Thursday, August 23, 2018

Three types of people: Leaves, Branches and Roots

A friend sent this to me today. It sums up beautifully what I have been thinking about the last few weeks.

Are you a Leaf, a Branch, or a Root?

I hope I am a root for people. I know that I have a few roots in my life, but recently have discovered more leaves and branches than I knew I had previously in my world. But I also have some new roots growing and extending as I enter a new phase of my life.

I'm not sure why I thought that I could change and my people (branches and leaves) would change with me.  I think it's because I'm loyal and I expected the same loyalty. I call it my Reverse Golden Rule: If I'm nice to you then you'll be nice to me. And that's no how it works. I certainly found out that when I truly got in touch with my real feelings and spoke my mind that the leaves and branches went crashing down.

My study of the Enneagram continues with curiosity. I have been listening/reading a book called The Path Between Us by Suzanne Stabile.  It is a book about relationships between the types.  When I read The Road Back to You by Suzanne Stabile and Ian Morgan Crohn, I thought I was a 2 (the helper, befriender) by his test. However, last night I took a different test that said my top three types were  The Achiever, The Enthusiast, and The Individualist which is 3, 7 and 4 respectively.  Especially in the 3 and the 7 I can see it, so I find myself wondering if I'm a 3 with a 2 wing or a 3 with a 4 wing. I find myself wondering if I'm so Individual that I can morph into whatever type of person I need to be.  I am starting to realize that either I have changed from the Helper, or I'm just tired of having branches fall off, so I'm choosing to put myself out there less. I do believe this is the answer. And this is a good thing.  Used to be when I was on the road I was constantly wanting to talk to people on the phone. Now I find that I listen to my books, or tv shows or podcasts and enjoy that time alone in the car.  When I come home I'm relishing in my time alone...much to the chagrin of Michael who really doesn't enjoy his time alone near as much as I do.

I feel like I'm in a time of discovery and I'm going to enjoy the ride.

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