Type 7: The Need to Be Happy

Enneagram Type 7s are known as the Enthusiasts. As the name suggests, they are enthusiastic about everything. They live in the moment with a childlike sense about them. They crave new experiences always wanting more and more. They are most happy when they are on the move, enjoying life, and going from one thing to the next. The world is a playground for 7s!

7s put off unpleasant things taking a “don’t worry, be happy” approach to life. They don’t like routines, commitment, or hierarchy. Instead, they prefer to keep their options open with an idealistic, imaginative and infectious energy about them. All this is in an effort to avoid pain and experience happiness.

Other words that describe 7s include…

Basic Fear

Of being deprived and in pain

Basic Desire

To be satisfied and content
To have their needs (for happiness) fulfilled

Key Motivations

• Optimism – to maintain their happiness
• To ensure their freedom to create happiness
• To avoid missing out on worthwhile experiences,
• To keep themselves excited and occupied,
• To avoid and discharge pain and feelings of discomfort, heaviness or sadness

Vice

Gluttony (Intemperance) – This is not just about food as we often think. It is a “more is always better” mindset, specifically more joy, more happiness, more cheer. Gluttony for 7s is about an excessive need for fun, joy, and pleasure. For 7s these things are found in more people, more food, more experiences, more materials things, more of whatever. This vice can lead to addictions.

Virtue

Joy – More accurately, a sober joy that does not come at the expense of the dark side of life, but joy in the face of the difficulty of life. Healthy 7s learn to both admit, acknowledge, and express their pain and discover joy through it or perhaps on the other side of their pain. And when they learn this, they are the most truly joyful of all the types and able to share and pass on that joy to others.

Defense Mechanism

Rationalization and Reframing – 7s will avoid painful situations by rationalizing why they shouldn’t get involved, take part, or deal with it. They will also reframe everything as positive to avoid dealing with the true feelings of pain or hurt. For example, a 7 May deal with the pain of losing someone by rationalizing their death: they lived a good life and God “needed another Ange.” Or a 7 might might reframe an embarrassing situation saying, “we won,” even if they weren’t really involved in the win.

Planning – 7s will plan everything to avoid pain and suffering and difficulty. This helps them to cope with their basic fear.

Also, 7 tend to

• use humor as a distraction and
• avoid limitations imposed by someone else.

Pitfalls

Superficiality – never go deep, but always stay on the surface of things
Stubbornness – refuse to see what is uncomfortable

Childhood

As children, many 7s had a traumatic experience. In order to avoid such an experience in the future, they will

1. repress their negative experiences (ie, paint their life to look wonderful even when it’s not) and
2. go into their heads and plan things out to create as much fun as possible

Often 7s felt frustrated that they did not receive enough nurture in the midst of their traumatic/painful childhood experiences. They always wanted or needed more from their caregiver. So, they became self-nurturing.

Much of what they do is a way of fleeing from the pain within them, I.e. the pain they experienced in the past that they wish to avoid. However, the joy that they create is in their head. They are a head type, after all. They think and then they do, with little thought for feelings. The truth is they ignore, avoid, or repress uncomfortable feelings, especially pain, and never really deal with any of it.

Example

Timon and Pumba’s anthem from The Lion Ling – “Hakuna Matata” – is a great song for to represent Type 7! In the song, Timon and Pumba encourage Simba to forsake his worries, embrace happiness, and deal with as little pain as possible. Seeking “no worries for the rest of their days,” the characters sing this fun, comic, upbeat number as a perfect example of a group of 7s just wanting to avoid the painful reality of the world around them and embrace adventure and happiness.

Biblical Character

Solomon – his reign was about excess and opulence in almost every way! His extravagance eventually had fatal consequences as he ended up forsaking God in order to pacify his many women and endeavors, building temples to other Gods. Solomon’s like is about addiction to the excess and keeping all options open, whatever the cost.

What 7s Need

• To learn to admit, acknowledge, and express pain and uncomfortable feelings as they arise
• To confront the reality of the world, accept both side of life, that there is both joy and pain. We need the full range of human emotions to experience healthy lives.
• To learn that pain is a valuable teacher. Pain helps us to recognize true joy!
• To stop trying to create their own happiness and to work with God in the real world full of joy and pain to discover happiness within living.
• To accept that God’s way is about the journey through suffering and death towards the joy of resurrection.
• Moderation – To learn that Less is more; to accept that there is a limit to what one can and should have.
• To commit to something and say “no” to other things. To stop keeping every option open and learn to dive deeply into something.
• To embrace some realism, not just idealism
• To accept and perceive their dark side. Meditation and prayer can be very helpful for 7s to discover what lies within them, accept themselves for who they are, and acknowledge that God accepts them as well!

When 7s do all this…

When they acknowledge and express their pain, when they embrace in the real world of joy and suffering, when they discover joy through pain, when they learn that less is more, then they become the most big-hearted, joyful of people, ambassadors for hope (even in the midst of crisis), able to guide others to discover true joy, able to help all us adults learn to play again, able to bring the healthy optimism, authentic happiness, and lightheartedness that the rest of us need.

Summary

Enneagram Type 7 – The Adventurer from Crystal

Are You a 7?

If you think you may be a 7, check out the video below for some helpful connection points to God. Also, be sure to text, call, or email Pastor Jason to sign up to take the 40 minute Enneagram Test online. (Paper test are available as well.) Use the contact form on our website or text/call the church office.

Stay tuned to our blog for tips on relationships with Type 7s!