At Their Best:
Objective, perceptive, insightful, self-reliant, curious, and calm in crisis.
When Struggling:
Detached, isolated, intellectually arrogant, withholding, hoarding, and secretive.
What Type Fives say about themselves:
- I have a strong need for privacy.
- I limit intrusion from a world that wants too much from me.
- I hoard time, space, energy, knowledge and myself.
- I detach from feelings and observe rather than participate.
- I am a minimalist.
From www.narrativeenneagram.org
We each feel that we must show up in a certain way in the world in order to deserve love.
These are internal messages that resonate with Fives:
BASIC FEAR: Of being useless, helpless, or incapable.
BASIC DESIRE: To be capable and competent.
BASIC PROPOSITION: “You can assure survival and gain protection from intrusion and insufficient resources through privacy, self-sufficiency, limiting desires and acquiring knowledge.”
AVOIDANCE: Feeling incompetent/inadequate, and intrusive/demanding people.
FOCUS of ATTENTION: Intellectual understanding, accumulating knowledge, and potential intrusions from others’ agendas, needs and feelings.
- Positive aspect: The ability to acquire enormous amounts of knowledge and to fully master topics.
- Negative aspect: The tendency to reside too much “in their head”, and have difficulty tapping into their own and others’ emotions.
Strategies For Growth:
- Take a pause and observe your habits of mind with as little judgment as possible. Ask yourself, how am I avoiding emotions and staying in my head? How am I reacting when I feel intruded upon? Remind yourself that you have a vital life force and that ample energy and resources are available.
- If it is difficult to relax and unwind, make an effort to include exercise or biofeedback techniques in your normal routine. Meditation, jogging, yoga, or dancing are good options.
