loving this book

there are so many thing from this book i'm reading that i want to share -
('understanding the enneagram' by riso and hudson) that i feel like i want
to type out half the darn thing!

since that doesn't seem like the best idea - i found ONE SENTENCE
that i loved and decided to share it -

they liked it too - they have it in italics.

'Personality is constantly in some kind of reaction to the present moment.'

bam.

this section is talking about moving from your personality to your 'Essence.'
it's an awesome section that i gasped over more than once.

but this one line i smiled and nodded at.
and then stopped and thought about it and nodded and nodded and nodded.

they talk about if you're in Essence, you are present to the moment.
personality has always got its attention to the past or the future or focused on the imagination.

ohmygosh do i understand that one.

i keep thinking about this stuff.
about how my personality gets me stuck in places.
how when i feel threatened i have such automatic reactions -
and yeah, reactions that are exactly from the book. (it's uncanny)
and how those reactions are getting in my way.
it doesn't even have to be that i'm 'threatened' - it can be anything -
and i can see definite patterns in my reactions.

at the very very end of the book - the last paragraph - they knock my socks
off talking about the capacity to be a co-creator of who you are.
i love love love that phrase.
'co-creator of who you are.'
isn't that incredibly beautiful and exciting?!
they mention that from a merely psychological viewpoint, there is 'enormous dignity'
in that thought.
and then they bring in the spiritual point of view -
and how it moves us toward Being and 'culminates in meeting the Divine.'

ohmygosh.
makes me want to get past some of these silly quirks of mine.
it's on my mind.
i'm aware of it.
and i don't feel any further along for all the thought i've been giving it.
but somewhere inside of me, i really do believe i'm further along,
just because i'm more aware.

and so i keep going.......