Getting Unstuck!
Ever find yourself in this scenario?
You say what you mean and think you mean what you are saying….
Then BAM! “I said what? I did that?”
You look to the left, then look to the right in disbelief.
You take a look around in wonder…
“Here I am again?”
How often do we really stop, breathe, and take the time to listen to what is really going on around us, or notice the reactions we are having to the situation?
We have all adopted unconscious conditioning and not taken time to reevaluate it. We just move along with what we think has been intentional encounters with our relationships, our careers, and our belief systems. Many of our behaviours that seemed to work at one point, now leave us feeling adrift, or miffed at how we landed in a place where we don’t quite “fit” anymore. We feel that there is something else shifting. There are more bumps that are even more uncomfortable to manage. The ways we would normally relieve them are no longer working…. it may be time for a realignment…. but how?
There are a lot of “tools” one can use for self-awareness. For me, the enneagram brings me to a place where I can pay attention to the whole of me. It teaches a process to step out of my compulsions and my automatic defence patterns, I can then have a clearer focus on my mind, body, spirit. Healing my wounded ego to uncover the essence of who I am meant to be in this time and place.
Working with the enneagram has challenged me to take a hard, and sometimes uncomfortable look at where I default to old ideas that are really no longer serving me. Makes me think, am I serving them?
I am excited to be leading an in-person introductory workshop on the enneagram in Steinbach. I want to share my experiences so that more people can come to understand what I have. I have a choice! Not to follow blindly, but to become courageously curious. I have found compassion for myself and the “what and why” of my reactions. Now, when I have a “reaction” or “an opportunity to shift perspective” I can take the time to breath into it to choose my response. We all can.
In a world that seems to be in continuous strain, restlessness and tension, the enneagram is a way to stop the noise and distraction of striving to survive, and find a way to thrive.
If you want to learn more about the enneagram or just want to refocus your personal work, I hope you will join Dale Bially and I for our enneagram workshop Getting Unstuck: An Introduction to the Enneagram taking place January 31st.
We are not alone in our doubts and struggles, and during our day with the enneagram we will discover new ways to find the joy in life’s challenges.
Kristine Friesen