Okay, here's what I'm thinking about in my spiritual life.
Amy reminded me recently that our Enneagram teacher, Suzanne, says that "the healthier we are in our numbers, the more unoffendable we are."
Surely I've heard Suzanne say it a lot of times, but when I heard it a few weeks ago, I heard it in a new way.
I am a VERY defensive person. I can get offended very easily if I think I'm being blamed or attacked. Now, sometimes I'm right to be offended, and that's perfectly fine, and it's fine to respond appropriately.
But I'm also finding that it's a very simple way of refusing to even consider the thing I'm offended by. I don't like conflict, and to avoid conflict within myself, I point the finger right back at the other party. (My mother in law used to say that if you point a finger at someone, you usually have three fingers pointing back at yourself. This is never not true, at least not so far.)
Another way this shows up is by getting snarky, or righteously indignant. Oh, my, I can get way down into the weeds when I'm thinking about how bad someone else is! It's a great way to feel better about myself and I can spend a lot of time on this.
I realize that this is a little bit backwards way to do it. When I am healthy in my number, I will be unoffendable...and/but working toward health in my number, I am thinking hard about why and how I get offended, and trying not to go there.
I didn't get a "star word" this year, so my self-identified one is "Unoffendable.)
