Enneagram 6 Personality [Type Description] | Personality Path (2024)

Enneagram 6s at Their Worst and Their Best

Your personality isn’t a fixed thing. People grow. While we don’t change our basic personality, we all can become more mature and healthy inside our personality. But at times, we also revert to less healthy behavior. This looks different for every personality type. Let’s see how it unfolds for Sixes.

Average Type 6s

Average Sixes are on a constant quest to find security. While they frequently worry about potential catastrophes and seek security outside themselves – in marriage, their job, a belief system or a community –, they also know that the best way to achieve this is to be dependable and proactive. They find it easier to commit to what provides them with stability than to chase after their own goals and dreams. Average Sixes are fun to be around, employ an often slightly self-deprecating kind of humor and offer kindness and reliability to the people around them.

Unhealthy Type 6s

The fight-or-flight instinct of Sixes gets more extreme when they are unhealthy. These Sixes can become distrustful, paranoid and defensive, but also aggressive, provocative and bullish. Their fear of being left without support will make them do anything so people won’t leave them, but also lash out when they feel threatened. None of those strategies really work of course. The obsession with security of unhealthy Sixes makes them blind to the fact that the actual problem is not the danger of the world around them, but their own emotional insecurities.

Healthy Type 6s

When Sixes learn to face their anxieties and realize the world is not as dangerous as they thought, they become healthy – and that makes them serene and even courageous. These Sixes have developed the self-esteem to stand up for themselves and trust their own decisions and opinions. They no longer just submit to authority nor feel the need to rebel against it, but quietly and confidently contribute to their community. Healthy Sixes often become impressive pillars of trust and responsibility. They use their sharp and analytical minds to solve problems for a common cause, and in this way teach the rest of us about the joy of commitment and cooperation.

Wings of Enneagram Type 6

Your wing adds an additional flavor to your personality. Every personality type of the Enneagram can have either one of the two neighboring types as its wing. For Sixes this means, they can have Type Five or Type Seven as their wing.

Common Mistypings for Enneatype6

It’s not unusual that people are not sure which Enneagram personality type they really are. If that’s you, don’t worry, it’s totally normal. The Enneagram doesn’t just look at your behavior, but at the motivation behind your behavior. This means that some Types can look similar on the outside.

What happens most often for Type Sixes is that they get confused with Types Two and Nine. Sometimes, they also mistype themselves for Types Four and Eight.
Since every type has two wings, you might also be unsure whether Type Five or Type Seven, your wings, might actually be your main type.

You can learn how to safely tell Type Six apart from all the other Enneagram types here.

First Steps That Can Help Type6s Grow

Finding out about your Enneagram type shouldn’t be the end of your journey of discovering your personality. The Enneagram is an amazing tool to help you on your journey to become more self-aware and self-accepting.

These five ideas are only a first step to get you started. Get your premium profile to find out much more about how you can use the Enneagram to become your healthiest self!

1. Quiet your mind

Meditation or similar spiritual practices are healthy for everyone. But Sixes benefit from it especially. Their minds never stop, with voices, opinions, doubts and worries filling it every second of every hour. The relief that comes from practicing stillness of mind can be one of the greatest pleasures for Sixes. Limiting your exposure to the negative cycle of daily news can be a first step.

2. Question your questioning

Observe how often the worst-case-scenarios and future problems you imagine actually come to pass. Maybe keep a journal. It will help you focus on the present and the actions you can take now instead of worrying about things you can’t influence anyway.

3. Check your relationship to authority

Become aware of your go-to-behaviour to seek security outside yourself. Are you prone to follow blindly or to rebell reflexively? The truth is, you have more than enough to be your own guide. Authority isn’t bad, but it doesn’t need to replace or provoke your own opinion

4. Decide to trust

True, with all the dishonesty, betrayal and self-seeking behaviour out there, it’s hard to separate those who really have your best interest in mind from those who only pretend to. But at the same time, trust is something that must be given before it can be earned. Sometimes the decision to trust someone is yours, not theirs. Most of all, decide to trust yourself. Keep a journal of the times your decisions had positive results as well as of the times people have proven to be reliable.

5. Focus on the positive

The next time you play devil’s advocate, also try to acknowledge and point out the positive dimensions of other’s ideas. What sounds like the voice of reason and necessary improvements can sound to others like never-ending criticism. You’re good at seeing potential problems. Now practice seeing the potential for the good in the world.