Enneagram Type 4s are the Individualists of the Enneagram. They are sensitive, creative and expressive people who are interested in finding and understanding their own identity. While they crave close, intimate relationships, others may find them quiet, reserved and hard to get to know.
Does your personality feel like a mischievous kid sometimes?
Just when you think you’ve got a handle on things, you feel yourself melting into a blob of complete and utter… whatever. Bored to the roots of the hair on your toes. Or you find yourself floating perfectly still and everything inside you is chaotic energy and your hands wring hot and frozen and your chest beats hollow with barely enough space for your lungs to stretch. Your head is full of pinpricks and nobody had better come near you right now.
‘Twas the night before Christmas, when feelings of holiday cheer and terrible anxiety flooded the Judger. The holiday season is the most wonderful time of the year — for the most part. But as an INFJ—one of the eight Judging types in Myers Briggs typology—my Judging component often gets tested come November and December.
I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve heard this question, and for a variety of reasons! For example, Introverts (I) may think that Extraverts (E) have more fun and they get more attention. Feeler-Perceivers (FPs) struggle in structured environments, believing that Thinker-Judgers (TJs) were the ones who unfairly created them. Sensors (S) just don’t get why Intuitives (N) often seem to be in positions of leadership when they’re just “winging it” and not looking at the data.
Creative idealist personality types INFJ, ENFP, INFP, and ENFJ are vulnerable to life’s disappointments like any other person. Highly idealistic and with strongly developed Intuitive and Feeling traits, it’s natural for us to resolve those disappointments by using our mental and emotional resources.
The Enneagram is unique to other personality models because it operates on the principle of “conscious change” in rewriting your mindset in different situations, to help you grow as an individual as you journey through life. As such, it suggests specific areas for self-development and growth. One area the Enneagram tackles is stress.
In this season of tricks or treats, when imaginations are encouraged to run wild and we squeal in delight at all things spooky, my mind wandered to monsters. Literary monsters, to be specific.
The nefarious creatures that have been woven into our collective storytelling for centuries fascinate me. I like to think even cavemen created monsters in their stories. Giant fangs and ravenous appetites warning little cave girls and cave boys to stick close and listen to their cave mothers.
You’ve heard the old saying, “no one is perfect.” Each of us has our own strengths and weaknesses and different ways that we behave around others, and the Enneagram often makes these starkly apparent. Some of our Enneatype qualities, like the Type Four’s creativity or the Type Two’s natural sense of compassion, are talents to be developed. But we all have some areas where we could use some improvement.
For me, the word “scam” always drums up an image of a balding, pushy, used-car salesman. You know the type. He uses phrases like “deal of a lifetime!” and “I shouldn’t be doing this, but just this once …” You’re totally psyched, you did it! You wore him down! Only to sign the papers, drive the car off of the lot, and realize you’ve been hopelessly outdone. Bamboozled. You were effectively swept up in a manipulating moment and now you’re stuck with the short straw.
Throughout the centuries, humans have found solace in the outdoors. Nature has inspired the works of great artists and writers, such as Keats, Millais, and Turner. These artists saw in nature what we still see today—a safe haven and an opportunity to escape the chaos of the city.
But what is it about nature that makes us feel good—whether we’re Introverts or Extraverts?
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