Type Six Overview:
People of Enneatype SIX are loyal skeptics who are motivated by a desire to find security, safety and predictability in their environment. They are reliable, friendly and dutiful – looking for the right structures or people in which they can place their trust.
Sixes have very busy brains – actively attuned to potential problems, dangers, or hazards around them. They are natural trouble-shooters, quickly assessing the multitudinous potential outcomes of their endeavors in an effort to navigate the safest path.
The preoccupation to evaluate potential risks is often experienced by Sixes as a sense of constant anxiety, or sometimes as a compulsion to be prepared for anything. This constant drive to foresee and prepare for all potential problems can sometimes result in fearful indecisiveness OR in reactive and contrary confrontation.
At Their Best:
Perceptive, responsible, loyal, compassionate, strategic, and courageous.
When Struggling:
Hypervigilant, indecisive, defensive, self-defeating, pessimistic, and paranoid.
What Type Sixes say about themselves:
- I am preoccupied with safety and security concerns.
- I greet everything with a doubting mind and contrary thinking.
- My vigilance, active imagination and intuition help me anticipate and avoid problems.
- I question authority and people until they gain my trust.
- I procrastinate because I fear making the wrong decision.
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 Sixes:
BASIC FEAR: Of being without support and guidance.
BASIC DESIRE: To have security and support.
BASIC PROPOSITION: “You can assure life and certainty by avoiding harm (the phobic stance) or facing it (the counter-phobic stance) through vigilance, questioning, and either battling or escaping perceived hazards.”
AVOIDANCE: Uncertainty or rejection
FOCUS of ATTENTION: What could go wrong, worst-case scenarios and how to deal with them.
- Positive aspect: The ability to quickly spot potential problems and troubleshoot with innovative solutions.
- Negative aspect: The tendency to get caught up in overly-negative worst-case-scenario thinking.
Strategies For Growth:
- Observe your habit of mind or focus of attention with as little judgment as possible. Ask yourself, how do I question and doubt in my internal dialogue? How am I magnifying situations in my head? Remind yourself that you have the ability to trust yourself and make good decisions for your own self.
- It can be scary to trust others, but work on becoming more trusting. Find at least 1-2 people that you allow yourself to get close to. This will mean risking rejection, but the risk is worth taking.