Another way to see if Type 8 could be your primary type is to look at the triggers. One of them is that I don’t want to be betrayed. That is a certain igniter of my anger and my fierce energy if I feel betrayed. And I have to immediately go out and make certain that people will not betray me again.
Ennegram Insights episode
Welcome to this episode about Enneagram Type 8 by Flemming Christensen.
In this episode Flemming Christensen talks about type 8 as a primary type, the characteristics, motivations and assumptions.
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This blog post contains part of the transcriptions of the episode.
The type 8 part of us
Type 8 is that part of all of us who wants to be alive, who wants to feel the vitality of life, who wants to be connected with true energy, true force.
And it’s also the part of us who connects with sensitivity, vulnerability, openness, fairness, and care for others.
If I sense that I’m losing this aliveness, or somebody takes this aliveness away from me, I will react.
I will push. I will fight. I will demand. I will engage until I feel alive again.
Type 8? The self view
Is type 8 your primary type? Then you might see yourself as courageous, strong, fair, passionate, powerful, dedicated, robust, protective, and the one with power and energy.
And you would feel alive, you really seek to be alive.
Type 8 motivators
The motivators and the drivers are to be in control of matters that have to do with me.
It could be people, I want to control people, so they don’t control me. And I want to control things, so things do not control me. I don’t want to be controlled.
I want to be autonomous. I want to be the one that has the power over me, that I have the power over my situation that has to do with me.
I want power over my life, over my body.
I want to be the one in control.
I like to make sure that I have enough energy, enough power, enough aliveness, so I can be strong and robust, and in contact with all that energy or vitality of my own life.
Type 8 triggers
Another way to see if Type 8 could be your primary type is to look at the triggers.
And, of course, we all have these triggers. But, Type 8, they will kind of have them more present.
One of them is that I don’t want to be betrayed. That is a certain igniter of my anger and my fierce energy if I feel betrayed.
And I have to immediately go out and make certain that people will not betray me again.
And I will make certain that people will not betray me again.
But those people who betrayed me will never, never do that again. I don’t want to feel hurt or humiliated or ashamed.
I don’t want to be humiliated publicly. Or I don’t want to be weak. I don’t want people to see me as weak.
I don’t want others to see me as somebody who cannot make a decision or defend myself. If somebody is treated unfairly, I will react.
When things get too abstract, too mental, too multidimensional, I get triggered. I want things to be simple, black and white, and clear.
Type 8 assumptions
We can also look at the assumptions. I have several assumptions as a type 8.
One of them could be that life is hard.
And I need to be strong. I need to be dedicated. I need to be courageous to endure this hardship. Life is a battlefield where only the strongest will survive.
And if, in life, I stumble, then there is no one that will catch me. So I have to be strong enough to catch myself.
And I have to be aware if someone or someone tries to take control over me.
So it’s like if I hit first. That’s better. Just to be sure that nobody else would kind of hit me first when my guards are down. So I’ll keep my guards up. And a little bit related to that, I will reject others before they reject me.
Another assumption is that you can count on me 100%. And that means I will also count on you 100%.
I trust you so you can trust me. And I… If I’m honest, even if it’s painful and hurt, it’s for the best.
If I make the decisions, if I make the calls, that is probably also the best. So maybe you connect with these assumptions or those triggers or the motivators.
Type 8 in others view
If you relate to type 8, then maybe your dominating and direct energy intimidates others. Maybe others are afraid of you.
And maybe they will not tell you the truth. Because they are afraid of how you will react.
Maybe you are too intense to bring out the truth out of other people. Or maybe you… are seeking to have the power spot and influence the situation and decision and structures and people. Maybe you do not have a lot of empathy towards yourself and others.
All that would create troubles for you if you are not aware of it.
And that would be something we would say that is typical 8-ish. So there are some traits that if you can connect with that a lot, we would probably say 8 is your primary type.
You have something from all the other types.
Development of type 8
If we should look at the growth and the development of type 8.
There are many ways we can do that. Flemming Christensen gets into it in the episode of Enneagram Insights on type 8.
