Conversations that I have over time with coaching clients inevitably turn to the territory of Relationships. How could they not? Whether one is in a relationship, wanting a relationship, or avoiding having relationships, they are central to our lives. They affect and are affected by how we perceive and value ourselves, our level of stress, our effectiveness at work and in our personal lives, how we spend our time and money, in effect, every part of life. Relationships are also the place we are shown where our unhealed wounds are and where we have the potential for enormous growth. Everyone I have met wants healthy, honest, caring relationships that support them. If this is what we want, why are these relationships so hard to achieve?
I have found the Enneagram to be an enormous source of information, understanding, wisdom, and practical processes for creating and maintaining conscious relationships. It shows us what we specifically want from relationships (different Enneagram types actually have different priorities in what is most important to receive from other people), how we respond to hard conversations and conflict (different Enneagram types naturally respond in a way that makes the most sense for that type), how our values affect where we want to put our priorities (again, the differences in values that shows up through the Enneagram makes profound differences in how we evaluate others against ourselves), and how our early childhood patterns (which show up through different Enneagram types) get replayed out through life–until they don’t.
When we see the many profound ways our Enneagram type’s orientation to life impacts our capacity for relating to others, we have the beginning of change and choice. What’s equally as important, we begin to understand why others act as they do, and not necessarily as we would like them. It doesn’t have as much to do with us as we probably think!
My friend and colleague, Dr. Ronna Phifer-Ritchie and I are offering a workshop on the Enneagram and Relationships starting Friday evening, September 21 through September 23 at Mercy Center in Burlingame, California. Burlingame is 10-15 minutes from the San Francisco Airport. We welcome couples, singles who want to create conscious relationships, parents, individuals being challenged in their relationships and professional therapists, social workers, coaches, and others who work with clients around this important topic. You can get more information by going to www.lifewisecoaching.com/relationships-workshop-intimat/. We also offer CE’s for MFT’s and LCSW’s through the California Board of Behavioral Sciences.
We’d love to have you join us.
Roxanne
