How do you come alive?

What ignites the soul of one person can extinguish the flame of another. Take, for example, collaboration. Working in a group environment, sharing ideas, planning a project together, finding a solution that appeals to everyone involved… much of that may sound like important, even powerful, ways to work within our society. However, decision by committee is often complete agony for me. That’s because I tend to be more internally focused as many “Makers” are. This particular personality profile comes from Jonathan Fields’ Sparketype test. My Maker sparketype is supported by the Scientist in me, the shadow sparketype that allows me to be better at all the creating that pulls at my heartstrings.

There is no shortage of wonderful personality tests out there today. The well-known Myers-Briggs Type Indicator is only the tip of the iceberg. You could easily get swept up in a virtual sea of archetypal evaluations including Adobe Creative Types, VIA Character Strengths, Four Tendencies, Human Design (about as complex as they get!), and the one I’m hearing the most about lately, the Enneagram Test.

images from @mirabellecreations

My family had fun learning of each other’s Enneagram profiles over the holidays. Much of what we learned was simply evidence of what we already intuitively knew of one another. Even though we share genetics and similar upbringings, my parents, three siblings and spouses represented all nine enneagrams. Understanding them from this perspective opened up a new level of compassion for the uniqueness with which we all navigate life.

So what does this have to do with health, though? As I’ve indicated over and over, healing from mystery illness often requires more than a few doctor’s visits and dietary changes. The mind-body component to healing is less tangible and is often multi-faceted. I’ve found that knowing yourself—what inspires you, how you derive purpose and meaning out of life, where you feel enthusiastic—can have a powerful influence over your ability to harness the potential of your mind to heal your body. The more we align with our truest selves and experience life in a way that allows us to bring forth our inherent gifts and talents, the better we feel spiritually and emotionally. And the better we feel spiritually and emotionally, the better we feel physically. The body loves to come along for the ride!

Have you taken any of these assessments? What were your results? Do they resonate? How have you been able to use this knowledge to come alive?