3 Poems for Enneagram Fives
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Type Five is known as “The Thinker”. Fives have a deep hunger for knowledge and understanding. They are creative and observant of the world around them, but they will sometimes disconnect from themselves or others in their pursuit. They want to be skilled and educated, and above all else, they want others to view them as competent and useful. Fives are deep thinkers—and while this can often be a positive trait, it will sometimes cause their emotional health to suffer as they draw deeper into themselves and into isolation. Here is a look at poetry through the Type Five Enneagram lens.
1. Rupi Kaur
“you have to stop
searching for why at some point
you have to leave it alone.”
This poem by Kaur hits on a huge desire of the heart of a Five: to know the answers. Fives are constantly going deeper and looking for a rationale to explain the world around them. But sometimes, the messy circumstances of our lives don’t have tidy or rational explanations. This doesn’t mean that we don’t wrestle with our doubts or questions. It just means that we learn the art of letting go of the things we can’t know and make our peace moving forward. This is especially important for our Five friends who will sometimes disconnect from their feelings in pursuit of the facts. This is a difficult skill to learn, but it is so important as we evolve and grow to get comfortable with the unknown.
2. Christy Ann Martine
“I’ve always been
on the outside,
watching the world go by,
a lonely observer of life,
wanting to fit in
without becoming
something I’m not.”
Type Fives are often highly independent and introverted. They value isolation, but they also want to be valued for their knowledge and skills. Fives have so much to offer the world through their insight and insatiable appetite for learning. But their desire to connect to the world around them sometimes causes a disconnect from other people, or even from their own emotions. Fives have beautiful minds, but they need to remember to nurture their souls through genuine and heartfelt connection with themselves and others. This doesn’t mean they must become something they’re not, but rather that they find others who see and appreciate them for exactly who they are.
3. Alexandra Vasiliu
“Let your heart learn to speak
a new language
that will always matter.
Let your heart become fluent
in kindness.”
In this passage, Vasiliu compares practicing kindness to learning a new language. Type Fives are very motivated to learn and to grow, but they will sometimes do this at the expense of emotional advancement. For a Five, it feels more natural to detach and withdraw than to lean into emotional responses. But, as with any skill, developing this emotional capacity takes encouragement and practice. Any Five can become fluent in kindness and empathy. Checking in with people emotionally can feel unnatural at first, but just like learning a new language, you’ll get more comfortable with it as you go. This kind of deeper human connection is vital to each and every one of us, and it’s something that Fives can practice within themselves too: showing their own hearts kindness as they realize they are more than their intellect or their contributions.
Fives are incredibly smart and deeply imaginative. I hope that these poems serve as a reminder of the beauty of growing emotionally as well as intellectually Taking this to heart, Fives may even find a deeper appreciation for the people around them and discover the beauty of true connection of the heart and the mind.
