Your Orientation to Life?

I’ve been contemplating a pretty interesting thing lately, at least I think it’s interesting.  I’ve been wondering about people’s underlying orientation to life … what their core relationship and association to living is.

As a Law of Attraction practitioner, I know that like attracts like – that things of similar or fitting nature are drawn to one another. That we cluster.  Therefore, our basic orientation to life is a very powerful thing … probably one of the most, if not THE most, fundamental attraction factor in our life.

Orientations:
So what do I mean by orientation?  I mean, how do you think and feel about life?  What is your natural tendency towards it?  Do you embrace life?  Do you fear it?  Does it bring up feelings of warmth? Security? Stability?  Do you trust your place and/or place your trust in it?  Do you think of it as a game?  Are you lighthearted or serious about life? Empowered?  Powerless? Just how do you feel about being here in this strange, weird and wonderful thing that we call life?!

Your Signal:
In Law of Attraction, the theory is that we emit a signal or vibration due to the habitual things that we focus on and feel. That we attract things that are a vibrational match to what we constantly beat a drum about – draw them to us like a big magnet.

Seems to me that one of the core things we can consider is what underlying signal about life are we putting out?  How do we really, deep down, feel about being here? About participating in life?  About being on this planet with its other inhabitants?  Because it’s that deep down (sometimes sub-conscious) stuff that really forms the base of our vibration. That can help explain some of why people are getting what they are getting.

The Enneagram:
There is a tool that I sometimes use in my coaching work with clients – called the Enneagram. You may be familiar with it … it’s a 9 type personality system who’s origin is linked to the Sufis (although there is some dispute about that).

Each of these nine types represents an orientation to life or worldview based off of early decisions we make as children (decisions often set before we had rational reasoning I might add).  Some authors call it our ‘core wound’ or our ‘fixation’ and its often built upon a cognitive error of some sort influenced by your early environment – i.e. thinking you are unlovable, or that your value is based upon how others perceive you (the two) or on what you do (the three), or that people can’t be trusted (the five), or are weak or unpredictable (therefore you either must live your life in fear (the six) or you must be the strong leader (the eight), etc.

People drop hints (often without their conscious awareness) about their worldview through the language that they use.  When I create a client’s Life Map, I often hear (and then draw out) the exact language, metaphors and imagery they are using – so it can be mirrored back to them.  If their use of enneagram type language is really strong, I break out one of my enneagram books and assign it as homework – so they have a greater understanding of how they tend to think and feel and what we are working with as a starting point (what we will be SHIFTing if it is not serving them).

THE NINE ENNEAGRAM TYPES:

  1. The Reformer: is principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.
  2. The Helper: The Demonstrative, Generous, People-Pleasing Person, Possessive Person
  3. The Achiever: The Adaptable, Excelling, Driven, Image-Conscious Person.
  4. The Individualist: The Expressive, Dramatic, Self-Absorbed, Temperamental Person
  5. The Investigator: The Perceptive, Innovative, Secretive, Isolated Person.

  1. The Loyalist: The Engaging, Responsible, Anxious, Suspicious Person
  2. The Enthusiast: The Spontaneous, Versatile, Acquisitive, Scattered Person
  3. The Challenger: The Self-Confident, Decisive, Willful, Confrontational Person
  4. The Peacemaker: The Receptive, Reassuring, Agreeable and Complacent Person.
  5. Don Riso, Understanding the Enneagram

Identify Your Type:
I’ve known about the Enneagram for over 15 years, but it’s only recently that I have really, solidly and firmly come to understand (and appreciate) which type I personally am and the role that plays in my life – particularly from a Law of Attraction point of view.

It’s not unusual to mistype yourself, especially if you are young and haven’t had the opportunity of seeing how things play out over the longer term. Or, if you are a person who hasn’t had a lot of time or aptitude to really look carefully at your inner world.

Don Riso, one of my favorite Enneagram authors does offer an online test called The Riso-Hudson Enneagram Type Indicator, should you like to identify your own type.

The Virtues:
The thing that I really like about the Enneagram is that the good material about it points us towards what we can do to reach greater levels of satisfaction, integration and health in our lives.  If our type is based off of a specific erroneous fixation or wound, then the way out (the flip!) is through the cultivation of a specific ‘virtue’ … a quality or state that is the anecdote so to speak.  In Law of Attraction speak this is the state that we need ‘to find the feeling place of’ or ‘the vibration’ that we need to emit to make a SHIFT in our life and overcome our automatic or habitual tendencies.

#

Name

Passions (wounds)

Virtues

1.

The Reformer

Anger/Pride

Serenity

2.

The Helper

Pride/Flattery

Humility

3.

The Achiever

Deceit/Vanity

Truthfulness

4.

The Individualist

Envy/Melancholy

Equanimity

5.

The Investigator

Avarice/Stinginess

Nonattachment

6.

The Loyalist

Fear/Cowardice

Courage

7.

The Generalist

Gluttony/Planning

Sobriety

8.

The Challenger

Lust/Vengeance

Innocence

9.

The Peacemaker

Sloth/Indolence

Action

An Example:
Well, nothing like using myself as an example and continuing my habit of self disclosure.  I am a 6 on the Enneagram – the Loyalist.  The fortunate part of being a Loyalist is that I’m dependable, friendly, responsible and generally get along well with people – endearing.  The unfortunate part is, due to my perceived interpretation of my early environment as being unstable, erratic, constantly changing, unpredictable (and therefore not particularly safe), I have a bit of a problem with fear and being a chickenshit!
The Six is an interesting type, in that there are two flavors.  One type of six is a ‘phobic’ – the type of person who is obviously timid, shaky and scared.  The other type of six is called a counter-phobic (that is what I am).  Their response to fear is to move towards it rather than move away from it … fight rather than flight.  Extreme athletes, daredevils, emergency workers, gangs … they are all examples of counter phobic sixes.  They don’t seem to be scared on the surface, but if you go down deeper, you will see that their reactions are coming from an anxiety about the environment and their ability to deal with it … they conquer it to make themselves feel better.

From the table above, we can see that the virtue (the quality to be developed) is, no surprise, courage.  Not the flashy courage of being a risk taker and reacting from an anxious place, but the real courage of knowing that one is ok in the world. Some of the more spiritual books also call this ‘holy faith’ or ‘holy strength’.  The kind of feeling place that you know life has your back, that there truly is nothing or no-one to be afraid of.

So, in my Law of Attraction practices (a few that I listed out last issue), I am really focusing on ‘finding the feeling place’ of courage, strength and faith.  That action is great and all, but locating the calm feeling of the world being stable, secure, and safe (no matter what happens) is my current Law of Attraction homework.  The great thing is, as we find the feeling of things that are good but unfamiliar to us, it changes our vibration. It literally changes what we are a vibrational match to – things on the outside re-orient themselves to reflect the change in our worldview.

Recommended Resources:
Obviously in an article of this nature, I can only skim the surface and hope you get the point of why this kind of system can be useful – it helps you identify your good and problematic tendencies and points towards the solution that needs to be cultivated for greater health and happiness.

A study of the Enneagram can go quite deep, depending on which authors you research. Here are a few of my favorite authors to get you started, if you are resonating with what I’m throwing down – wink.

Understanding the Enneagram, Don Riso

The Enneagram, Helen Palmer

The Enneagram of Passions & Virtues: Finding Your Way Home, Sandra Maitri

Once you have your type identified (or at least a likely type to start experimenting with) I invite you to do the emotional and vibrational work of finding the feeling place of your ‘virtue’.  What’s it feel like to stand in that kind of energy? What would life be like if you came from that worldview as a matter of habit?  What would your new story be if you lead with your virtue rather than your fixation?  I look forward to hearing your answers and having you experience your new energy state and all that it attracts!

P.S. GET  PRIVATE SUPPORT: Looking for a good coach who knows Strategic Planning/Visioning,  Enneagram, Law of Attraction and other helpful processes to help you shift?  If so, I’m your gal, check out my private coaching options (both in-person and distance sessions available … all in my trademark visual style).    Also SHIFT-IT Online (online class offered twice a year)  incorporates Law of Attraction techniques into business and life coaching. SHIFT-IT is also available via a Home Study Kit, so you can do your own visioning and planning using Law of Attraction techniques (and visuals!) from the comfort of your own home working at your own pace.  


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