Tag Archives: Doing Center

Mindful Movement

Posted on 03/04/2013 | 2 comments
Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Thich Nhat Hanh

Thich Nhat Hanh (Photo credit: Geoff Livingston)

As a Doing type, I would rather have several challenging or difficult things to accomplish than attempt to try to do nothing–and by doing nothing, I mean meditating. I have meditated off and on over the decades, but it’s always an uphill battle.

I wrote about different meditation practices for the Doing, Thinking, and Feeling center types a while back. I’ve since come across Thich Nhat Hanh‘s 10 Mindful Movements exercises, and they have been very effective for me. It’s so much easier for me to be mindful when I’m performing these slow movements than when I’m trying to sit still.

For one thing, the movements give me something to focus my attention on. For another, when I’m moving–even this slowly–I don’t get as squirmy as I do when I’m sitting. The movements are very relaxing and refreshing, so they’re also good stress-relievers. You can do all of them, just a few, or even one to calm down or switch gears in the middle of the day.

This video goes through the entire sequence of 10 movements. It’s excerpted from a longer video available from Sounds True. There’s also a book, for those who like hard copy.

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Posted in Doing Center, Enneagram, Mindfulness, Type 1, Type 8, Type 9

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Questioning Resistance

Posted on 02/25/2013 | Leave a comment
no

no (Photo credit: the|G|™)

The primary issue of the Doing center is resistance (anger without a focal point). We can experience resistance toward internal factors, external factors, or both. Sometimes there’s a good reason to resist someone or something, but habitual or mechanical resistance cuts us off from the free flow of energy.

Whether we’re automatically resistant to certain thoughts or ideas, to experiencing or expressing certain feelings or physical sensations, or to behaving in certain ways, resistance limits and constricts us. It boxes us in to narrow ways of thinking, feeling, or acting.

Here are some questions you can use as journaling prompts to explore the issue of resistance.

  • What thoughts do you resist?
  • What beliefs do you resist considering?
  • What ideas do you resist?
  • What feelings do you resist?
  • What memories do you resist recalling?
  • What aspects or parts of your body do you resist?
  • What do you resist doing?
  • What do you resist changing?
  • Who are the people you resist?
  • What else do you resist?

Then choose something from your list and try to identify any underlying anger. What purpose does your resistance serve? What might it be like if you were to stop resisting that particular thing?

Since resistance is the primary issue for a third of the types, imagine how much impact it has on relationships and events in the wider world. Being aware of our own personal resistance is a small but necessary step toward lessening the overall resistance-at-large.

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Posted in Doing Center, Ennea-Journaling, Habit

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Songs for the Road: Doing Center

Posted on 08/22/2012 | 6 comments

There was a great little piece in the Enneagram Monthly some 15 years ago called “Enneagram Voicemail Codes,” by Lahar Goldberg. It was short, succinct, laugh-out-loud funny—and painfully accurate. As Sheldon said when he explained a joke on the TV show The Big Bang Theory: “It’s funny because it’s true.”

Enneagram Voicemail Codes

If you know exactly what you want…press 1
If you want to help, press…2
If you have a great idea that could make us a lot of money…press 3
If you’re feeling abandoned…press 4
If you don’t want to talk to anyone…press 5
If you don’t know what you want…press 6
For a good time…press 7
If you want to tell us what to do and how to do it…press 8
If you feel irritated, but you need to take a nap…press 9

So I thought it would be amusing and maybe even somewhat illuminating to compile, with a little help from my friends, a list of traveling songs for each type.

Because there are three Centers of Intelligence within the Enneagram and three types within each center, I’ve decided to focus first on the three Doing center types and cover the Feeling center types and Thinking center types in subsequent posts.

Road Songs for Doing Center Types

Maybe it’s because I’m a Doing type, but nine points or nine lenses or even nine types all seem entirely too static—thus the name for the blog, Nine Paths. I think the Enneagram describes the different approaches we take to life and the different ways in which we move through it. Type influences the paths we take, as well as how we proceed along them and what we see on the way. So as we travel our respective paths, let’s queue up some type-appropriate road songs. [As a Type 8 with a strong 7 wing, my own impulse is to keep moving, but to enjoy the ride as much as possible.] Continue reading →

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Posted in Doing Center, Enneagram, Road Songs, Type 1, Type 8, Type 9

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