I’ve made my Introduction to the Enneagram series into a free e-book, featuring all the posts and Sandy Renshaw’s illustrations.

It’s published under a Creative Commons licence which means you’re free to copy and share it with others on a noncommercial basis.

Download the Enneagram e-book.

The final post in my Introduction to the Enneagram series is up now on Successful Blog - Working with Others.

The whole series:

0. Introduction

1. What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

2. The Heart Types

3. The Head Types

4. The Body Types

5. Working on Yourself

6. Working with Others

A big thank you to Liz Strauss for inviting me over to Successful Blog and introducing me to a new audience. And to Sandy Renshaw for producing fantastic illustrations that were always perfect first time - as an Enneagram One I appreciate such attention to detail!

The next post in my Introduction to the Enneagram series is up now on Successful Blog - Working on Yourself.

For me, this is the point where the Enneagram really becomes interesting - i.e when the question changes from “What’s my type?” to “How can I use the Enneagram to change my life?”.

The series so far:

0. Introduction

1. What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

2. The Heart Types

3. The Head Types

4. The Body Types

Thanks to Sandy Renshaw for the illustrations.

The next post in my Introduction to the Enneagram series is up now on Successful Blog - The Body Types.

The series so far:

0. Introduction

1. What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

2. The Heart Types

3. The Head Types

4. The Body Types

Thanks to Sandy Renshaw for the illustrations.

The next post in my Introduction to the Enneagram series is up now on Successful Blog - The Head Types.

The series so far:

0. Introduction

1. What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

2. The Heart Types

3. The Head Types

Thanks to Sandy Renshaw for the illustrations.

The next post in my Introduction to the Enneagram series is up now on Successful Blog - The Heart Types.

The series so far:

Introduction

1. What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?

2. The Heart Types

Thanks to Sandy Renshaw for the illustrations.

Liz Strauss has kindly invited me to write a guest series, An Introduction to the Enneagram for Successful Blog. The first of six posts is online now - What is the Enneagram and Why Should You Care?, the rest will appear over the next couple of weeks (schedule here).

Special thanks to Sandy Renshaw who has done some great illustrations for the series.

What’s the Enneagram? That’s what the series is about - go have a look.

Let’s just say it could change your life.

If you’re visiting from Successful Blog I know you’re used to good hospitality from Liz, so I thought I’d take a moment to introduce myself and my blog.

I’m a poet and business coach living in London and specialising in work with professional artists, creatives and companies in the creative industries.

This blog is a place for me to share my enthusiasms about creativity, coaching and creative business. Although it’s aimed primarily at creative professionals, I hope it will appeal to anyone with an interest in people and creativity. Any questions, please feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me.

Today is Valentine’s Day. It’s also the first anniversary of this blog.

When I wrote my first post last year, I didn’t notice the significance of the date. Serendipity or stupidity? I’m not sure but it’s a nice coincidence.

Hugh at GapingVoid is on a slightly Quixotic Valentine’s Quest. He suggests we shouldn’t just think about Valentine’s Day in terms of “the boy/girl sex thing” - but a bigger idea of love, one that we can all share. I like that idea.

Of course, I don’t just mean romantic, sexual love. I mean human connection. “Agape”. If you don’t have that, like Saint Paul once said, you have nothing. (GapingVoid)

The last 12 months of blogging have been an unexpected adventure to me. The thing I didn’t realise when I started was how great it would be for connecting with and sometimes meeting so many generous, interesting and inspiring people. Thank you to everyone who has read, commented, linked and otherwise inspired Wishful Thinking during the past year.

Spread the love…

Following on from my earlier posts about Enthusiasm v Confidence, Ludivine’s question about How to Maintain Enthusiasm When Things Get Tough and Ways to Stop Worrying When You’re Under Pressure, I’ll finish off this mini-series with a few tips for tapping into your natural enthusiasm.

You’ll be pleased to know that you don’t need to be stressed out to use these tips - they work equally well if you’re just looking for a boost of enthusiasm to get you started (or restarted) on a project that matters to you.

The key to enthusiasm is not to try to force it - I like the phrase ‘tapping into enthusiasm’ as it suggests a natural spring that rises up of its own accord, especially if we don’t block it.

1. Start with curiosity

I once went to a writing class with the poet Craig Raine where he said writing poetry is a bit like stripping wallpaper. Once you’ve started, you end up with little ‘tags’ of wallpaper sticking out, which you start to pull slowly - sometimes the tag breaks off in your hand and you’re left with practically nothing. Other times, you pull on the tag and it gets bigger and bigger, till you’ve got a long strip of wallpaper coming away in your hands. Sometimes the strip goes on and on until you’ve pulled away the paper from a whole section of the wall. If you hadn’t been curious enough to pull the little tag, you’d never have managed such a spectacular achievement (in wallpaper-stripping terms).

Where are the ‘tags’ that are piquing your curiosity? A book you meant to read? A film you meant to watch? Someone you’ve been meaning to call for a while? Something you’ve always wanted to learn? An idea you never got around to trying out? Follow your curiosity wherever it leads you - lots of times it will trickle out, but if you keep trying, sooner or later you’ll feel it swell to a rushing torrent of enthusiasm.

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In my last post, How to Maintain Your Enthusiasm When Things Get Tough, I started answering a question from a comment on my post 5 Reasons Why Enthusiasm is Better than Confidence. Ludivine wanted to know what to do ‘when worrying about practical and financial issues stifles enthusiasm’.

I began by suggesting that:

1. Maintaining enthusiasm is key to overcoming such difficulties, particularly for creative professionals.
2. In order to maintain your enthusiasm, you need to stop worrying.

Worry is a many-headed beast, like the Hydra - it’s hard to stop it at the first attempt, but if you are persistent and try several different points of attack, you can overcome it in the end. It will probably take a few of the following techniques in combination - so experiment with them and see which ones work for you.

1. Physical activity

A few years ago I was dealing with a series of financial, work and emotional problems that I won’t bore you with here. My typical emotional state veered between anxiety (”What am I going to do?”) and depression (”It doesn’t make any difference what I do”). One of my ways of dealing with the situation was to run round my local park every day. I made myself do the run because afterwards I would feel significantly better than before it, and found it much easier to stay present and centred in my body. Because of this, I was much less prone to get lost in worry.

Physical activity is a great way to get ‘out of your head’ and recover a feeling of calmness and mental clarity. You’ll get most benefit from a really good workout, but any physical activity that engages your senses can make a difference - washing the dishes, walking down the road for a pint of milk, enjoying a hot bath or making something with your hands.

If you want a calming physical activity you can easily incorporate into your daily routine, here’s a walking meditation exercise I learned a few years ago from the monks at Amaravati:

1. Choose a time and place where you won’t be disturbed. Early morning or last thing at night are good for setting you up for the day or a good night’s sleep.
2. Pick two spots, from 6 to 15 feet apart, and clear the space so you can walk between them.
3. Stand on the first spot, close your eyes and focus on your feet. Notice how they feel right now - warm? cool? tense? relaxed? Feel the floor pressing against the soles of you feet. Don’t try to relax, just notice how your feet feel right now.
4. Gradually sweep your attention up your body - up your legs, your torso, down the arms and lastly up to the crown of your head. For each part of your body, just notice the physical sensations you’re experiencing right now.
5. Once you have your whole body in your awareness, from head to foot, expand your awareness to listen to all the sounds around you, near and far - while still keeping your attention on your body as well.
6. Lastly, open your eyes and notice all the colours and shapes you can see - while still listening and sensing your body.
7. Very slowly walk towards the other point you chose at 2., noticing how your muscles feel as you move them.
8. Don’t worry if your mind wanders! It happens to everyone. Each time you get lost in thought, bring your attention back to your body.
9. Keep walking up and down as long as you like. Doing this for even a couple of minutes a day can have a noticeable calming effect on you. The more often you practise it, the better you will feel.

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