SHIFT Happens

Posture – Sit up Straight to SHIFT

“Sit up straight” How many times have you heard that from parents and teachers? Today it sounds like good advice. It is not just about how you sit which is the physical wellbeing aspect of posture. It can also apply to all the other scales of wellbeing.
“Sit up straight” on the sharpness scale asks you to pay attention and be aware of your surroundings. Sometimes when I am reading my mind wanders. If I were to say to myself “Sit up straight” I know that the physical act of doing that would bring my focus back to the words on the page.
“Sit up straight” on the Happiness scale could be a reminder to choose happiness and not allow yourself to move into that slouchy, depressed state that is often easy to be in and difficult to get out of. When we “sit up straight” from the heart we can feel the lift that we get and it can make you smile.
“Sit up straight” on the relational wellbeing scale of independence is an invitation to take charge of the situation and make the most of the relationship you are working on. Don’t allow others to make decisions for you. Use your back bone to straighten the situation in your favour.
“Sit up straight” on the Fitness scale allows your organs the room they need to work properly and lets your back do the work it was built to do. Using the muscles in your back this way strengthens them and you in many ways.
“Sit up straight” on the Trusting scale is another invitation to pay attention to the “coincidences in your life, the unexplained, the miraculous. Trust that your intentions when shared are powerful and that we are all in the right place, doing the right thing.
The significance of good posture, of sitting up straight is enormous. So it for a day or two and see how much better you feel.
SHIFT will happen.

Later – Condemnation, Forgiveness – 4

Four’s are about being different, about differentiating themselves from others. They get their energy from being unique, special, one of a kind. I love 4’s. There are so predictably able to find ways to remove themselves from situations that do not favour their individuality. The minute you attempt to normalize anything, they will add the drama to their situation that will make it stand out. Drama and 4 go together.

So the Illusion of Condemnation is about knowing that condemnation does not exist so being different or out of the ordinary is okay. Without condemnation their really is no need for forgiveness, which is the quality that Riso and Hudson attribute to 4’s. So what is missing for a 4 in conflict is forgiveness, both giving and receiving.

Four’s under stress go to 2. If they can satisfy the stressed two by helping others then they can move into their creative selfs and nourish their unigueness in productive ways, which then leads to the positive side of the 1 on their growth line. Evolved 4’s embrace order and standards like healthy 1’s. They forgive others and themselves.

“Later” is a word I have heard 4’s use when they are avoiding something that sounds ordinary. “I will join you later.” can be translated into “I do not want to be part of this”. Healthy 4’s are sensitive introverts from the Heart Triad and will protect their own feelings, and will also try to avoid hurting others. Any of you who are 4’s are differentiating yourself from this description. You avoid categorization or condemnation, which, according to Walsch is an Illusion.

“Later” – that is what this weekend was for me. You know how you promiss yourself to do things later? Well I got a lot of those kind of things done this weekend. It was a later kind of weekend. Tomorrow had arrived and I took full advantage. Stampede is over and it is back to reality, to the ordinary everyday abhored by the 4’s among you.

Stampede, Success, Failure and Authenticity – 3

This week is Stampede week in Calgary. Some of you will know that during stampede people are very social and there are too many events going on to attend them all and it is a flurry … no … a frenzy of activity that is wonderful and tiring. Last Sunday I sang O Canada three times at different events, which is not something I do alot in the off season. I see people this week I rarely see otherwise. Everyone is a friendly, smiling Cowboy. The city transforms inot a wild west town and there are breakfasts and lunch barbeques and dinners sponsored by companies and shopping centres on every corner. It is a cowboy Mardi Gras. The rodeo and the chuck wagon events are at the heart of it all and are well attended every day. There is so much to do that even a 7 like me, who enjoys the dizzying aray of things to do and see, is worn out by day 7 which is today.

All week I have intended to blog about it. What I said I would do is blog about the 3 type and Walsch’s illusion of Failure, Riso Hudson’s quality of Authenticity and my criteria of Success from the chart. Instead I had what I suspect is close to a 3 experience this week. 3’s are the work-a-holics, who seek success and recognition and who believe that they are measured, not by who they are, but by what they can accomplish. Riso-Hudson suggest that once they are able to move into becoming their authentic self then they can move toward growth. What they need to know is that they cannot fail becuase Failure is an illusion. They are already successful, no matter what they do.

I psyched myself out this week thinking I had to write a brilliant piece about the type 3 part of the chart and not having the mental capacity or the time to really focus, I was sure I would fail. So I put it off. “I will do that later, so I can do a better job.” “I don’t have enough, time or information to write something worthy of my readers right now.” That was the thought process, which, I recognize now as an experience that 3’s have all of the time. 3’s seek success and avoid the possibility of failure. When they are stressed they move to 9 and seek harmony and peace. Once that is satisfied they can learn the lesson of failure as illusion and become their authentic selves. The Authentic 3 grows toward the 6 and becomes reliable and committed, able to set aside the fear of failure and JUST DO IT.

That is the advice I would give a 3 who was stuck or immobilized by the fear of failure or success and that is the advice I am taking today. JUST WRITE IT. I have also included today a diagram of the PULSE Enneagram to remind everyone how the PULSE Enneagram uses the Red,Yellow, Green Colour codes to indicate the Traids. Red is the Heart Triad. Yellow is the Body Triad. Green is the Head Triad. 3 is the centre of the Red or Heart Triad, the emoters and as a centre they defer feelings.

More to come …

Conditionality – Inclusion – Self Nurturing – 2

Happy Stampede. For those who are not familiar with the Enneagram these next few entries will feel like a Stampded of information with words and numbers used in a way that may be like a new dialect. Words create worlds and the use of the numbers and the descriptors in the Enneagram create and define human nature in an exciting and accessible way. Understanding even a little about Enneagram allows us to value what we are not. Accepting that their are other world views is the first step.

I will continue discussion of the Illusions, Criteria and Qualities from the chart over the next few days more as a means of clarifying my own thinking and also to introduce you to the kinds of understanding of “personality” and then “essence” that Enneagram offers. Yesterday was focused on the illusion of Judgment, and the Enneagram number 1, motivated by order and standards. It also talked from a perosnal view the world of 7’s motivated by variety and adventure.

Today is brought to you by the Enneagram number 2. 2’s live in the Heart and in the Past.

Two’s are helpers. They get their energy from helping others. They are motivated by the opportunity to contribute to others and they often neglect thier own needs. They can be hurt or get angry if they are excluded so inclusion is important to them. A healthy 2 gives understands the illusion of conditionality and nurtures the self as well as others. Two’s like to be included. The Illusion that Conditionality exists creates stress for a 2. A stressed 2 moves to 8 and takes charge. Once the need for control is satisfied in the 2’s stressed 8 then they become the healthy Helper or 2 giving of themselves, unconditionally. They can move through the levels of development using the lesson of Self Nuturing to become the “Disinterested Altruist” as identified by Riso and Hudson. This allows them to move toward their Growth 4, access their creative side, and accept Forgiveness. This is the 8 – 2 – 4 satellite.

It is difficult to know how much information to put here so I am asking you to comment on this series with your questions so that I can satisfy curiousity … yours and mine.

Tag Archives: Enneagram

Posture – Sit up Straight to SHIFT

Later – Condemnation, Forgiveness – 4

Stampede, Success, Failure and Authenticity – 3

Conditionality – Inclusion – Self Nurturing – 2