Category Archives: In Their Own Words

During the past two years, treatment of several heart-related health issues has significantly impeded my progress. For an 8w7 such as myself, the situation is annoying at best and excruciating at worst. But I have taken charge of the treatment, to the extent that I can, and am taking steps to get back on track.

That means getting back to disseminating the responses from the past two Annual Enneagram Panels, preparing for this year’s panel in June, and completing the book I’ve been wanting to write for two and a half years.

So this month, I will be posting responses from the 2016 panel. Look for the first such post by the end of the week. (You can find links to responses from the 2015 panel by entering “panel” in the search box.)

The Annual Enneagram Panels are the most popular topic of my Monthly Meeting of the Mind (& Brain) series. The 2015 panel was kind of a lark. I had scheduled the topic in advance but didn’t plan on having a panel until I realized I actually knew enough people who knew their types that I could have a panel.

Fingers crossed, I hastily invited 9 individuals, and all of them accepted my invitation. I sent them a list of questions to prepare answers for, along with four situations to respond to. I didn’t ask them to tell me in advance what they were going to say, which meant things could have turned out poorly. But it was a huge success. Everyone did extremely well. And a tradition was born.

I change up the participants and add new situations each year. As a result I’m accumulating quite a bit of information from people about their experience of being their type. And audience members really respond to the people on the panels, no matter how much or how little they know about the Enneagram or about their type.

That’s the focus of the book. In Their Own Words will be (primarily) a compilation of voices of different people expressing their differing experiences, thoughts, and feelings about their type, along with their reactions to a series of vignettes.

The responses won’t be limited to people on the panels. I’m expanding the invitation to include people who know their type and would like to contribute to helping others learn about the Enneagram. If you are interested in being part of the project, please email me at joycelyn@farthertogo.com with “in their own words” in the subject line, and I will email a list of 12 questions. For Part 2, which I’ll be focusing on later, I will send you several vignettes to respond to. (Note: Names or other personal identifiers will not be included in the book.)

Thank you for your interest in the Enneagram and in Nine Paths. I look forward to a much more engaged year!