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PREVIOUS: Ennea Triads, Part 2b

SITE: Discover your Enneagram TRI-Type

3rd Triad (891) : INSTINCT (Gut), Body-based character structure
#8 = Leader — Energy: Larger than life, Dominating.
#9 = Mediator Energy: Diffuse extension, Comfortable
#1= Reformer Energy: Rigid containment, Righteous

At a party: If you go right in, engaging in hearty, jovial, back-slapping greetings that may put some people off, you’re likely in the Gut triad. Or, you might offer the host a ‘helpful’ criticism about how to improve some aspect of the party.

Flow: Gut-centered people act first – think & feel later. They’re very connected to concrete reality, with a very “nuts & bolts” approach to life. Their driving ‘sin’ is anger, as their first reaction to unsafe people & physical circumstances

POSITIVE 891s : At their best, they’re grounded, with a common-sense approach to taking care of basic needs, so not much thought is required for the simple tasks of life. Their motto could be: “Just do it”, being active in the physical world, & connected to nature
When healthy, they relate to their environment & to others exceptionally well, with a deep wisdom from within. Struggling to stay in the moment, they can always call on their gut reactions to bring them back to the present.

Purpose: “We all use personal position & personal power to make life be the way we believe it “should be.” We devise strategies to assure our place in the world & to minimize discomfort.~ David Daniels, M.D

Physical Center: The Gut / Instinct is the physical link to the conscious ego & the unconscious soul. 891s value action, living life at full volume & maximum speed, doing whatever it takes to best handle physical needs.

All types depend upon the Body Center of Intelligence to be in touch with their higher qualities, including: • the right amount of energy needed for action
• how much power to use (or not use) in each situation
• the capacity to be being grounded in themselves & the world.

Priority: Instinctual needs & rhythms in daily life; issues of fairness or rightness, getting practical results.
Direction: 891 Types move in & against, are direct & straight forward, & can easily be confrontational
Key Mode: Screening & buffering (principled inattention)
Key Words: Belonging, Comfort, Congruence, Harmony, Personal power, Protection, Respect, Worth

Basic defense: A concentration of energy in the belly center enables repeated patterns to form layers of “insulation” in the mind & body.
This insulation is used to “screen out” unwanted feelings or information from the inside or outside. Personal wants and needs are controlled by super-ego “shoulds

Neurotic style: Obsessive process – using repeating patterns of thinking and doing to capture and stabilize attention in daily life.

NEGATIVE : Fearing neglect or being overlooked, they seek acceptance & be respected for who they are. Acting impulsively, they resist being influenced by current reality, & try to impose their will on the environment without being affected by it – to prevent being controlled by anyone or anything. When they don’t have the experience of their positive Key Words, they react with anger / rage – the more controlled version showing up as irritation, resentment, impatience….
Main emotion :
8s externalize & act out their anger
9s feel conflicted & disconnect with their anger
1s internalize & repress their anger

Life challenge: Struggle with being asleep to their True Self. They need to “Wake up” through self-awareness instead of falling into excessive materialism (8), low-level comfort (9) or habits (1).
Their childhood experience is of not being allowed their space, so there’s a deep hunger to carve this out for themselves in the world, with a push to distinguish between who they are vs everyone else.

INEXT: Triad EMOTIONS (Part 1)