Enneagram Workshop Invitation ...

I will be presenting a one day Beginners Enneagram Workshop at St Oswald Anglican Church Hall in Pt Kells, (Surrey), BC on Saturday March 13, 2010 and you and your adult friends and family are invited! The workshop still has a few spots open and, while the St Oswald website,www.stoswalds.ca, says that registration closes February 12, there has been so much interest shown that the time has been extended.

As you'll remember from a previous blog post, (October 5, 2008), and from the Compassion Fatigue and Chronic Sorrow workshops, the Enneagram is a dynamic system of 9 fundamentally different ways of perceiving, thinking, feeling and acting resulting in 9 different personality types. (Ennea is Greek for nine and gram means a picture or graph, therefore the Enneagram is represented by a nine-pointed star within a circle.)

Each personality type has a core motivation and presents both the strengths and "shadow" aspects of our personality. Knowing our type allows us to make sense of our reactions, behaviours and interactions with others and to modify them, if desired. Some people avoid personality typologies, thinking that they will "put them in a box". My experience with the Enneagram is that it does just the opposite - it lets us see the box we're in, already, and shows us a way out. (The Enneagram is designed for the use of people who are mentally well so if you are currently struggling with a mental illness, chemical addiction, or are under severe stress it would be better to wait for a later time to attend.)

The workshop, itself, will use the Stanford Enneagram Discovery Inventory & Guide (SEDIG), individual reflection, group discussion, film, and, if time allows, type panels, to help you to begin the process of discovering your personality type. Some of you will discover your type quickly and others will have to "try on" a type for a while until you can be sure that it fits. The atmosphere will be relaxed and informal so please join us for this fun and enlightening day.

(Because the faith community at St Oswald is sponsoring this workshop and because this will be the "test run" of what will be the core information in the first Compassion Fatigue: Going Deeper workshop, the registration fee is a low $75.00. It includes a copy of Stanford University psychiatry professor, Dr. David Daniels' book, The Essential Enneagram, and a St Oswald lunch and snacks. (Which are usually to die for!).

As is typical of high-ceilinged church halls, temperature can vary and the chairs are a little hard on the posterior so please dress in layers and bring a comfy cushion upon which to sit!)

For further information and to register, please go to the St Oswald website. Hope to see you on the 13th!