Here is more info from the Changeworks website just copied to here:
</font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> CONNECTING POINTS (Stress and Security)
Seven's Connection to 1
Healthy side of this connection brings self-discipline, follow-through, and a certain idealism. There may be a principled persistence and sober critical faculties that help the Seven to get things done. Good at balanced evaluation; they're appreciative and sort for the positive but they're nobody's fool. Ethics can be important. Want to improve things, search for "win/win" solutions to problems. Start to take life seriously enough to do things well, finish what they start. The connection to 1 generally helps Sevens become more objective and committed in ways they are comfortable with.
When more entranced, their discipline degenerates into a confining web of limits. Seven project their 1 streak and begin to react to the stuffy, pointless rules of others. May confuse discipline with repression, build a trap that they need to escape from, blame it all on you. Critical and dogmatic, can harbor perfectionistic ideals of what others should do. Start to think in black and white; can go obsessive about detail.
The other neurotic manifestation is when Sevens latch on to a Big Idea. This is an abiding principle or future possibility that the Seven is sure will resolve their present discomfort. Can grow quite deluded and obsessed. Eyes fix so completely on a future possibility that they excuse themselves from the consequences of present actions.
Movie Sevens who demonstrate this connection: Jeff Bridges, Tucker; Francis Ford Coppola, Hearts Of Darkness; Robert Duvall, Lonesome Dove; Andre Gregory, My Dinner With Andre; Hugh Hefner, Hugh Hefner: Once Upon A Time; Dennis Hopper, Flashback; Tom Hulce, Parenthood; Sidney Poitier, Lillies Of The Field; Jon Voight, Conrack.
Seven's Connection to 5
Healthy connection to 5 helps a Seven take time to contemplate and internalize their experience. Often brings sobriety, perspective, and the power to digest the experiences they have "eaten." Helps Sevens slow down, calm down, detach, see the Big Picture. May also be more willing to accept their pain and chew through it. Develop a respect for inner turmoil and deeper emotional processes that can take time. May embark on a search for philosophical wisdom. Find more depth, learn how to be alone. Some Sevens have an almost aesthetic distaste for excess that is related to this connection.
When more entranced, connection to 5 supports escapism, stinginess, and depressive tendencies. Unhealthy Sevens will check themselves out of difficult situations, withdrawing into their mind like a 5. Depersonalize - may detach from other people with frightening speed. They then move on to the attractive and new. Addiction to information, ideas, mental fantasy. Tendency to intellectualize feelings and rationalize.
The Seven style is usually generous, but this connection can bring an incongruous "cheap streak." Could pinch pennies, complain about high prices, etc. When more entranced, this can take the form of a stingy selfishness; the Seven could be talking to you about their needs even as you are feeling abandoned or let down by their broken promises. Sevens are also prone to withdrawn depressions, especially as part of a cycle of highs and lows.
Movie Sevens who demonstrate this connection: Anne Bancroft, 84 Charing Cross Road; Richard Burton, The Night Of The Iguana; Robert Duvall, Lonesome Dove; Hugh Hefner, Hugh Hefner: Once Upon A Time; Lena Olin, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being; Robert Preston, Finnegan Begin Again; Robert Redford, Out of Africa; Fred Ward, Henry And June; James Woods, Joshua Then And Now.
SUBTYPE THEMES
Self-Preservation
Self-preservation Sevens are a little confusing since they tend to be highly social. Characterized by a drive towards family and shared group experiences. Enjoy operating within their real or chosen family, checking in with a group of like-minded people. Chronic sharing on a circuit. People in the group are the source of interesting information and stimulation. Don't feel burdened or trapped by duties like a social Seven. Loyal to family, often have a 6 wing. Defend their circle and castle. Barricade, find safety in numbers. This subtype goes with the image of the "party animal." Movie examples include Auntie Mame and, especially, Hugh Hefner in Hugh Hefner: Once Upon A Time.
Intimate
Intimate Sevens tend to garnish and embellish reality with fantasy. Intimate relationships are often thought of as shared experimental adventures, and the Seven perceives their partner through a veil of imagination. May romanticize others as a way to avoid the limits and boredom of mundane life with the same old someone. Can be more involved with their fantasy of the partner than with the real person. Tentative, distractible, impersonal, may have a wandering eye. Some have great difficulty with commitment and seem fickle as they move on to the next fantasy projected onto the next new person. Don Juan scenario.
More generally, intimate Sevens have a tendency to be suggestible. They may especially seek the new with the fascinated enthusiasm of a faddist, stepping into future fantasies to avoid the present.
Good movie examples include: Julie Christie, Darling; Tom Hulce, Parenthood; Christine Lahti, Housekeeping; Karen Landry, Patti Rocks; Lena Olin, The Unbearable Lightness Of Being.
Social
Social Sevens often feel a tension between duty to others and the desire to escape. Tend to feel responsible for the people around them and experience that as a confining burden. They then react against the weight of obligation, seeking variety and craving change. When entranced, can be highly irresponsible. When awakened, they make peace with commitment and sacrifice and are often very stable and generous. Often an idealism, sometimes a stronger connection to 1. Serving something beyond themselves, dutiful. Can be from a large family where they had lots of responsibility, eldest child. With an 8 wing they tend to fight the sense of burden harder.
Movie examples include: Beau Bridges, The Fabulous Baker Boys; Cher, Mermaids; Tom Hanks, Nothing In Common; Sidney Poitier, Lillies Of The Field, James Woods, Joshua, Then and Now. Also Christine Lahti in Housekeeping, though her basic subtype is intimate.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">So, you were right about your connection to Five! I didn't know that Five was the Security type of Seven. That explains why my oldest son, the Seven, is so fond of the youngest son, the Five! I learn something new every day with this stuff!
So, when you are feeling really stressed you might shift to Type One. When you are feeling relaxed and comfortable, you can shift to the Type Five. When you are feeling exhausted or overwhelmed you might shift toward the Five, also. When you make these shifts you may take on the higher qualities of that type of the lower ones depending on the circumstances.
So, after a bit of reading, you should have a pretty good idea of how you operate. That should give you a pretty good idea of what to be aware of.
Here is what the Seven needs to work toward on their path toward personal growth, copied here from the
www.enneagraminstitute.com: </font><blockquote><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><hr /><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial"> Personal Growth Recommendations
for Enneagram Type Sevens
Recognize your impulsiveness, and get in the habit of observing your impulses rather than giving in to them. This means letting most of your impulses pass and becoming a better judge of which ones are worth acting on. The more you can resist acting out your impulses, the more you will be able to focus on what is really good for you.
Learn to listen to other people. They are often interesting, and you may learn things that will open new doors for you. Also learn to appreciate silence and solitude: you do not have to distract yourself (and protect yourself from anxiety) with constant noise from the television or the stereo. By learning to live with less external stimulation, you will learn to trust yourself. You will be happier than you expect because you will be satisfied with whatever you do, even if it is less than you have been doing.
You do not have to have everything this very moment. That tempting new acquisition will most likely still be available tomorrow (this is certainly true of food, alcohol, and other common gratifications—that ice cream cone, for instance). Most good opportunities will come back again—and you will be in a better position to discern which opportunities really are best for you.
Always choose quality over quantity, especially in your experiences. The ability to have experiences of quality can be learned only by giving your full attention to the experience you are having now. If you keep anticipating future experiences, you will keep missing the present one and undermine the possibility of ever being satisfied.
Make sure that what you want will really be good for you in the long run. As the saying goes, watch what you pray for since your prayers may be answered. In the same vein, think about the long-term consequences of what you want since you may get it only to find that it becomes another disappointment—or even a source of unhappiness.
</font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">That is a bit to get you started. This is mostly about awareness of yourself. The Enneagram basically tells you which "box" you are already in. It is the strategy you used to survive your childhood. It is not you, or your essense, it's about how you relate to others and how you process your emotions. As kids, we needed to develop a survival strategy, but as adults we have more choices available to us to choose from. We can look at our behavior, keep what we like, and be aware of the rest, slowly changing it by being aware of it.
One important thing to work on for everybody is genuine self-esteem. Self-esteem is what we think of ourselves. It's important that we love ourselves as we are and trust that we are okay even with our faults. The goal isn't to be perfect, it's to accept and love ourselves because we
are , not because we
do .
A little food for thought!
Stillwed