4 Poems For Enneagram Ones
The Enneagram is a personality tool that has gained popularity over the last couple of years. Through a model of nine interconnected personality traits, the Enneagram seeks to help you understand yourself and others better by reflecting on your core personality type and how it impacts your worldview. After you take the test, you are assigned a primary number and one of two “wings” that represent your personality.
If you are wondering which Enneagram number you might be, try this free test to get you started, or check out The Honest Enneagram by Sarajane Case.
The Enneagram can be applied to many different areas of life, such as work dynamics, relationships, and personal development. Using the Enneagram lens also allows us to take a look at different poetic pieces and how they may relate to our numbers. First up: our Enneagram Ones!
1. Morgan Harper Nichols
“Exchange
overthinking
for overwhelming
peace
that says ‘I will
be okay without
knowing everything.’”
Type Ones like to be in control. They are hard-working and always have a plan for order and structure. Uncertainty and change can be very stressful for Ones as they are driven by production and fear falling short. This poem is a beautiful encouragement to our One friends that it is okay not to have all the answers. It is okay to allow yourself to be in a vulnerable position of uncertainty. There is peace to be found in relinquishing control. We should pursue growth with integrity but also with humility as we know that we will never have all the answers.
2. P.Bodi Poetry
“You can be imperfect,
You can say or do
The wrong thing and
Keep going,
This is the process of life,
This is the learning, the growing.”
Type Ones work very hard and are achievement-oriented souls. They seek perfection in everything that they do, which makes failure or setbacks even more painful for them. When they feel they have missed the mark, it cuts deeply and can often leave them feeling less worthy. P.Bodi’s poem is a lovely reminder that making mistakes is okay and is to be expected. There is so much freedom in reframing how we see our mistakes so that we can use our missteps as stepping stones into what comes next.
3. Danielle Doby
“you just need to be willing
to fail
to feel
to heal
to forgive
to forgive
to forgive
to forgive
and to love
again”
Type Ones strive for control in all aspects of their life, including their emotional responses and reactions. They don’t want to fail, especially if they feel it will let someone else down. They don’t want to feel too many emotions or take too much time to heal if that will derail their timelines or expectations of themselves. Forgiveness of others and self doesn’t always come easily. But this poem by Danielle is so profound in its purpose. Ones need to know that they have permission to be human and that forgiveness is a powerful practice, both for themselves and others.
4. April Green
“the women i admire
the most
are the ones who fall,
and break, and hurt,
and ache;
yet still have the courage
to rise once more.”
This piece by April Green addresses another underlying fear many Ones have: the fear of not being worthy if they make mistakes or have imperfections. This poem reminds us that our worthiness is not defined by our achievements or successes. The people we tend to admire most are those with a past—with scars and stories, with resilience and redemption. Ones can be so critical of themselves, yet they don’t realize that their stories, in their entirety, have the power to inspire others.
Ones are powerful, hard-working, and ambitious. They make incredible friends and coworkers. They have so much to offer this world, and I hope that these poems are a reminder of the grace and compassion they can offer themselves, too.
