The Road Back to You by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile is a great read for anyone looking to understand themselves and their loved ones better. The world looks different through the lens of the Enneagram.
Pairs With: YOUR favorite chocolate. It’s hard for me to pick my favorite chocolate but right now, I’d go with Dove Promises Deepest Dark Chocolate.
Overview
Cron and Stabile do a fantastic job of breaking down what the Enneagram is and how it works. The Enneagram and this book will change how you view the world and those in it. Your own quirks and mannerisms will be addressed and suddenly your partner’s odd tendencies will all make sense.
One thing to note is, the authors are Christian and their faith does come out occasionally in the book. However, if you’re like me and are not Christian or religious, I wouldn’t let that stop you from reading it. I was able to skim over the parts that I didn’t feel resonated with me and find plenty of information that did.
Enneagram Background
“Ennea” is Greek for 9 and “Gram” is Greek for drawing. So the Enneagram is a nine drawing and this concept states that all of our personalities fall into (mainly) one of the nine categories.
It is wild to think all 7.8 billion of us can just fall into 9 different categories but it’s crazy accurate. I wouldn’t believe it either had I not tested it out on myself, my husband, my mom, my dad, my mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, and my brother-in-law.
Getting Started
To get started, I took a quiz online at https://www.crystalknows.com/enneagram-test. The best part is I didn’t have to put in my email or agree to give them my firstborn to get the results! The quiz said I was a One.
So then I flipped to the One section in the book to get more details and definitions of what a One exactly is. The quiz was right, I am most definitely a One.
I read the other sections too and tried to guess what number my family members all were. Then I had them take the quiz and read their sections out loud to them.
This book sparked a lot of really great conversations and we all had a lot of fun discussing it! Now the running joke is, “Oh that’s such a (related enneagram number), thing to do!” or “Classic (related enneagram number)!” When my husband joyfully says, “I’m down!” for whatever anyone asks to do, I’ll look at him and say, “You’re such a 7!” and we laugh.
Pitfalls for Each Enneagram Type
Cron and Stabile also address what they call the “deadly sin” for each of the Enneagram types. Although every personality has great things about it, there’s also “a unique ‘passion’ or deadly sin that drives that number’s behavior.”
For example, Sevens are the most fun-loving people and are driven by fun but they don’t always know when to say when. Gluttony is their biggest pitfall.
My husband is a textbook 7. He’s down for anything, anytime, and will happily participate in any and all activities. He also refuses to buy a video game console because he knows he will play it too much and won’t be able to break away from it. He also hates starting new TV show series because he knows he will binge the whole thing and won’t be able to walk away from it until it’s over.
However, as a One, 60 min of TV was far too long, to begin with, I have things that need fixing. Speaking of Ones – their biggest pitfall is anger. One’s view the world with the labels “good” or “bad.” Since anger is a “bad” emotion, One’s will shove their ‘bad’ feelings down and explode later in ways that don’t make any freaking sense. Good luck with us Ones.
Conclusion
Give this book a read if you’re feeling like you don’t fit or aren’t like everyone else. Like Quiet by Susan Cain, this book will help you see that you and your personality hold a very important place in the world and that you are needed EXACTLY how you are. I can’t recommend going down the Enneagram rabbit hole enough. Just make sure to take this book with you. It will really help clear things up!
Have you learned about the Enneagram before? What number are you?? Let me know what you think in the comments below!
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