The Complete Enneagram: 27 Paths to Greater Self-Knowledge

by Beatrice Chestnut

Distracting yourself in various ways from your own growth and expansion through your attachment to various emotions Observe the ways in which you create suffering for yourself through negative thoughts about who you are and then dwell in that suffering as a way to distract yourself from taking action to address the causes of your suffering. Notice if you use depression as a defense—if you focus on the hopelessness of things as a way to avoid deeper kinds of pain or won’t do anything to generate hope and a more positive outlook. Look out for what you are avoiding when you get attached to your sadness. Observe any tendencies you have to amp up your emotions or create drama as a way of avoiding inner emptiness or grappling with the realities of your life. Notice if you avoid dealing with what’s happening in the present by devaluing it as boring or mundane.