| |
Point Seven: The Program of Easy Optimism with Uneasy Activity
| Special Gift: |
The ability to create pleasure and make things happen |
| Self-Definition: |
"I'm fun. I see the bright side of life." |
| Shadow Issue: |
Gluttony |
| Rejected Element: |
Pain |
| Addiction: |
Easy Optimism |
| Strength Needed: |
Level-headed moderation |
| Defense Mechanism: |
Rationalization |
| Psychological Disturbance: |
Narcissistic personality |
| Talk Style: |
Anecdotes |
| Preoccupations Include: |
Maintaining high levels of stimulation, many activities, many things
to do, wanting to stay "high."
Replacing deep contact with pleasant talking, planning, intellectualizing.
Defusing threat; maintaining a smokescreen of activity.
Charm as a first line of defense against fear. Talking one's way out of
trouble.
Interrelating and systematizing information such that commitments necessarily
include loopholes and other backup options which can lead to rationalized
escape from difficult commitments, but can also lead to an ability to
synthesize
unusual connections and parallels between what appear to be antagonistic
points of view.
Superiority/inferiority dichotomy. |
| Focus: |
Personal emphasis on savoring life.
Couple emphasis on being with people of like-mind.
Community emphasis on limits and obligations. |
| Life Task: |
To work with a sense of proportion and balance anchored in the now.
Pain of any kind can serve as a steadying point of focus. |
Margaret Frings Keyes
Emotions and the Enneagram
Working Through Your Shadow Life Script
Molysdatur Publications, Muir Beach, California,1992, 164 pages
|