Enneagram Type Nine People are Easygoing and Self-Effacing
Basic Desire – To have inner stability and “peace of mind.”
Key Motivation – To create harmony in their environment.
Virtue – Action
Ego fixation – Indolence
Color – Gold
Key Characteristics
- Receptive
- Reassuring
- Agreeable
- Complacent
Focus of Attention
- Nines focus on others, what is happening in the environment, avoiding conflict, and achieving harmony.
- Nines typically tune into what other people want but do not clearly understand their agendas.
Passion – Laziness
- Laziness refers to psyche inaction, refusal to see, resistance to change, and aversion to effort, especially regarding awareness of inner feelings, sensations, and desires.
- Rather than reluctance to take action, this passion is more about inattention to self and inertia of the will when it comes to tuning in to what is going on internally.
Core Wounds
- You feel the loss of connection to caregivers, to fear losing connection to others.
- You have a Self-perception that they are unimportant, inadequate, and insignificant.
- You believe they need to forget themselves and accommodate others.
- You avoid strong opinions or drawing attention to yourself.
Red Flags
- Overly accommodating.
- Passive-aggressive behavior.
Addictions
- Over-eating or under-eating due to a lack of self-awareness and repressed anger.
- Lack of physical activity.
- Depressants and psychotropics, alcohol, marijuana, and narcotics to deaden loneliness and anxiety.
Center of Intelligence
Anger / Rage – The Gut / Body / Instinctive Triad
- Represses anger as the primary strategy.
- Nines don’t like donating or acknowledging anger, so they tend to ‘smolder’ ‘underneath.
- They tend to be receptive, reassuring, complacent and resigned.
Fear – loss and separation from others.
- Nines strive to maintain peace and harmony internally and externally.
- Their underlying fear is that they will become disconnected from others and out of sync with the world around them.
- Nines feel secure and okay as long as they live in harmony with the people and world around them.
- They constantly move from conflict and pain toward peace, stability, and harmony.
Traits
Nines are accepting, trusting, stable, creative, optimistic, and supportive but can also be too willing to go along with others to keep the peace.
They want everything to go smoothly and be without conflict, but they can also tend to be complacent, simplifying problems and minimizing anything upsetting.
Nines are typically “spiritual seekers” who yearn to connect with others and are devoted to the quest for internal and external peace.
They work to maintain peace of mind as they establish peace and harmony in your world.
Nines retreat into their mind and emotional fantasies to compensate for being out of touch with their instinctual energies.
This is why they can sometimes misidentify themselves as a Five or Seven “head type” or as a Two or Four “feeling type.”
Nines are sometimes called the Enneagram crown because they are at the top of the symbol and seem to include the whole.
Nines can have the strength of Eights, the sense of fun and adventure of Sevens, the dutifulness of Sixes, the intellectualism of Fives, the creativity of Fours, the attractiveness of Threes, the generosity of Twos, and the idealism of Ones.
| When Healthy | When Unhealthy |
|---|---|
| Pleasant Peaceful Generous Patient Receptive Diplomatic Open-minded Empathetic | Spaced-out Forgetful Stubborn Obsessive Apathetic Passive-aggressive Judgmental Unassertive |
Patterns
Thinking and Feeling Patterns
- Nines focus on getting along with others without “rocking the boat” and creating conflict.
- They’re emotionally steady and do not feel many highs or lows.
- Though they are anger types, Nines usually don’t feel their anger very often—they (unconsciously) dissociate from it to avoid conflict or separation from others—so it tends to leak out in repressed forms, such as stubbornness or passive-aggressive behavior, or escape in big bursts every once in a while.
Behavior Patterns
- Nines like to “go with the flow,” and they automatically accommodate the agendas of others to unconsciously avoid expressing (or even registering) any preferences that could lead to conflict.
- However, Nines may passively resist later when hints of latent desires surface.
- Nines dislike feeling controlled but like structure and clear lines of authority.
- They make good mediators because they can easily see all sides of an issue and naturally find common ground in conflicting points of view.
Arrows
When secure, Nines move towards the positive side of Type 3 – The Achiever.
- Energetic.
- Efficient.
- Productive.
- Narrow their focus.
- Acquire self-confidence.
- Live less through others.
- Take more control of their lives.
When stressed, Nines move towards the negative side of Type 6 – The Loyalist.
- Become overwhelmed by anxiety and worry.
- Self-doubting.
- Indecisive.
- Rigid.
- Passive.
- Inactive.
Wings
Wings add flavor to your personality. Every Enneagram personality type can have either of the two types next to them as their wing.
Type Nines can have a wing Eight (Enneagram 9w8) or a wing One (Enneagram 9w1).
Enneagram 9w8
Nines with a Type 8 – The Challenger wing – is a complex wing-type combination! On the one hand, Nines tries to avoid conflict at all costs, but on the other hand, the Eight Wing enjoys conflict like a cool glass of soda.
How does this work together?
It gives Nines a robust set of supporting aspects to their personality, making them generally more energetic, confident, and practical.
Unlike Eights, who use their assertiveness to assert power over others, this wing-type helps secure their inner peace for Nines.
| When Healthy | When Unhealthy |
|---|---|
| They are receptive, unselfconscious, and friendly. They assert themselves effectively. They can be strong and forceful when needed. They are concerned with immediate needs and circumstances. | They can become complacent. They can become lazy, stubborn, and defensive. They refuse to listen or cooperate with anyone who disturbs their routine. They lack emotional affect. |
Enneagram 9w1
The effect Type 1 – The Reformer wing has on the Nine personality will lift them out of their calm, relaxed, gentle state of compliance into a more disciplined, orderly, and productive state.
The One’s desire for Self-control mixes with the Nine’s desire to maintain inner peace, so you get conscientious, focused, and often more confident Nines.
A Nine with One Wing has a stronger sense of right and wrong and a more romantic view of the world.
| When Healthy | When Unhealthy |
|---|---|
| They are interested in ideas and concepts and are highly imaginative and creative. They possess enormous integrity and are highly principled. They can synthesize different schools of thought and sort out common threads. They are friendly, reassuring, and restrained in their anger. | They can become disengaged and avoid all personal conflicts. They can become indignant and fume silently. They can become indirect, sarcastic, and withdrawn. They stew over wrongs and injustices. They display obsessive-compulsive behaviors. |
Relationships
| When Healthy | When Unhealthy |
|---|---|
| Kind Reassuring Supportive Loyal Nonjudgmental | Stubborn Passive-aggressive Unassertive Overly accommodating Defensive |
Styles
Interpersonal Coping Style
- Withdrawn – they believe they do not matter and prefer to feel comfortable.
Conflict Style
- Positive—They avoid problems and conflict, sticking their heads in the sand, ignoring and denying reality.
Sub-types
Self-Preservation Subtype – Appetite
- The most ‘Eight-ish’ Nine, this subtype is concerned with meeting physical needs and focuses on activities such as eating, reading, or sleeping for comfort and well-being.
- These activities are typically a strategy to escape or comfort themselves by fulfilling their appetites.
- Peace and time alone are important to them, and they may be irritable and stubborn when others upset their balance or create problems.
- Instead of feeling an ongoing connection to their feelings, desires, and power, they focus on merging with physical comforts and routine activities, such as eating, sleeping, reading, or doing crossword puzzles.
- Appetite Nines are practical, concrete people who focus on everyday things rather than abstractions.
Social Subtype – Participation (countertype)
- Social Nines “lean in” and participate fully, often as a group mediator or facilitator.
- They will put their issues aside and maintain a happy front to avoid burdening others.
- Social Nines will make sacrifices to meet group needs.
- They take comfort from feeling part of things in a broader working community.
- Working hard to keep the people in their lives happy, they may risk becoming workaholics, hiding their pain or stress.
- Social Nines are fun-loving, friendly, and likable characters.
- This high activity level makes them the countertype of the three Nine subtypes.
One-to-One Subtype – Fusion
- This subtype fuses deeply with significant others in relationships to feed their sense of self and comfort.
- Fusion Nines tend to feel more secure when partnered with others and may find it challenging to be alone.
- They resist paying attention to themselves, their passions, and their desires and tend to follow others’ preferences, even if this means sacrificing their plans and needs.
- Fusion Nines express their passion for laziness by merging with the critical people in their lives.
- They unconsciously adopt the attitudes, opinions, and feelings of others because it can be too hard to stand on their own.
- Fusion Nines are kind, gentle, shy characters who are not very assertive.
Personal Growth
It is worth examining your type’s tendency to go along with others, doing what they want to keep the peace and be nice.
Work on focusing your attention to participate actively in the world around you. Force yourself to pay attention to what is going on. Do not drift off, tune out people, or daydream.
Negative feelings and impulses are a part of you. They affect you emotionally and physically whether or not you acknowledge them. Furthermore, your negative emotions are often expressed inadvertently and get in the way of the peace and harmony you want in your relationships.
Getting things out in the open is best by letting yourself know your feelings. Although this will be very painful for you if your marriage has ended in divorce or you have problems with your children, you must honestly examine how you have contributed to these problems.
Examining troubled relationships will be extremely difficult because the people involved have been close to your heart. Their feelings for others endow them with much of their identity and self-esteem. But if you love others, you can do no less than examine your role in whatever conflicts have arisen. In the last analysis, the choice is simple: you must sacrifice your peace of mind (in the short run) for the satisfaction of genuine relationships (in the long run.)
Exercise frequently to become more aware of your body and emotions. Some Nines run errands and think they are getting enough exercise. Exercise will increase your awareness of your feelings and other sensations. Developing body awareness will help you concentrate and focus on different areas of your life. Exercise is also an excellent way to get in touch with and express some aggression.
Type Comparisons
Type 9 and Type 1
- Ones and Nines share several characteristics in common.
- In work settings, both appreciate structure and process.
- Both Ones and Nines make good mediators. Nines can easily see many sides of an issue and feel motivated to create harmony, and Ones have standards of fairness and can be objective and discerning judges.
- Both styles tend to have difficulty noticing and asserting their needs and wants, and both can be perfectionistic, though Ones are usually more perfectionistic than Nines.
- Both Ones and Nines can work well within and respect the existing authority structure, though Nines will sometimes rebel in subtle, passive ways if they feel controlled.
- Many differences also exist between Ones and Nines.
- One tends to be pretty opinionated, often believing they know the one right way to do something.
- Nines can have difficulty locating their own opinion due to being so attuned to other people’s varied perspectives.
- Nines typically don’t assert a position, while Ones often assume their position is the only correct point of view.
- Related to this, Ones tend to think in terms of black and white and believe there is “one right way,” while Nines see many shades of gray.
- Although both styles want to avoid conflict, the Nine does so more than the One, who may be unable to stop arguing when they feel strongly about something.
- Ones like to do things their way, and Nines adapt more easily to others. They often prefer to follow someone else’s agenda rather than asserting their own.
- When accomplishing a task, one makes a lot of effort to make things perfect, relying on one’s internal standards of ideals, whereas nines are more oriented to what other people think and want.
- One usually has a clear vision of the correct way to do things, while Nines seeks consensus, wanting to hear from others when making decisions about the standards.
- Ones are more observant of rules and will confront those who do not follow the rules, while Nines are more easygoing and more likely to engage people who don’t obey guidelines.
Type 9 and Type 2
- Twos and Nines are two types with many traits in common.
- They both tend to focus on others, so they often forget or neglect their needs and wants in favor of allowing others’ needs and desires to be in the foreground.
- Both styles over-adjust to others, with Twos altering their behavior to be what they think others want them to be so they will like them.
- Nines blend with others’ agendas to create harmony and reduce tension and separation.
- Twos and Nines can make good mediators because they quickly see and understand others’ perspectives and opinions—in fact, they can usually see others’ points of view more clearly than their own.
- Twos and Nines appear likable, friendly, and caring to outside observers.
- People of both types have little or no contact with their anger, though some Twos occasionally feel angry when their unexpressed needs are unmet.
- Uncomfortable with anger and oriented to maintaining positive connections with others, Twos and Nines regularly avoid conflict.
- However, some Twos can be more open to conflict when their more emotional nature drives them there.
- Twos and Nines can engage in passive-aggressive behavior as it may be hard for them to assert themselves and express anger more directly out of fear that they will break essential connections with other people.
- While Twos and Nines can look very similar, they do have some contrasting traits.
- While both types focus primarily on others instead of themselves, Twos tend to focus more on feelings and feel their emotions more readily. In contrast, Nines concentrates more on maintaining an energetic harmony with others.
- Twos tend to feel a broader range of stronger emotions more frequently than Nines, who tend to be more emotionally steady and even.
- Twos move more actively toward others, proactively reading their needs and preferences to aid in their effort to align with them emotionally.
- In contrast, Nines do not actively seek out connections with others and do not read people’s needs as much.
- In addition, Twos are more selective regarding the individuals with whom they seek to establish relationships.
- Twos tend to be more attracted to some people than others. However, Nines are more democratic and do not make purposeful efforts to pursue connections with particular people in the ways that Twos typically do.
- Twos tend to have a more active, higher energy level and a faster pace than Nines, who usually appear more relaxed and easygoing.
- While both styles can abandon themselves in favor of paying attention to others, Twos tend to repress needs and feelings, while Nines “forget” or avoid paying attention to their desires and agendas.
- Nines tend to tune out to their agenda, while Twos often have a clear plan even though they may ignore what they need.
Type 9 and Type 3
- Threes and Nines share some characteristics.
- Both Threes and Nines are optimistic, upbeat, and likable.
- People of both types can be hardworking and practical, though Threes more regularly focus on working excessively hard.
- Threes and Nines also depend on external support for a sense of identity and direction.
- Threes read other people to see what they view as successful and then design their image to match that picture of success to gain the approval and admiration of others.
- Disliking conflict and lacking a clear sense of their inner agenda, Nines references others and follows their wishes and wills to find direction and create harmony.
- In addition, both Threes and Nines can sometimes be hard to contact.
- Threes focus a great deal of attention on their lists of things-todo and identify strongly with their image.
- This can make it hard for them to be present and interpersonally aware of their natural, solid identity.
- Similarly, Nines tend to forget themselves and merge with others’ desires to be in harmony with others and avoid conflict.
- Some of the time, however, Nines realize later that they didn’t want to go along with that plan, but they didn’t know it because they tend not to know what they want.
- There are also some critical differences between Threes and Nines.
- On a basic level, Threes focuses on accomplishing tasks and reaching goals; conversely, Nines concentrates more on maintaining comfort and harmony.
- Threes are fast-paced, decisive, and forward-moving.
- Nines move slower and tend to sit on the fence.
- Threes are very work-oriented and can often be workaholics.
- While some Nines can be very hardworking (especially Social Nines), many can have more difficulty accomplishing things.
- They can become caught up in inertia, paralyzed by indecision, or distracted by less essential tasks.
- Threes usually focus very keenly on their goals until they achieve them; in contrast, Nines tend to become easily distracted from their priorities, as their attention tends to get pulled away from their dreams and toward supporting others’ goals and agendas.
- Threes can engage in conflict if necessary, especially removing an obstacle to their forward momentum, while Nines usually take great pains to avoid battle.
- Nines like to stay comfortable and avoid moving out of their comfort zone to accomplish tasks they might view as disturbing their peace, like expressing solid opinions in public or confronting someone about something they did incorrectly.
- In contrast, Threes will more readily endure discomfort if it serves their progress toward their goal.
- Finally, Nines strongly dislikes being the Center of attention, while most Threes enjoy being in the spotlight and may even actively seek out situations in which others notice them.
Type 9 and Type 4
- Fours and Nines have some characteristics in common.
- They can look alike because they value cultivating relationships and connecting with others.
- In addition, both types can lose themselves by merging with loved ones, though Nines do this more regularly than Fours, who can more easily sense their independent needs and desires.
- Both Fours and Nines can relatively quickly and profoundly understand other people. Fours are emotionally intuitive and sensitive to the moods and feelings of others, and Nines can often see others’ perspectives more clearly than their own and align with other people to create harmony.
- On the downside, Fours and Nines can feel overlooked and unimportant to others and may regularly feel others misunderstand them.
- For Fours, however, they most often experience emotions related to being misunderstood or “not good enough.”
- For Nines, their experience is more of being overlooked and not heard, usually because they have difficulty taking a solid position or expressing a clear opinion.
- Another fundamental similarity is that both types fear not belonging.
- Fours tend to feel like misfits, while Nines often have a deep underlying concern about whether or not they belong to the group.
- Fours and Nines also differ in significant ways.
- Fundamentally, Nines are other-referencing, and Fours are self-referencing, meaning that Nines primarily pay attention to other people’s opinions, agendas, and moods.
- At the same time, Fours prioritizes their internal experience, focusing more on their needs, feelings, and desires.
- Fours also feel a more comprehensive range of emotions more intensely than Nines do; Nines tend to be more steady and even emotional.
- Nines can quickly draw their attention away from their priorities and toward less essential substitutes and others’ agendas.
- In contrast, Fours are more aware of and focused on satisfying their needs and wants.
- Nines are oriented toward creating harmony among people.
- Unfortunately, this is much less of a priority for the Four, who may even create or contribute to discord to push for authentic communication of feelings.
- Nines often avoid conflict, while Fours can engage in battle if necessary or may even create conflict.
- Nines usually do not state their preferences, often because they don’t know what they want, but sometimes because they believe that others’ opinions are more important than their own or don’t want to create a conflict.
- In contrast, Fours tend to believe that their opinions are valuable and that it is essential to express them.
- Fours do not constantly adapt to others, regularly feeling moved to express their disagreement or unique perspective.
- In contrast, Nines tend to over-adjust to others, often thinking their connection will be broken if they do not adapt.
- Because of this tendency to adapt to others, Nines also have difficulty saying “no,” making boundaries, and asserting themselves.
- On the other hand, Fours can more often and more easily make boundaries with others and assert their agendas.
Type 9 and Type 5
- Fives and Nines share some traits in common, especially from the point of view of an outside observer.
- Energetically, Fives and Nines can appear reserved and withdrawn, though Nines do not so much start from others as they forget themselves and neglect their agendas and preferences to create harmony and alignment.
- Both can be good mediators, as Nines can easily see all points of view, and Fives are objective analysts.
- Both Fives and Nines dislike conflict and can be passive-aggressive, though Nines may do this because they cannot feel their anger directly. Fives may engage in this behavior because they do not want to express their emotions openly or get involved in an emotional situation that could be costly energetically.
- People of both styles have ways of distancing themselves from their internal experience—Fives by detaching from emotion, and Nines by forgetting about their preferences and opinions.
- Regarding working with others, both Fives and Nines like structure and regularity. Both want to be consulted and may need time to reflect on their thoughts. Both are sensitive to and dislike being controlled by others.
- There are also some significant differences between Fives and Nines.
- In relating to others, at the most basic level, Nines tend to merge with others, as they find comfort in harmony with people, while Fives tend to withdraw from others, as they fear being depleted by the needs and demands of other people.
- Nines are other-referencing, tending to pay attention primarily to other people, while Fives are self-referencing, focusing more on their own internal experience and boundaries.
- Related to this, Nines are overly adaptive to others, while Fives are under-adaptive to others.
- Frequently not knowing what they want, Nines tend to avoid stating their preferences and may later feel resentful that they went along with others and their wishes were not heard.
- Fives, on the other hand, almost always know what they want and are adept at preventing others from interfering with their actions.
- Nines are often perceived as friendly, courteous, and easygoing, while Fives are perceived as more aloof and reserved.
- Wanting to be close to others harmoniously, Nines often don’t perceive their need for boundaries, so they don’t make boundaries with others. At the same time, Fives prioritizes setting and maintaining their limits.
- Similarly, Nines have difficulty saying no and expressing their preferences despite other people’s wishes, while Fives can much more easily say no.
- Sometimes, Nines will say yes and mean no, while Fives will say no when they want to say no.
- Nines may have difficulty separating from others because of their boundary issues.
- On the other hand, fives separate from others very quickly, sometimes to a fault, as withdrawal constitutes one of their primary forms of self-protection.
- For Nines, paying attention to others’ agendas gets in the way of knowing their own; for Fives, paying attention to their agenda makes it hard to let in and make room for the plans (and feelings) of others.
Type 9 and Type 6
- Sixes and Nines can look similar.
- Both Sixes and Nines can be loyal, caring, and supportive of others.
- Sixes and Nines both procrastinate.
- Sixes procrastinate because they fear things will go wrong and they fear success, while Nines put off work and other tasks when they have a hard time accessing and staying with their agendas.
- Also, at times, Nines can passively resist forward movement to resist going along with what others want them to do (without saying so and risking potential conflict).
- Sixes can resist their forward progress because they become caught up in questioning, overanalyzing, and doubting.
- In addition, phobic Sixes and Nines want to avoid conflict, though Nines are more extreme.
- And people of both types tend to be self-effacing and humble.
- They both dislike being in the spotlight for different reasons.
- Sixes fear that even positive attention can make them open to attack.
- Nines are very uncomfortable being the Center of attention, as they do not even place themselves at the Center of their attention.
- Sixes and Nines also have distinct characteristics that reveal the differences between their styles.
- Nines tend to merge with others and trust others easily.
- In contrast, Sixes tend to stand apart and be suspicious, especially at first, until they gather enough information to ascertain whether or not someone is trustworthy.
- Nines tend to get along to get along and to over-adjust to others’ preferences—they comply with others’ wishes to avoid discomfort and potential separation.
- In contrast, Sixes mistrusts others and may question or test people before going along.
- In light of this tendency to follow other people’s preferences, Nines are easily distracted from their agenda. At the same time, Sixes tend to remain alert in their focus of attention on potential threats.
- Nines can see many different points of view and usually mediate when parties in a group differ in opinion.
- In contrast, Sixes think in contrarian terms: they can see one side and then the opposing side, and they tend to see things not in terms of many equally plausible points of view but in terms of questioning and countering whatever idea is put forward.
- Nines dislike conflict and do not usually have contact with their anger (which might lead them into a battle).
- They differ significantly from the counterphobic Six, who may get angry and move toward conflict in certain situations to deal with a potential threat.
- Sixes tend to be somewhat (or very) antiauthoritarian.
- At the same time, the Nines, wanting to avoid conflicts and create harmony, usually go along with and cooperate with authority, at least on the outside.
Type 9 and Type 7
- Sevens and Nines can look alike because they share some common traits.
- Both have friendly, optimistic dispositions.
- When interacting with others, both have personable, affable styles and like to be around people.
- Wanting to be liked, both Sevens and Nines tend to act in ways that make it easy for other people to enjoy them.
- Both like to keep things positive and avoid conflict if possible.
- Though many Sevens can do conflict if necessary, most Nines would prefer not to.
- Both Sevens and Nines can have difficulty focusing clearly on the job when performing tasks.
- Sevens are typically distracted by more exciting things to do and think about.
- Nines are frequently distracted by others’ agendas and inessential tasks.
- Sevens and Nines also differ in several respects.
- While both styles are concerned with avoiding uncomfortable feelings, Sevens pursue excitement, self-indulgent activities, and fun things to prevent discomfort.
- In contrast, Nines neglect themselves and forget their opinions and desires to avoid experiencing anger and discomfort.
- Sevens are fast-paced, high-energy characters, while Nines operate more relaxed, often experiencing inertia and indecision related to decisions and tasks.
- When interacting with others, Sevens are self-referencing, focusing their attention mainly on their agenda; in contrast, Nines are other-referencing, paying attention primarily to others and not having a clear or direct experience of their desires.
- Nines merge with others and go along with other people’s agendas.
- At the same time, Sevens have a clear agenda that usually takes priority over other people’s plans when there is a conflict between them.
- It’s usually easy for Sevens to know what they want, while it’s difficult for Nines to know what they want.
- For a Nine, it’s easier to know what they don’t want than what they do want.
- Nines typically don’t state their preferences—which they often don’t know—and can resent others whose agendas they passively follow when they defer their own, even though they don’t want to.
- Sevens have their agendas and don’t let other people deter them from the things they want to do.
Type 9 and Type 8
- Eights and Nines have some similar characteristics.
- Both dislike being controlled by others, but they differ in how they respond to attempts at control from the outside.
- Eights openly rebel, fight against, and potentially actively overpower the other person.
- Nines take a much more passive approach to asserting control, often seeming to agree or go along while passively resisting—saying “yes” but acting out “no.”
- Both styles are part of the “self-forgetting” triad of types, so both can forget their needs and wants.
- Eights do this through excess and overwork, denying their physical vulnerabilities and taking on too many responsibilities.
- Nines do this by focusing on others and losing conscious contact with their emotions and priorities.
- And both Eights and Nines can readily enjoy and seek out worldly comforts and pleasures.
- Eights and Nines also differ in crucial ways.
- Eights primarily focus on power and control, while Nines focuses on creating harmony and avoiding conflict.
- Disliking conflict and interpersonal tension, Nines often unconsciously avoid any internal sense of anger that might cause them to be at odds with someone else. At the same time, Eights have easier access to their offense, may feel angry frequently, and have a much easier time engaging in conflict.
- Eights are highly opinionated and are direct in asserting their opinions, while Nines often do not know their position because they pay so much attention to understanding others’ perspectives.
- For the Nines, having an opinion means risking conflict and motivating them to avoid their positions, desires, and strong feelings.
- Nines easily see everyone’s point of view and are open to seeing many sides of an issue, while Eights see their view most clearly and tend to see the problems in black and white.
- Identifying with multiple perspectives makes Nines an excellent mediator who can see all sides of an issue and is motivated to help create harmony and consensus.
- In contrast, Eights want to assert their opinions and have their way.
- Nines have difficulty making boundaries and saying no, while Eights have an easy time asserting their will and rejecting requests.
- Others often perceive Eights as intimidating interpersonally, while most see Nines as likable, approachable, and friendly.
- Eights tend to significantly impact others, while nines can have difficulty making an impact and can be harder to contact interpersonally.
- Eights like to break the rules, make their own rules, and frequently rebel against authority, while Nines like structure and can more easily work with authority figures.
- While people of both styles avoid a specific realm of internal experience—Eights deny their vulnerable, softer emotions, and Nines avoid or forget their anger and preferences—Eights are much more open about expressing themselves in the world and acting in forceful ways to get what they need and want.
Enneagram Type 9 Careers
- Nines can be excellent Diplomats, Mediators, Therapists, and Counselors.
- They excel in occupations that require diplomacy, calmness, and a gentle personal touch.
- Nines listen well and are objective.
- They are frequently in helping professions.
Enneagram Type 9 Personality Type Cross-reference
Enneagram Type 9 appears to be correlated with a preference for feeling and introversion.
Between 79% and 83% of Enneagram Type 9 prefer feeling over thinking.
68% – 70% of Enneagram 9s are Introverts.
There also appears to be a slight correlation between sensing and intuition.
MBTI Personality Type – Introverted Feeling and Perceiving
Keirsey Idealist Intuition/Feeling (NF)
Idealist Temperaments
- Temperament Type – Phlegmatic
- Animal Type – Otter
- DISC Type – Influential
- Socio-Communicative Type – Expressive
- True Colors – Blue
- Color Code – Blue
- Personality Compass – West
- Occupational Type – Artistic
