Ginger Lapid-Bogda’s The Enneagram in Business portal contains an “Ask the Coach” feature, where a coach of each Type answers the same question about coaching, to give a flavor of the different possible perspectives. Ginger asked me to be the Type 9 – or Peacemaker – representative on this panel. Here’s my answer to the tenth question in the series.
Question 10. What development activities have you found that work really well with clients of your style, activities they can do on their own?
My answer: The first one is to practice either Tai Chi or Aikido on a regular basis. Tai Chi has helped me a lot and I know several people of Style Nine who are positive about the effects of Aikido. These martial arts help them to improve their awareness of their body and to get centered in their body.
A second activity that works well, is to practice Morning Pages for several weeks. Morning Pages involve sitting down, first thing in the morning, and writing three pages long-hand (it doesn’t work as well, when people type) about whatever thoughts are coming into their head. Uncensored. Over time, they recognize patterns and themes in these early morning thoughts. These pages can also throw up ideas for solving challenges that they are facing in life and help them to identify and explore metaphors that unleash their power.
If you’d like to see the other eight answers to this question, head over to the Enneagram Learning Portal. If you’d like to share your answer to the question, or discuss my answer, please leave a comment or trackback.