enneagram type four in love » Enneagram Paths Coaching

“I have a habit of letting my imagination run away from me. It always comes back though . . . drenched with possibilities.” ― Valaida Fullwood

I love talking to Type Fours, (because I have a Four Wing and I’m so special!) but I especially love Type Four men because they are super interesting. When thinking about society in America, the outstanding qualities of a Four aren’t much encouraged. Someone who identifies as male, who can make space for pain, who lives authentically, who feels the full spectrum of emotion, who dives into the deep questions of life, and who can love imagination and creativity…these are not qualities the Western world deems worthy in men. And yet, these attributes in men are SO NEEDED! I’m convinced, the more men get in touch with their emotional lives and their authentic selves, the more healthy society will be.

I’m excited to hear from you, Eric. Welcome!

1. Emotions are dominant for Fours as part of the Heart Triad. How do emotions affect your daily life? Work, friendships, partnership, kids?

Emotions are huge for us in our family. It took me a long time to understand my emotions and to accept them as part of who I am, but not the definition of who I am. When I worked for a big company, my emotions would get in the way as I struggled to explain why I had feelings about particular decisions. In a dull, boring financial firm my feelings were not convincing arguments. That felt pretty bad. Once I learned that my emotions are indicator lights that should make me explore deeper, it became easier to express my feelings and find my voice. This is true with my wife and children as well. On good days I’m able to set aside my emotions and attend to theirs. On bad days, well, let’s just say the feels are everywhere.

2. Are you a parent? How does your Type influence parenting?

I am the father of a girl and three boys. Being a Type Four parent means I’m the fun dad who gets on the floor and wrestles, plans a surprise, or encourages them to use their imagination. One of my strengths is that I am able to see my children’s creativity and encourage it. My daughter wants to be a writer. My parents never would have encouraged me to go into the arts for a living. But I tell my daughter to go for it as long as she understands the business as well as the art. My kids get the benefit of belief in their creative ability. On the downside, I can also be quite moody and emotional. Sometimes, I have days when I am in the dumps and simply do not want to hear them. I imagine that it feels arbitrary for them and hope they do not equate my emotions with having to earn love from me.

3. What happens when you’re stressed and go along your Arrow to Type Two? What happens when you’re in a healthy place and go along your Arrow to Type One?

Interesting question! For years, I thought of myself as a Type Two. I was a helper, a shepherd, but never satisfied. I guess I was just stressed all the time. But it does come in handy when there is stress in the home, and I can see the needs and help find a resolution. I’m still trying to figure out what it’s like to move to a Type One. I love it when I’m working on a project and tweaking every detail to make it just so. Maybe that’s moving in the right direction. One thing I’ve had to learn, though, is the value of iteration. Expecting perfection on the first try held me back for many years. Once I allowed that I could try, learn, and get better, the lid came off, and I’m working in my zone of genius more.

4. How does Envy play out in your interactions with people? Do you find yourself comparing your life, experiences, career, etc. to others?

YES! Envy is a huge problem for me. I often ask “why not me?” when I see all the cool things others are doing. Realizing that (1) social media does not reflect reality, and (2) everyone pays dues to get where they are, has helped me tremendously. This quote from Biz Stone speaks to me: “Timing, perseverance, and ten years of trying will eventually make you look like an overnight success.”

5. Talk a little about the desire to be unique. Why is this so important to you? Is it important? How do you try to be a unique person in daily life?

Oh my, yes! The tension between being normal and being unique is so difficult to live with. In middle school, I was bullied for being weird (I was kinda nerdy) and that fueled this desire to belong while never feeling like I do. I’ve realized that there are situations where I feel I don’t belong, but the feeling is mine, not anyone else’s. They accept me, and I don’t know it. Being aware of that is super important for me.

I’ve also learned to accept the ways that I want to be unique. I left my corporate job to start an online business. Most people thought I was totally crazy. Maybe I am! But I knew I had to do it or I would regret it forever. Embracing that kind of uniqueness actually helps me love being me. It may not work out, but I love that I tried.

6. Talk about what the words Discipline and Objectivity mean to you today.

My two least favorite words! Discipline is always a challenge. Lately, I’m learning to rely on others to help with that. For instance, I’ve partnered with a friend who is good at being disciplined to create a business course for soul care practitioners. I just liked the idea and would have been happy to have imagined it and moved on. But he wanted to actually create it. His drive is helping us accomplish something together.

I also learned about discipline when I started my podcast, Halfway There, in 2016. The show is about the ups and downs of the spiritual journey, and I really love hearing the stories people share with me. That love drives me to keep episodes releasing every week. Once I tapped into my desire, discipline was still work, but not hard.

Objectivity is a myth.

7. What does the phrase, “You are good enough,” mean to you?

I wish I felt that way. This is a message I have to receive from God often. If I’m not careful, any criticism feeds the “not good enough” monster in my head.

8. Are there any spiritual practices you are drawn to as a Type Four?

I love imaginative prayer! Going through the spiritual exercises of Ignatius of Loyola was life-changing for me. I have a B.A. in Biblical Studies and a Master of Divinity and can get super academic with Scripture. But learning to imagine Jesus really connected to my heart. Suddenly, the Scripture came alive in my mind, and I fell in love with God in a fresh way.

9. How has learning about your Enneagram Type impacted your life and relationships? Has it changed the way you view yourself or others?

I am learning how to love and accept myself and let others be who they are. Learning how Fours and Sixes relate has been helpful because my wife is the latter. My dreams rubbed her fears raw and created a lot of tension. Learning that fear was her issue changed my expectations when I’m dreaming. It helps so much to let her off the hook for making my dreams a reality by saying, “I just need to envision this for a moment.”

eric picture

Eric Nevins is the host of Halfway There Podcast, a show that has honest conversations with ordinary Christians about today’s Christian experience. His first contemplative exercise, Jesus is Willing: An 8 Day Experience in Mark 1:40-45 is available now.

*Cover Photo by Teddy Kelley on Unsplash

“I’ll stop wearing black when you make a darker color.” — Fall Out Boy

“I feel too much. That’s what’s going on.’ ‘Do you think one can feel too much? Or just feel in the wrong ways?’ ‘My insides don’t match up with my outsides.’ ‘Do anyone’s insides and outsides match up?’ ‘I don’t know. I’m only me.’ ‘Maybe that’s what a person’s personality is: the difference between the inside and outside.’ ‘But it’s worse for me.’ ‘I wonder if everyone thinks it’s worse for him.’ ‘Probably. But it really is worse for me.” ― Jonathan Safran Foer, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Type Four in Integration – Health

Enneagram Type Fours swim in a deep sea of emotion. They are in the Heart Triad and on a daily basis their fast emotions, the ones that crash over them moment by moment, are waves—truer, more authentic emotions are the ocean itself. In health, Fours know how to ride the waves and become emotionally adept, able to attune with precision to what’s happening inside of them and to what others are feeling, as well. They can be some of the wisest, most attentive listeners, empowering others in a way that brings to light each person’s specialness. Fours also have a talent for making space for pain; you will want them by your side during trials because they will be the ones to sit and cry with you—not trying to fix or solve your problems like many others would do.

Type Fours are often quite creative; the artists and writers and musicians and photographers and dreamers of the world. Though any type may be an artist, Fours are the most common because they desire authenticity and unique expression above all else. They want to be the truest version of themselves and bring an idiosyncratic perspective to whatever they do. This can show up in their outward appearance; Fours usually have a certain aesthetic in the way they dress. They will have kooky, artsy, or highly fashionable clothes or an avant-garde hairstyle—whatever they feel expresses their inner-self best. Some Fours go through a “goth” phase, being drawn to dark makeup and clothing.

At their best they can be amiable, affirming, empathetic, and very nurturing, almost as nurturing as a Type Two. They search for answers to the complex questions in life like: why we are here, what is the purpose of life, and what are people supposed to do? They “have a natural gift for understanding the deeper emotional level of experience and [see] the beauty in darker emotions that other types would rather not feel, much less acknowledge.” (The Complete Enneagram, Beatrice Chestnut, pg. 268) They use engaging language and symbols to express whatever they turn their energy towards.

A Four working on integration will be actively seeking to regulate how they perceive reality. They stop focusing on lack and instead trend toward a more optimistic outlook on life. Positivity frees them from the hold that their constantly moving emotions has on them and allows Fours to actually produce the art, writing, music, etc. they dream about all the time. Optimism also helps them to accept the mundane aspects of life, which is helpful because a productive creative process is usually very disciplined and routine.

Type Four in Disintegration – Autopilot

“Fours have huge hearts, encompassing all the emotions that could possibly be contained within a heart. Yet the heart of the Four is a paradox; it can seem remarkably present to itself while simultaneously seeming to be cut off from itself. The near-yet-distant heart of the Four fuels the lie ‘I am what other people think or say about me’.” (The Sacred Enneagram, Chris Heuertz, pg. 214)

Fours in autopilot get lost in longing. They long for love above all else and feel that there is something broken or missing inside of them that prevents them from finding or keeping love. They fabricate an ideal of love and can lose themselves in fantasies about it. This fantasizing fulfills them—but just for a while—and then the need for real love takes over and they search for it in others. The tricky thing is that they’re almost addicted to this longing; it’s like a cat and mouse game inside their hearts. The longing itself is what feels special, but once they find love, they quickly become dissatisfied with messy reality and push their lovers away. Back and forth, around and around they go.

The inner landscape of a Four is an intense focus on their own emotions and the ever-present feeling of not being enough or having enough. They can easily shift into melancholy or dark moods, wallowing in shame for not living up to their own imagined ideal. They deal with envy a lot. Their emotions shift rapidly, moving from ecstasy to despair in a matter of minutes. This constant ebb and flow can make the Four think their emotions are unmanageable, wild, or out of control.

Body Language and Speech

In conversation, a Four is recognized by how often they look down to the right or left—this is a sign of being stuck in an inner dialogue or processing emotions as one speaks. A Four will give off signs of their base-level melancholic tendency by their shaded eyelids, sometimes watering eyes, slack shoulders, draped bodies, and a head nearly always tilted to the side. They smile but in a sad way. A Four in autopilot likes to converse about the finer things of life; about art, beauty, design, and fashion. They desire to look unique; one of a kind. When talking they will often pause for long periods of time, or sigh, to give themselves time to contemplate the exact right words to express their inner emotional landscape. A big tell that someone is a Four is a special talent they possess to steer a conversation so it always comes back to them. They come across as self-absorbed and arrogant and can manipulate any topic so that either it relates to them or so that they seem to be the expert on the topic.

Wings

A Type Four will either have a Three Wing or Five Wing—or both.

Arrow to Two in Stress

Entitlement and feelings of uniqueness become worse. Put themselves on a self-righteous pedestal.
Loved ones move away from the Four as they become more self-absorbed and in response the Four experiences longing. They then take on the “giving to get” mindset in order to manipulate others back into a relationship.
Intrude into other people’s lives with the attitude that they know better and are “helping” the person.
Have emotional rages like a Two, sudden onset of crying bouts, bursts of anger—and they cease to take responsibility for their own feelings. It is always the other person’s fault.

Arrow to One in Health

Their emotions and thinking become clearer, they communicate less in metaphor and more in precise ways that others can understand.
Become more practical, less lost in the sea of emotion and more focused on daily tasks and what actually needs to get done to accomplish goals.
More neat and methodical. They care about the proper way things are done and are less lost in fantasy.
Feelings of “otherness” dissipate and the Four can engage in life according to their will. Their moods cease to dictate their actions.
Less apt to hog the conversation and speak only about themselves. They become more interested in others.
They do more and become attuned to their bodies.

*Photos by Toa Heftiba , Matias Rengel , Mubariz Mehdizadeh , Shamim Nakhai on Unsplash

Interview with Type Four: Eric Nevins

The Ocean of Emotion: Enneagram Type Four