Sevens crave the stimulation of new ideas, people, and experiences, avoid pain, and

create elaborate future plans to keep their options open.

Worldview of Sevens I am entitled to be absolutely free to do whatever I want, and no
one has the right to restrict me.

Strengths |
imaginative
|
enthusiastic |
engaging
|
Development | impulsive | unfocused | rebellious | pain avoidant

quick

thinking

Center of Intelligence: Head Center

Head Center Styles | Three Enneagram styles formed as a response to fear.

The Head Center contains Enneagram styles Five, Six, and Seven. These three mental styles
share a tendency to engage first in elaborate analysis as a reaction to their common emotion,
fear. Fives respond to fear by withdrawing, retreating into their minds in order to understand.
Sixes react by anticipating worst-case scenarios and devising plans to prevent what could go
wrong. Counterphobic Sixes may not be aware of feeling fearful because they more often rush
headlong into risky situations as a way of assuring themselves that they are not afraid. Sevens
take a different route, quickly moving from fear into pleasurable possibilities. Although most
Sevens do not appear to be fearful, they are actually running from fear and pain an
avoidance reaction. Enneagram style Six is the core style of the three Head Center styles, with
styles Five and Seven being variations of Enneagram style Six.

Core Beliefs

Life is full of endless possibilities.

Why worry when you can be happy?
No one has the right to restrict or limit me.

Emotional Patterns

Joyfulness and enthusiasm

Avoidance of negative emotions, particularly sorrow and fear, through positive
reframing

Behaviors

Adore idea generation Like everything to be positive Are in perpetual motion

Dislike restraints, needing to keep themselves constantly stimulated Have difficulty
focusing

The Sevens mind, called the synthesizing mind, responds instantaneously to stimulation,
moving faster than a nanosecond to a new idea connected to the original thought, then
triggering another idea, and so forth. Because Sevens become fascinated with
information from so many different disciplines and have an abundance of data upon
which to draw, these fast and loose associations can be instantly transformed into highly
creative, surprisingly original although not always practical new ways of doing things.
As a result of their desire for constant mental stimulation and their rapid mental
processing, Sevens may have a breadth, but not necessarily a depth, of knowledge.

Typing Questions for Sevens

1. Do you continuously seek new and stimulating people, ideas, or events to keep life
exciting, adrenalized, and forward moving?
2. Do you avoid pain and discomfort whenever possible, using your mind to conjure up
new possibilities and plans and to reframe negative situations so they can be seen as
positive?
3. Do you have trouble sustaining your focus on work projects, people, and conversations
without a considerable amount of effort on your part?

Sevens search for pleasure and stimulation and avoid pain and discomfort. Symbolized by the
glass of champagne, Sevens are bubbly and effervescent, trying to enjoy lifes pleasures and
positive possibilities.
Spontaneous, engaging, and multitasking to an extreme, Sevens are upbeat, energetic, and
need to feel that they have all options possible open to them. Elaborate future planners,
dreamers and visionaries, Sevens generate enthusiasm, push boundaries, and avoid painful
experiences by conjuring up new ideas, engaging with people or activities that excite them, and
by rationalizing negative experiences through a positive reframing of events.
Almost all Sevens have difficulty focusing on one thing at a time, as their attention shifts from
one idea, activity, or person to the next thing that grabs their interest, and they also have a
contagious sense of optimism that comes from a sense that everything is possible. Some
Sevens create extensive social networks, a kind of collective surrogate family that gives them
the support to make the best of every opportunity; other Sevens restrain their desire to have
everything as a way to sacrifice themselves in the service of the group; and still other Sevens
are unabashed dreamers, looking to everything new to stimulate and excite them.
Their interpersonal style can be described as fast-talking and even faster thinking, with a
mental process that moves 1000 miles per hour and jumps from topic to topic. While some
Sevens are quiet, most Sevens say whats on their minds as soon as they think it. And
although their ideas may seem loosely connected to the rest of us, Sevens make these
associative connections instantly and share them in rapid fire, using voices filled with
enthusiasm and energy.
While we can all be creative thinkers, enjoy the rush of adrenalin, and prefer pleasure to pain,
for Sevens, the search for pleasure and stimulation and the avoidance of pain and discomfort
is their primary, persistent, and driving motivation.
The Enneagram styles on both sides of your core Enneagram style can also influence your
personality
Wings are the Enneagram styles on each side of your core Enneagram style. These are
secondary styles of your core personality style, which means that you may also display some
of the characteristics of these Enneagram styles. Wings do not fundamentally change your
Enneagram style; they merely add additional qualities to your core personality. As can be seen

on the Enneagram symbol, Nine and Two are wings for Ones, One and Three are wings for
Twos, Two and Four are wings for Threes, and so forth.
You may have one wing, two wings, or no wings at all. It is also common to have had one wing
be more active when you were younger, and to have had another appear as you matured.
People of the same Enneagram style and identical wings may use their wing qualities
differently. However, the general wing descriptions for all nine Enneagram styles given here
may serve as guidelines to help you explore this aspect of the Enneagram and also help you to
identify your wing or wings.
Wings for Sevens
Six Wing | Sevens with a Six wing add the capacity to understand situations as being both
half-full and half-empty. Because these Sevens have an increased perceptiveness and an
ability to anticipate potential problems, their actions become more deliberate and less based on
their instantaneous reactions.
Eight Wing | Sevens with an Eight wing tend to be more direct, assertive, and powerful. They
have a more grounded presence and an increased desire to put ideas into action.

The two styles with arrows that point toward and away from your Enneagram style can also
influence your personality
Arrow lines refer to the two styles on the Enneagram symbol that have arrows pointing away
from or toward your core Enneagram style, and you may show some characteristics of one or
both of these two additional styles. Access to your wings and arrow lines can be beneficial to
you, adding complexity, nuance, and flexibility to your personality, but they do not change your
fundamental style that is, your patterns of thinking and feeling and motivational structure
remain the same.
Arrow lines are best thought of as providing additional resources to our character structure
because it is possible to access the best of both styles; however, they are also referred to as
stress and security points because under stress, a person may move toward the arrow pointing
away from their core style, while when relaxed, the same individual may move in the direction
of the arrow that points to their own core style.

Arrow Lines for Sevens

Arrow Line to One | When Sevens have access to arrow line One, their sense of responsibility
and ability to focus increases, as do their precision and attention to detail. Although some
Sevens use these qualities on an ongoing basis, many display these most often as work
deadlines approach.
Arrow Line from Five | Sevens expend vast amounts of energy, and they eventually become
fatigued. Access to Five allows them to take time for themselves without engaging with others
(although this may last only a few hours every few months). In addition, some Sevens who
have an extremely strong link to Five enjoy quietude on a more regular basis, engage in selfreflection more often, and tend to be more self-contained.

There are 3 variations of each Enneagram style, which actually give us 27, not just 9, different
character structures
Enneagram subtypes are an additional element that may affect your personality character
structure. Subtypes are the way in which the particular emotional pattern for each Enneagram
style most frequently manifests in that persons behavior. There are three different subtypes for
each Enneagram style: one subtype manifests the style through a particular behavior related to
issues of self-preservation; another subtype focuses primarily on social relations, often
behavior in response to social groups; the third subtype for each style is more oriented to oneto-one relationships.
Each of the nine Enneagram personality styles comes in three distinct varieties, depending on
which of the three subtypes is dominant. The repeating emotional pattern (referred to as the
passion) of the Enneagram style combines with the dominant subtype to create a
fundamental, driving need (mostly unconscious) that fuels the behavior, feelings, and thoughts
of the personality, yielding 27 distinct character structures (or three versions of each style) that
further elaborate on or present different flavors of the nine Enneagram styles. For most people,
two of the three instincts may be active, with the third less so or dormant.

Three Subtypes for Enneagram Sevens | the passion of gluttony.

All Sevens have an insatiable thirst for new stimulation of all kinds and distract themselves with
interesting people, ideas, and pleasurable experiences, which allows them to avoid their fear of
painful emotions and difficult situations. There are three distinct ways in which Sevens manifest
these characteristics.
Self-Preservation Subtype Sevens try to create close networks of family, friends, and
colleagues, not only to keep themselves feeling both stimulated and secure but also to
generate new and interesting opportunities to pursue.
Social Subtype Sevens sacrifice some of their need for stimulation in the service of the group
or of some ideal that is extremely important to them. At the same time, they are aware of
wanting to pursue their desire for excitement, but they choose to postpone it.
One-to-One Subtype Sevens are dreamers, with a need to see the stark reality of the world
through rose-colored glasses, and they are the most optimistic of the three subtypes of style
Seven. Often, they become fascinated with one other person, become satiated with that person
over time, then find someone new who intrigues and stimulates them.

Potency, resilience, moral power, firmness, and courage these are all concepts that align
with real strength. How can the Enneagram help each of us develop true strength, not physical
prowess or outer toughness?

Sevens | Sevens need to learn that the power of their mind only increases when they learn to
focus it and that to be strong, they need to learn how to be fully in their bodies with feet rooted
in the ground. Trees cannot weather storms when they are top heavy and lack deep-enough
roots. Light in weight and gravitas, they easily blow over in even a moderate storm. Learning to
focus and stay with whatever they are doing and recognizing that pain isnt so painful when it is
dealt with; it only becomes debilitating when it is ignored and stored.