The Journey Toward Wholeness: Enneagram Wisdom for Stress, Balance, and Transformation

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Her new book takes a fresh approach to the Enneagram, focusing less on the Nine individual types and viewing it instead through the lens of Triads and Stances. Stabile is well-known for her work on Stances, and her wisdom and experience show in her writing. For those who want to dive deeper into Enneagram wisdom, this book and companion six-session study guide from expert teacher Suzanne Stabile opens the concept of three Centers of Intelligence: thinking, feeling, and doing. When we learn to manage these centers, each for its intended purpose, we open a path to reducing fear, improving relationships, growing spiritually, and finding wholeness. Drawing on the dynamic stability of the Enneagram, she explains each number's preferred and repressed Center of Intelligence and its role in helping us move toward internal balance. Understanding the mechanisms at play within our type is essential for two reasons. First, it provides helpful, objective tools for determining type and for helping to prevent mistyping. Second, it answers the question, “what now?” for those who know their type but feel at a loss for how to begin the work of transformation. Suzanne lays out two important arenas for personal growth: how we see, and what we do with what we see. The second part of the book focuses on our number’s “Stance” which has to do with which particular center we tend to repress in our stress responses. The stances are the Withdrawing Stance (represses doing), including those who are 4s, 5s, and 9s, the Aggressive Stance (represses feeling), including those who are 3s, 7s, and 8s, and the Dependent Stance (represses thinking), including the 1s, 2s, and 6s. What this means is that without work, we draw on only two of the three intelligences when we respond to stress. Again, Stabile offers an introduction to each stance, and a chapter for each type within a stance and resources for incorporating the repressed intelligence. Particularly helpful for each type are the Transformative Possibilities, a list of suggestions for one’s type. The second half of the book is dedicated to Stances, which explains how we process or respond to how we see the world. Stances are determined by the repressed center of intelligence; types 4, 5, and 9 repress doing and are in the Withdrawing Stance, types 3, 7, and 8 repress feeling and are in the Aggressive Stance, and types 1, 2, and 6 repress thinking and are in the Dependent Stance. Suzanne provides ample stories, type descriptions, as well as testimonials from members of each type. She offers advice in the form of “Transformative Possibilities” for each type, along with questions to ponder.

As an Enneagram Six, I so appreciated the invaluable deep dive into the Thinking Triad and Dependent Stance teachings. I was inspired by the helpful tips for spiritual practice and ideas of how to bring up my repressed Center of Intelligence. I've always been confused about how I could be both thinking dominant and thinking repressed, but this book shed more light on that concept. Plus - and this is what I love about the Enneagram - the other chapters helped me understand the people in my life better, too. For those who have already been introduced to the Enneagram and are familiar with their number, this is an excellent resource to guide you into deeper Enneagram work. It has a companion study guide to facilitate group work. Wisdom from a master teacher. Suzanne graces readers with humorous, poignant illustrations, powerful insights, and hard-won wisdom. She is vulnerable in sharing her own experience, and offers great examples from others. Her introduction on liminal space is particularly moving, stirring readers to take action in this season marked by the anxiety and uncertainty of the covid pandemic. Enneagram godmother, Suzanne Stabile, offers readers an engaging resource in her new book, The Journey Toward Wholeness. Her book invites intermediate students of the enneagram to journey beyond diagnosis, into a process of growth and exploration. The book is full of stories and specific tools for taking the next step on the journey.Summary: Draws on the wisdom of the Enneagram to help focus on our responses to stress, both as they reflect our dominant and repressed centers of intelligence intelligence.

This book is concerned with the three centers of intelligence, and is broken down into two major sections: Triads and Stances. The first half of the book focuses on Triads, where each type is dominant in their Center of Intelligence, and how that can cause an imbalance. The second half begins with Stances, and the "soul work of the repressed center." She masterfully guides the reader through each stance, then each type within the stance, and does so by graciously pointing out where our imbalances come from.In-depth teaching on Stances. Stances are an essential and often overlooked element of the enneagram. Learning stances has been, for me, one of the most healing tools in my marriage. If you know your type but don’t know your stance, you are missing a big piece of the puzzle, particularly when it comes to personal growth. Suzanne is fond of saying that “we can’t change how we see, but we can change what we do with what we see.” Her insights help us to identify our strategies for getting needs met, and consider other, more balanced possibilities. I appreciate how well organized the book is. Readers will easily be able to navigate to information on a specific triad or enneagram number if they are looking for guidance for themselves or for a particular person who already knows their enneagram number. I also found the personal stories, anecdotes, and practical tips included throughout to be very helpful as they flesh out the more academic portions of the book.