How can Enneagram 2s relate to Jesus?

Enneagram 2s can relate to Jesus as a compassionate and caring individual who put the needs of others before his own. Jesus was often described as a "helper" and spent much of his time serving others. Enneagram 2s can find inspiration in Jesus' selflessness and use their desire to help others to serve their communities and make a positive impact on the world.

Can Enneagram 2s struggle with boundaries in their relationships?

Yes, Enneagram 2s can sometimes struggle with setting healthy boundaries in their relationships. They may have a tendency to overextend themselves in order to please others and may have difficulty saying no.

What are some common traits of Enneagram 2 personalities?

Enneagram 2s, also known as "The Helper," are typically warm, caring, and empathetic individuals who thrive on helping others. They are driven by a need to be needed and often put the needs of others before their own.

Can Enneagram type 2s work well in a team environment?

Enneagram type 2s can be excellent team players, as they are often highly collaborative and supportive of others. They may struggle with asserting their own needs and ideas, however, so it can be helpful for them to work in a team environment that values open communication and encourages all team members to contribute equally.

How can Enneagram type 2s improve their personal growth and development?

Enneagram type 2s can benefit from learning to set healthy boundaries and prioritizing their own self-care needs. They may also benefit from practicing self-compassion and recognizing their own worth and value independent of their ability to help others. In addition, they may benefit from seeking support from others when needed, rather than always being the one to offer support.

What are some common challenges that Enneagram type 2s face?

Enneagram type 2s can struggle with setting boundaries and may have a tendency to overcommit themselves to others. They may also struggle with feelings of resentment if they feel unappreciated or taken for granted. In addition, they may struggle with their own needs and desires, as they often prioritize the needs of others over their own.

What are some common strengths of Enneagram type 2?

Enneagram type 2s are often excellent listeners and are skilled at understanding the needs of others. They are also usually very compassionate and have a talent for building strong relationships with others. They are often generous with their time and resources and are willing to help others whenever needed.

What is the Enneagram type 2?

Enneagram type 2 is often referred to as the Helper, and is characterized by a strong desire to help and support others. They are typically warm, empathetic, and generous, and often go out of their way to make others feel loved and appreciated.

How Enneagram 2 Can Connect With Jesus

If you lead with helping, you know what everybody in the room needs and you're already moving. The question you'll struggle with is the one about you. Luke 8 is about a woman who found a way to receive without ever having to ask, and about Jesus refusing to let that be the end of it.

She Came Up Behind Him

The situation is this. A woman has been bleeding for twelve years. Luke, who was a physician, adds that no one could heal her. Twelve years of being ceremonially unclean, which in that culture meant twelve years of not being touched.

Jesus is on his way somewhere else, in a crowd, and "she came up behind him and touched the edge of his cloak, and immediately her bleeding stopped" (Luke 8:44).

She takes it from behind. No conversation, no request, nothing that would put her in front of anybody. It works, and she could have walked away healed and unnoticed.

Then Jesus stops. "Who touched me?" Peter points out the obvious, that a crowd is pressing in on all sides, and Jesus says it again: "Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me" (Luke 8:46).

"Then the woman, seeing that she could not go unnoticed, came trembling and fell at his feet. In the presence of all the people, she told why she had touched him and how she had been instantly healed" (Luke 8:47).

She had to say it. In front of everybody. And what she got for it was a word she hadn't been given by anyone in twelve years: "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace" (Luke 8:48).

He Wanted Her to Be Known, Not Just Fixed

So the healing was not the whole point. She already had that at verse 44. Jesus stopped a moving crowd to turn an anonymous transaction into a relationship, and to say her name for her in public.

That's the thing to sit with, because your instinct runs the other way. You'd rather be the one giving. You will find it far easier to meet somebody's need than to say, out loud, in front of people, that you have one.

There's a version of the Christian life where you never do. You serve, you're loved for serving, and nobody ever finds out what's going on with you, because you didn't tell them and they had no reason to ask. It can run like that for a decade. The people around you are not withholding anything; they're going on the information they have, and you're the one controlling it. Jesus doesn't leave the woman there and I don't think he'll leave you there either.

So say the thing. Ask one person for help this month with something specific. Not a hint. A sentence with a request in it.

Help That Comes With a Bill

Now the harder part, and it's the shadow side of the best thing about you.

When your sense of being loved is tied to being needed, help stops being free. You won't send an invoice and there will still be an account running, and the moment it surfaces is when somebody doesn't notice, or thanks you badly, or asks for more.

You'll recognize it as the flash of resentment that seems out of proportion to what just happened. That's the ledger, and it was there the whole time.

The way out is not helping less. It's getting your worth from somewhere that doesn't depend on the transaction. What Jesus tells the woman is about her, not her usefulness, and she'd done nothing for him at all. Read the Gospels for what he says to people before they've been useful, because that's the material you're short of.

You Are Allowed to Say No

One more, and it's short. Every yes you don't mean costs somebody the yes you would have meant.

Saying no to one request is not a failure of love. It's what makes the rest of it real. Try it once this month and watch what happens, which is mostly nothing.

Who Else Needed Something

Personality systems are modern and scripture isn't one. It is full of people who had to learn to receive, though.

The woman in the crowd takes her healing in silence and is made to say it in front of everyone. Naaman wants a cure without the indignity of the instructions and has to be talked into the river by his own servants. Peter tells Jesus he will never wash his feet, and is told that if he doesn't accept it he has no part in him. And Elijah, who fed a widow through a famine, ends up lying under a tree being fed by an angel.

Where to Start

Where to start is with the ask. Tell one person, in a full sentence, something you need. Say no to one request this month. When resentment flashes, treat it as information about your own ledger rather than about them. The Heart center holds 2, 3, and 4, and reading the other two is clarifying, because the question underneath all three turns out to be the same one.

She could have left healed and anonymous. He stopped the crowd so she'd leave known.

Connecting with Jesus as an Enneagram 2: She Tried to Get Healed Without Asking