Enneagram Type 8: Listen to your Body

I had a conversation with some friends the other day and we were talking about some of the differences between our Enneagram numbers in regard to thoughts, instincts, and reactions.

Something I realize every time I get into conversation about the Enneagram with others is how heavily Eights rely on the body to respond to the world.

Of course, I'll never truly know anyone else's experience, but the number of simple decisions about things in the world that are either triggered or confirmed by my body as an instinctual center seem to be far more common than in others.

I've written previously about my experience as an Enneagram 8 as well as how Type Eights respond to others in relationship.

Something I don't see written about much on the internet are examples of how 8's use the body instinctually. Here are a couple that come to mind for me.

Enneagram 8 Intuitive Body Examples

Lumps in tongue - Years ago I worked as a sales rep for a food distributor. I really enjoyed working there. It was a family owned company and they treated me like family.

I had applied for and was offered a different job at a large corporation and I was weighing my options. I was extremely stressed about the situation and every time I thought about it I had what felt like massive lumps in my tongue.

Of course, there were no actual lumps in my tongue. If I took my fingers and pressed them against my tongue it just felt like, well, a tongue.

I ended up taking the job and it ended up being a pretty terrible experience. In hind sight, I believe intuition was telling me that taking the job was a bad idea. I just didn't know how to listen to my body yet.

Shivering - I've also noticed over the years that when I feel extremely strong emotions I get cold to the point of shivering.

The more I think about it, I would say this is associated only with "good" emotions. Love, happiness, excitement, etc...

It doesn't matter what the temperature is. I have shivered outside in the sun on an 90 degree day.

Are you an Enneagram 8? Do you have any examples of intuition in your body? I'd love to hear them.

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