as supporters and organizers, teachers and trainers who became part of their vision and helped to establish the programs and networks of the Narrative Enneagram and the EPTP, not only in the United States but worldwide.

At its core, the Enneagram is about inner work: awareness, reflection and practice to create spaciousness for understanding, and a deep examination about who we are and what is possible. The Enneagram offers one map, among many, to illuminate the inherent good in each human as we strive to be in relationship with one another. 

I recently read a news analysis in the New York Times titled “Why Zoom is Terrible.”  Author Kate Murphy’s message asserts that video meeting applications, although necessary today, can make you feel awkward, and that video conferencing makes you feel isolated and anxious. She argues that images are blotchy and blurring, audio is out-of-sync with the video, and “video chats have been shown to inhibit ‘trust’ because we can’t look one another in the eye.”

As Thanksgiving approaches, I’d like to take a moment to share my gratitude for my new role as Executive Director for The Narrative Enneagram (TNE). It’s been about a month since I began my tenure. I’ve been very busy learning my new role, meeting almost constantly with an incredibly professional and dedicated staff, Core Faculty and Board of Directors. And, now I’m beginning to meet with partners and supporters. What an incredible organization and thriving community with so many inspiring stories of transformation!

In 1998 I attended my first Narrative Enneagram class. I knew the basics of the Enneagram and thought that I might be a Type One, but I wasn’t sure. During the class, the teachers explained that a Type One was a body type. Ha! I thought that couldn’t be right – I must be a head type! The voice in my head was constant, always active – judging what I was doing, checking how things were going, always looking at others. And, by the way, what is a body type? I didn’t understand, and thought the teachers must be wrong.

Tracy Colina of Ohio, a longtime and very integral part of the Narrative Enneagram community, died on January 27. Even if you never met her in person, it is likely that you interacted with her if you enrolled in one of our programs prior to fall 2014. As our Training Program Manager and Registrar, she greeted you by phone or email when you inquired about a training, answered your questions, shared her enthusiasm for the Enneagram, and managed the myriad logistical issues and details involved in organizing classes. She was the “voice” of the Narrative Enneagram for many years, and her influence was immeasurable.

Where do you go to learn and grow yourself? Do you have a therapist, coach or spiritual director with whom you can tell yourself the truth? Do you have a physical place at church, in nature or at a yoga class where you can connect with yourself and the innocence of your true nature? Do you have a friend or loved one who can remind you to treat yourself kindly or give yourself permission to try a change?

The end of the year presents an opportunity to review 2018, give thanks, and look forward to 2019. The Narrative Enneagram (TNE) officially launched as a new nonprofit in January 2018 through the merger of two sister nonprofits – Enneagram Studies in the Narrative Tradition (ESNT) and Enneagram Association in the Narrative Tradition (EANT). We are the world’s longest running Enneagram school(having just celebrated the 30th anniversary of the Enneagram Professional Training Program) and a membership organization! Thank you to all board members, faculty, staff, volunteers and donors who made this happen!

I (Chris) sat at Well-Bred bakery in Asheville, waiting for Sandra to arrive. During the last few months of 2016, I had been listening to a handful of podcasts from various Enneagram teachers and found myself wanting more. While entertaining, they lacked the powerful depth I had come to know as a student and teacher of the Enneagram for 25 years. I felt a clear call to create a new podcast that would take a deeper dive into the Enneagram.

The article, Advancing Ego Development in Adulthood through Study of the Enneagram System of Personality, was co-authored by David Daniels, MD, Terry Saracino, MA, MBA, Meghan Fraley, PhD, Jennifer Christian, PsyD and Seth Pardo, PhD. The bottom line from the study’s abstract: “The findings suggest that Enneagram Intensive trainings may be beneficial for promoting psychological growth and ego development.”

The bottom line from the study’s abstract: “The findings suggest that Enneagram Intensive trainings may be beneficial for promoting psychological growth and ego development.” So you might ask – this is news? For those of us who work with this powerful system, it’s a given. But in order to help the Enneagram be more accepted in the mainstream psychology world, we need data. As far as we know, this is the first study to examine the efficacy of the Enneagram to promote growth. It’s a step in the right direction – and we need more.