I’ve been nerding out over the Enneagram for about 3 years now.

I love personality and personality typing tools, so when the word “enneagram” showed up in several different areas of my life within a few weeks (a book, a blog post, a podcast…) I was *shocked* to learn that there was a personality framework that I wasn’t familiar with. I looked it up and I was HOOKED.

I took a test, I listened to podcasts, I read books, I talked with friends. I began to dig into issues that have plagued me for as long as I can remember, name things I’d much rather ignore, deal with parts of me I pretend aren’t under the surface. It hasn’t been fun, but it has been GOOD. Like therapy, good.

Over the past year, I’ve been excited to see the Enneagram blow up as more and more people discover it, many of them joining me in finding it gross and terrible and quite helpful to their personal and spiritual growth.

Each time the Enneagram shows up on Facebook (through a new app, a new podcast, Jen Hatmaker posting about it) I get a slew of questions and see quite a bit of misunderstanding.

Are you new to the Enneagram? Would you like to know a little more before you jump in? Have you taken a test, but don’t understand what the big deal is?

Click through for a quick summary of what I’ve learned about the Enneagram, and  5 tips for Enneagram beginners.  Read more