Jen P Higgins Author
My Superpower actually helped me see that I was mistyped! Your Superpower is that strength that you probably take for granted and assume everyone has.
I've been told all of my life,
"Jen, I wish I had your energy."
And now it's more like "Jen,I wish I had your optimism," because honestly I'm a little stingier with my energy these days.
But you know what?
That's my Superpower.
Having the energy, having the optimism.
Wouldn't it be nice to know what your innate superpower is?
Or at least validate what you've been told that you are a master of?
In this article, I'm going to go through each type of the Enneagram and describe the Superpower of each of those types.
And if you know your type, I'm curious if you agree with my descriptions.
You canListen here onEpisode 31:
The day I shared with my Enneagram teacher that I finally figured out which Enneagram type describes me, she asked me if I would share the story during class as a learning opportunity for the rest of my classmates.
First, you have to know that prior to seeing a Enneagram coach,
I got most of my information from books, podcasts, friends,taking all the tests, laughing at all the memes and just trying to stitch it all together.
And I was absolutely confused because I had squarely convinced myself that I was totally a type 4
(plus, that was what the test told me).
So in my class,I shared with my classmates why I thought I was a 4:
- I explained how I felt isolated as a child of immigrant parents. I wasn't quite of their culture and I wasn't quite of American culture.
- And then you throw small town life on top of that where our family's racewas the only one of its "kind."
- I tended to think of this as what made me special and because it made me stand out.
- Often, I would exaggerate that part of me for attention or just to feel like I was different and feel special in that difference.
- If I had anything bad that happened, I just marked it up as just a part of life.
- I found myself really gravitating toward people who were sad or hurting and I would go and be sad and hurt with them and try to cheer them up.
- I was deeply impacted by the 9/11 events, and I fell into a really deep depression.
- Then that following year, my husband and I had a miscarriage after overcoming the seven years of negative self-talk that I wasn't going to be a good parent.
- When our elder son was two years old,he started showing signs of autism, which led to a lot of isolation and rejection because play dates got canceled. Birthday invitation stopped coming. People were afraid of him. People didn't understand me. Mother's day out programs were kicking us out.
- And that included mom's night out for me. I stopped getting invitations for that.
- And there's a whole lot more heartache on the list that I'm not going to list because it's blech.
I was literally rattling these things off, when my teacher stopped me and she was like,
"Can I make an observation?
Jen, you're talking about some really, really painful things here...
And I just want to note that you're smiling and laughing."
and it wasn't until she said that that Ieven realized it, but she was right.
- I was smiling and laughing because I knew I was stereotyping the type 4.
(I was looking at behaviors and circ*mstances and not motivations, big no no!)
- I was smiling and laughing because the type 7 in me was absolutely fascinated by how I was so sure that I was a type 4 and I had completely boxed myself into it.
- I was smiling and laughing at the fact that there was no shame in my mistake or in the journey that I took. I understood the purpose of having to believe that I was a 4 to get to a 7.
- I was smiling and laughing andcompletely baffled at how blind I was to my core motivations, even after over a year of research with the Enneagram.
And I don't do anything lightly. If I research something, I will research it to death.
So it was just very interesting that: she could point out just in my telling the story that I was putting a positive energy spin to my laundry list of depressive events.
(👆🏻 That's why we need coaches to help us type ourselves!)
In my years of depression, during those times, I felt so dramatic because of all that emotional pain that I was going through...
(You know... the normal pain people are supposed to experience when you get life-changing news!)
And now I'm realizing that it felt that heavy to mebecause usually I reframe it.
And this was something that I just couldn't reframe.
I couldn't reframe terrorism.
I couldn't reframe autism.
And the fear that's associated with parenting under those kinds of circ*mstances after I already had this fear of not being a good parent.
Plus I had a lifetime reservoir of suppress negative emotions that dated way back when, that was starting to begin to surface at this time.
I'm not going to lie. It was the Poop Show. 💩
But since then, I've really learned to embrace my type 7s Superpower, bringing in positive energy and optimism.
So what I want to do in this article is go through the other types and list the super powers of each of the types.
And you're likely going to recognize your own ability to do multiple things on this list from all the different types.
And that's awesome! I want you to own that because that is called being well-rounded.
But the Superpower of your Enneagram type is going to be that strength that you probably have that comes so easy to you.
👉🏻And so naturally that you don't even know it's a strength.
You might take it for granted that everyone can do that, and maybe even get frustrated when they can't do it as easily as you can.
The other indicator of your Superpower is that it can also be your Achilles heel that can result in your fatal flaw or the shadow side of your type. Click here to see that list.
So let's go ahead and go through the superpowers.
9Superpowers of each Enneagram Type
Sources: Get Connected to your Business course, and The Complete Enneagram, by Beatrice Chestnut.
Type 8
The type 8 superpower is the Power of Strength and Fearlessness. It's literally superpower and type 8sare naturally driven by this superpower or what I call willpower to protect other people under their guardianship.
Type 9
The type 9superpower is the Power of Steadfast Support. You can always count on them to support you. They are naturally driven to be inclusive of all people, very nonjudgmental and extremely patient.
Type 1
Type 1s superpower is the Power of Integrity and Standards, pretty high standards as a matter of fact. They're observant and discerning andnaturally driven to problem-solve and process-improve to make things better.
Type 2
The type 2s, superpower is the Power of Friendly Communication and Support. Type 2s are approachable andnaturally driven to empathize with other people and offer nurturing to uplift others.
Type 3
Type 3s superpower is the Power of being Quick and Impressive when they're achieving things. Type 3s inspire and motivate others because theyarenaturally driven to "get things done" and look amazing doing it!
Type 4
Type 4s superpower is the Power of Emotional Intuition. They have a natural drive to empower others by accepting imperfections and by making suffering and pain not so taboo,helping others really process their emotions and heal.
Type 5
Type 5s superpower is the Power of Rationale and Objectivity. They are naturally driven to be observant and collect information so that they can make educated decisions or analyses based on logic and reason.
Type 6
Type 6s superpower is the Power of Detecting Hidden Agendas. They can see beyond the surface intentions (and alternate consequences)and arenaturally driven to question things at different angles, in support of orto advocate a cause.
Type 7
And now we are back toType 7s,whose superpower is the Power of Positive Thinking. They are naturally driven to create positive energy so that they can lift the mood or to entertain other people to cheer them up.
So the big question is now, do you agree with this list?
I really want to know how this resonates with you.
I'd love for you to send me a DM on Instagram and let's have a conversation!
Now, knowing that I completely identify with the type 7 100%, I've been able to really embrace my superpower of positivity.
I used to think that I got on people's nerves because I was so cheery.
People were annoyed with me and my silver linings.
I thought it made me look detached or dismissive or unfeeling.
But now I know to really own that superpower of mine, because this is something that people need and that I can bring to the table with very little effort.
People need an injection of Positivity in a reality that seems to counter it.
But it's also critical to know that the pendulum can swing the other way.
Our superpower turns out to be the very thing That leads to your fatal flaw, if it's not used in a healthy way.
And that's what I talk about in the next article, 9 Fatal Flaws of the Enneagram Types.
(Even though the 7 in me would rather focus on Superpowers!)
It is very important for us to understand both sides of the coin and balance it. Recognize, acknowledge, balance both parts of you.
That is how you Unbox your Personality!
Categories: : Enneagram
