Ones might be described as the moral compass of the enneagram and have been called the Reformers by Riso and Hudson. They have a very strong desire to improve themselves and the world around them and they are willing to do the work that it requires.
You might be a One if most of the following statements could describe you:
1. You believe that rules are meant to be followed.
2. You are highly organized and somewhat confused by other people's lack of organization.
3. You have a strong sense of values that lead you to easily define what's right and wrong.
4. You strive for perfection.
5. Your inner dialogue includes a lot of self-criticism.
6. You feel stressed out a lot perhaps carrying a lot of tension in your body or experiencing frequent headaches.
7. You feel like there is never enough time for yourself.
8. You worry a lot.
All I can say is thank goodness for Ones. If they weren't around it's unlikely that trains would ever run on time, parts would fall out of your car as you drove down the road and you would have a high chance of getting the wrong medication at the hospital. Ones keep our world running smoothly (if you think it's bad now, it would be 100 times worse without them) and continually work to improve our lives.
This can be a heavy burden to carry. In fact, Ones often feel like they have to do it all alone. Their strong inner critic that strives for perfection can be equally as hard on them as it is on others. Things just can never seem to be good enough for that voice inside their head that keeps pushing for more and more. The notion of taking it easy on themselves or even taking a vacation can be a hard one for them to accept.
They have often grown up being the "good son or daughter" being responsible for more than their fair share in their families. And carrying this extra responsibility can lead them to not feel protected as children. Instead they grow up believing that they have to do it all themselves and make everything around them work. This is the only way to keep everyone happy.
These beautiful people are often longing for appreciation. They can be very sensitive to criticism from others in part because their own inner critic is already so strong and also because they are already doing so much. Sometimes they simply want to throw their hands up and say, "What do you want from me?"
In order to create a path to physical, emotion and spiritual health, all of these characteristics (and more) should be taken into consideration. But first, let's take a look, in the next article, at the particular patterns of health and illness that show up in Ones.
This is a part of a series on supporting health in wellness in people using the Enneagram as a tool. Please keep reading at www.mindbodyexperience.com for more information and tools for transformation.
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