A few months ago, I started a Superconscious Mastermind. This quarter, we are studying Intuition.
We're learning how to tap into the field of information surrounding us, and pick up on information through our intuition.
Maybe that's a little woo woo for you…
I get it…
But whether or not you believe in the Quantum Field, you can not deny that some people are more intuitive than others.
SO, what exactly is intuition?
Well, the online dictionary I just Googled says this…
‘Intuition is the ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning.'
I think of it as knowing, without doubt, that some thought or information that just came to you, often out of the blue, is absolutely, 100% correct.
WE can learn to open ourselves up to this information, and to let it in to help guide us throughout our life.
Or we can pretend it doesn't exist and stumble blindly forwards. 😉
Now the aim of this, is not to teach you how to be more intuitive…
Goodness knows I am still struggling with that myself.
It is to share something extremely interesting I learned about how our personality type determines our intuitive strengths.
You see, our intuition formed as a child, as a protective mechanism to help keep us safe.
And all of us learned to be intuitive in ways that tied ultimately into the personality type we took on.
Ironically, the way our self-consciousness orientates within the world, and the limitations that created, is also the same thing that allowed us to create our intuition, which helps to guide and protect us.
There are many different ways to personality type ourselves. You are probably familiar with the four main types as classified by colour or bird type.
I want to quickly run through a broader personality type (Enneagram) and discuss the intuitive strengths these personality types developed so that you can start to work out where your strengths might lie.
Now, here is the most important thing of all about this…
You do not need to be defined by your personality type.
Sure, it is something you lean towards, and it might be your go-to in times of stress, but you have the ability to learn and to grow and to partake from the strengths of all of the different personality types if you so wish.
Rather than letting your personality type limit you, use it as a way to understand your unique strengths as well as your weaknesses, and then learn how to shift and change into whatever personality type you need to get the job done.
Right, now that we have that sorted let's run quickly through the 9 Enneagram Personality Types and their Intuitive strengths.
1. The Activist/The Crusader/The Perfectionist/ The Organiser
These people believe that there is a way to be good or perfect. They were good little boys and girls who learned to behave properly and to take on responsibility.
They were possibly painfully criticised and as such learned not to make mistakes.
They get caught up in what is right and wrong, and forget to ask themselves what they actually want out of life.
Because of their childhood, the developed a keen intuitive strength that allows them to know what is incorrect.
2. The Helper/The Pleaser/The Caretaker/The Enabler
These people earned love and security by meeting other's needs. They adapt their feelings to suit the concerns of others, and can forget their own needs if it means meeting the needs of others.
They don't feel valid unless they are helping others, and as such their intuitive strength is in knowing what other people need.
3. The Role Model/The Achiever/The Status Seeker/The Motivator/The Best
These people were prized as children for their achievements. They were rewarded for performance rather than emotional connection.
They learned to suspend their own emotions and to focus their attention on earning the status that would give them love.
Their intuitive gift is in knowing what others want you them to say.
4. The Individualist/The Tragic Romantic/The Artist/The Melancholic
These people felt abandonment in early childhood and as a result they suffer from a sense of deprivation and loss.
They live with the conviction that there was an original source of love that was taken away and they are always trying to get that back.
Their intuitive strength is in knowing what others are feeling.
5. The Investigator/The Thinker/The Observer/The Specialist
These are very private people. As a child, the only safe place was in their own mind.
They tend to be very introverted and get more joy from working life out than from living it.
Their intuitive strength is the ability to observe without any emotion at all.
6. The Loyalist/The Doubter/The Trouble Shooter/The True Believer
These people lost faith in authority when they were very young. They were afraid of those who had power over them, these memories carried over into a life of being suspicious of other people's motives.
They either seek a strong protector, or go against authority in The Devil's Advocate stand.
Their intuitive strength is in knowing people's unspoken intention. They can see straight through other people's Bull Sh*t.
7. The Enthusiast/The Multi-tasker/The Generalist/The Energiser
These people are the free spirits. The ‘hippies'. The people that believe in a good life.
They live in a fantasy land and not in truth. They believe in adventure and fun. and the worst thing that can happen to them is for life to be boring.
While 5's responded to the fear in their early childhood by withdrawing totally, and 6's by being overly vigilant, 7's learned to move towards it, and to charm it so that they could disarm it with pleasantry.
Their intuitive strength is to know what others need to do differently.
8. The Leader/The Protector/The Provider/The Entrepreneur/The Rock
These people experienced a combative childhood where the strong were respected and the weak were not. this led them to always want to be in a position of power.
They can be combative, pushy and overtly angry and are the most likely to show off.
They believe that the world is dominated by bigger, stronger people.
Their intuitive strength is how to enlarge themselves in regards to other people. They are able to sense weakness and power in others and know where someone is weak or strong.
9. The Peacemaker/The Healer/Nobody Special/The Comforter
These people felt overlooked when they were young. They believe that their point of view was seldom heard and that other people's needs were more important than theirs.
They feel that conflict is bad, and that they try to avoid tension.
They don't like to make decisions and their intuitive strength is in being able to see both sides of the coin. They make the best advisers.
Now, here's the thing about these personality types. You very rarely fall into just one. There will be touches of a few of them within you, meaning you can already tap into the strengths of each of these personality types. (And in fact, 9's have a little bit of each of them.)
But by knowing this, it can be tempting to put yourself into a box. To let these ‘personality types' define you. To let them be an excuse to not do what you need to.
When in fact, the opposite is quite true.
Instead of clipping your wings and aligning yourself with one or a few of these…
Instead of clinging to your personality type in a way to ‘feel special'…
Use this knowledge to allow you to grow. To climb up out of these boxes, and to say, ‘This does not define me.'
You can decide to access the power and the strength that comes from each of these different aspects of human nature to help you have the success that you want within your business and within your life.
In Your Corner
Donna Joy
