Welcome back to the second part of my Enneagram Artist Date blog post series. If you missed the first one on the Gut Triad you can find it here. The premise for this series in a nutshell is that I’ve created artist date ideas based off each enneagram number!
Again, I am not an expert or “master” at the enneagram, because my expertise started with a counseling session and has continued into every enneagram dank meme account I can get my hands on. If you want to learn more about the enneagram, I’d highly recommend reading The Road Back to You! If you don’t know your enneagram number, I recommend that you avoid taking tests, and instead read or listen to an enneagram book or podcast to get a better idea of what number you could be. Or even have a conversation with a friend you trust who knows the enneagram about what number you could be, but make sure that friend is loving enough to not type you outright but instead help you on your journey of typing yourself. People react to learning their number differently, but the core motivation and fear should resonate with you in a meaningful way.
The enneagram is made up of nine numbers: each number represents a vice and passion. The enneagram is broken into three triads: the Gut Triad made up of 8, 9, and 1, the Heart Triad made up of 2, 3 and 4, and the Head Triad made up of 5, 6, and 7. This blog post is all about the Heart Triad, also known as the Shame Triad. Below are my interpretations of what may be blocking each Heart Triad creative and some artist date ideas that could aid in their quest to be creatively inspired!
Artist Dates for a Two: Go Alone
Ideas:
Treat Yourself. Twos are very giving, but sometimes pouring out so much love and help can leave them feeling exhausted. Recharge your creativity by doing what you love or what you’ve neglected, whether it’s a spa day, a manicure, time alone reading a book or watching your favorite movie. As Tom and Donna would say from Parks and Recreation, “Treat Yo Self!”
Scrapbook. Revisit the past and piece together your favorite memories in a book that you can access anytime you need a virtual hug or a reminder of how loved you are; sometimes an unblock to creativity is remembering who our support system is and how much they love and celebrate you and your creativity.
Write Poetry. Process, think and record how you’re doing, how you feel and maybe even write one for a friend or loved one. Create it anyway you want, whether a sonnet, plain-verse or acrostic.
Bake! Get creative and make a bunch of cupcakes (candies or cookies, etc.), and use them as a blank canvas to create different designs and give them away. Flex your creative muscle while still bringing joy to those you love.
Write to Yourself. Write a letter to your future self five years from now. Twos spend a lot of time dwelling on the past, planning in the present and ignoring the future. Take some time to reflect on who you want to be, where you want to be, and what challenges you hope to overcome.
Artist Dates for a Three: Get Focused
Enneagram Threes are known as the “Achiever,” because they value hope and are very optimistic. They fall into the temptation of wanting to be the best and pushing to be the winner. For Threes my advice is to get focused! Threes are very smart and talented but easily distracted by wanting to breeze past the process and the practice of creativity, and arrive at the finish line of their project. Threes miss out on seeing a creative project through because they are too focused on the finish line and willing to take shortcuts to get there, which many times leave their projects and creativity lacking and deflated. They tend to miss out on the here and the now, and the beauty of a project coming together piece by piece, the labor and the process quickly forgotten. By getting focused and taking the time to zero in on the process, Threes will be able to see their project and process through, thereby unblocking themself from their future accomplishments.
Ideas:
Go to a Concert or Show. Enjoy a live performance where you can watch the creative process coming together in real-time as each musician and character carries the crowd from a beginning, middle and end: get inspired by seeing other creatives take their time to complete the show.
Pick a hobby. Sometimes it’s hard to practice the thing you love doing most because it becomes a part of your identity ( “I am a painter”, “I am a singer”, etc), but what if you were also, a knitter? A cross-stitcher, or a gardener? Grow some basil on your windowsill from seeds; slow down and appreciate how each day you and your creativity are growing.
Be the Cheerleader. Celebrate your friends or fellow creators by encouraging them with a letter. Be mindful of how you want to be celebrated and share that with them. When breezing through a race, sometimes we forget our teammates are working hard too!
Participation Award. Find an activity with friends where the goal isn’t winning. Skip those carnival games and instead go coffee-tasting or wine-tasting, or go to a shop where you can make your own products. There are no winners or losers, just fun and no expectation to win or be the best.
Reflection Timeline. Write out your creative achievements in a timeline. It can be written by paragraphs or drawn chronologically. Take the time to sit and reflect on how far you have come! Recognize your strengths and cherish your wins--you have so much to be grateful for!
Artist Dates for a Four: Go Together
Enneagram Fours are known as the “Individualist” or “Romantic.” They value origin and identity and are constantly aware of their significance or uniqueness. They fall into the temptation of overusing their imagination in search of themselves. For Fours my advice is to go together! Fours are very aware of how unique and different they are from their peers, but doing so tends to isolate themself from the group. Doing activities with others and being aware of how they fit into a group will help them step into their community and unblock their creativity. Fours tend to struggle when they focus so much on their identity, but by focusing on the team-dynamic and how they are valued as they are, will help shift their perspective and find creative ideas in a new way.
Ideas:
Get Crafty. Get a beeswax candle-making kit, create pottery, make soap or bath bombs, etc. and for every craft you make, create one with a friend(s) in mind, but don’t forget to save one for yourself ;)
Join/Create a Book Club. It’s important for Fours to be involved in a group. Reading a book and sharing your thoughts with others allows for creative collaboration and new ideas to flow freely!
Write a Short Story. Tap into your creativity and write a story including all the interesting anecdotes you love and maybe weaving real-life experience into it too. If you don’t like to write or enjoy performing entertain friends with a good ‘ole storytelling tale.
Time Travel. Think back to your favorite childhood activity or art project you created as a kid and recreate it as an adult. Re-create the classic self-portrait or family portrait in your own style and medium.
Tidy Up. Fours are great at taking the time to organize and it helps them process and think. Cleaning your room (or helping a friend clean theirs) always turns into a scavenger hunt of old memories; sometimes removing the cobwebs and restoring something unearths the beauty that was always there.
If you try out these ideas, leave a comment and let me know how it goes! And please remember I am just a human who enjoys reading about personality--but I fully recognize that each type in the Heart Triad are more than their numbers and temptations. They are far more complex to be put into boxes. But identifying little habits and changing them up can help us be a smidge more open to creativity!