Growth in My Strawberry Patch

When the days lengthen and the weather warms it seems as though I can almost watch things grow. Just yesterday I thought about growth as I weeded my strawberry patch. Last year I placed priority on other things and this year the dandelions, grass, and thistles show as much growth as my strawberries. As I worked to clear space for my little plants I had a great deal of time to think about how neglect allows things to flourish that we would prefer to avoid. Growth is not exclusively physical, and neither is change always growth. People change and grow and the enneagram, which I have referenced in my last two blogs, gives us a picture of what that could look like.

The enneagram shows us many patterns to watch for and I want to share one more with you. Last month I wrote about the continuum of health of each type, but the types connect too. When we gain in health we not only go up the continuum for our own type we also integrate to the positive attributes of another. Likewise when we become unhealthy we not only go down on our own continuum we also disintegrate to the unhealthy patterns of another. Enneagram is actually the name of a shape that looks like this:

Do you remember studying the periodic table in chemistry? Or how about the circle of fifths in music theory? Similarly this shape helps us remember a pattern, that of integration and disintegration. You may notice that the lines between 6, 9, and 3 form a triangle. These types are called the “primary” types and their pattern of integration looks like this: 6 integrates to 9, 9 to 3, 3 to 6. We follow the other lines to see how the rest of the types connect. Their pattern goes like this: 1 integrates to 7, 7 to 5, 5 to 8, 8 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 1. For each of these groups the pattern of disintegration is the opposite. For example:
              • When average 1’s integrate they move from being overly self-disciplined and judgmental to an unself-conscious enjoyment of life of healthy 7. When they disintegrate they move from wisdom and good judgment to excessive self-analysis and reproach of unhealthy 4.

             • When 9’s integrate they find greater confidence and efficiency of a 3 but they disintegrate to overwhelming ambivalence and anxiety of an unhealthy 6.

When we notice this pattern there is no reason to feel superior to another or wish we were someone else. Though every type has their own set of brokenness we are not immune to the brokenness we see in others. Not only that, with such a path of growth available to us, it is no wonder that the enneagram reminds us to look beyond the confines of the personality we identify with most.

The question begs to be asked, if our patterns have served us since childhood why work to grow toward health? If my strawberries are blooming despite the weeds, why weed them? Author Mark Labberton writes of what he calls, “self-seeing.” He states that all of us have learned how to see others as well as ourselves, by how we think we’ve been seen by others. It may be an expression, a gesture, a word; it may or may not be understood correctly, but the feedback we receive affects our self-perception. Likewise it is through our own broken perception that we see others; that we give the cues with which they form their perceptions. So the “thistles” we allow in our own perceptions not only affect ourselves, they affect others and their perceptions. If we truly, as Labberton says “see as we have been seen, or as we think we have been seen,” becoming present to our own perceptions can be the most effective way, perhaps the only way, to work toward health in our communities and our world.


Sources used:
Understanding the Enneagram: The practical guide to personality types by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson

The Dangerous Act of Loving Your Neighbor: Seeing Others Through the Eyes of Jesus by Mark Labberton

Since I have just scratched the surface, here are some other Enneagram sources:

Personality Types: using the enneagram for self-discovery by Don Richard Riso

The Wisdom of the Enneagram by Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson

The Enneagram in Love and Work by Helen Palmer