The Hustler's Digest StaffPeople who can cope remarkably well with pressures in their lives are rare. Mostly, people are unable to process and cope with stress as they are unaware of when to take time out, change perceptions and seek support. Although eradicating stress completely from your life is not possible, you can acquire ways and techniques to better manage it. Stress is a result of our perception of threats in our internal and external environment, and so it is important to have self-awareness around our patterns as it relates to stress.
Enneagram Teacher & Coach Abbi Rodriguez helps people understand our natural stress response and how to better cope with our stress response. She is a trained teacher and practitioner in the Narrative Enneagram tradition and is also an Accredited Enneagram professional through the International Enneagram Association.
According to her, the Enneagram system describes nine different ways you function to protect yourself from things that feel unsafe and uncertain. Each personality structure has a specific mode of operation during times of stress. Where some Types resort to numbing out pain and stress, others may tune into a sense of grief or worry. Abigail helps her clients understand their Enneagram personalities and reactions to stressful situations to increase their self-awareness of their unique patterns of behavior, which is essential for personal development. Personal development (including managing stress) must begin with a greater self-awareness because you cannot change the aspects of your experience that you’re completely oblivious to.
Abbi provides Enneagram workshops, private individual or couple coaching, and organizational training sessions all centered around the Enneagram system.
Her podcasts and educational Instagram provide a sneak peek into the intricacies of the Enneagram and how a profound transformation occurs when we begin to balance out the blindspots of our unique Enneagram Type.
At times of stress, Abbi recommends all types of personalities to bring awareness to their automatic reactions in order to move forward in a more balanced manner:
- When you notice you’re stressed, bring awareness to your experience. What emotions are coming up for you? Is there a felt sensation of the stress (like knots in your stomach or tightness in your throat)? What’s your behavior as a result of this stress?
- Then consider what’s stressing you out. What’s causing you to feel this way? What triggered this stress response? What about that trigger feels threatening?
- Next consider what you might need as a result of this stressful state. Do you need some support from a mentor? Or maybe fellowship with good friends? Maybe there is a boundary you need to establish? What needs are not being met for you in regards to this stress?
- And then incorporate what you’ve discovered in this inquiry around your stress. Make a plan or a list of what you need and take action towards the first part, and then the next part, and then the next until you’ve established better self-care.
This process of self-observation and personal inquiry around your stress response and needed self-care can be a challenging one. This is part of the support Abbi offers her individual coaching clients as they are pursuing the most joyful and whole versions of their life and relationships.
Abbi Rodriguez provides some amazing insights on incorporating Enneagram into your life for personal development and growth. You can check out her podcast Enneagram Coaching with Abbi Rodriguez and observe a shift in your soul from merely surviving to thoroughly flourish.
