According to Enneagram theory, personality type is based on how we survived our early development. Both nature and nurture play a role in personality development. Each type has foundational qualities that are inherently good and pure in nature. These are known as the true essence and divine spark within us all. The environment we grew up in, degree of secure attachment and level of trauma we experienced during our early years play a large role in the coping strategies of our personality type. To this end, our personality stems from the strategies we used to meet our basic needs for love, safety and belonging. When we do not have a secure attachment we disconnect from our true essence in favor of survival. We develop relatively predictable habits of thinking, feeling and acting that can be healthy, average or unhealthy depending on the degree of safe and secure holding and attachment from our environment and those around us.
The Enneagram outlines predictable strategies for coping, motivations, world views, strengths, challenges, avoidance patterns, fears, desires and solutions to find our way back to our true, divine nature. Once these predictable coping mechanisms are brought to light, it can have infinite benefits as it reveals the patterns of our behavior that are limiting and even self sabotaging to ourselves and those around us.