Book Summary | The Road Back to You (2016)

What is it?  The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery, by Ian Morgan Cron and Suzanne Stabile is an award-winning book. The book uses the ancient Enneagram to guide the journey of self-awareness. 

Why bother? Knowing ourselves is challenging because we all have mixed personalities and adapt to the outside world. The book presents a practical approach to solving this problem. It is worth the time for self-discovery when we find answers to what motivates, causes stress, what's right, what's wrong...Self-awareness is a foundational pillar of emotional intelligence.

Key Ideas  The key idea is centered around 9 characters defined on Enneagram and how they are related. The nine characters are: 

• Anger - The Perfectionists "feel a compulsive need to perfect the world. Keenly aware that neither they nor anyone else can live up to their impossibly high standards, they experience anger in the form of smoldering resentment. "
• Pride - The Helpers direct all their attention and energy toward meeting the needs of others while disavowing having any of their own. Their secret belief that they alone know what's best for others and that they're indispensable reveals their prideful spirit. "
• Deceit - The Performers "value appearance over substance. Abandoning their true selves to project a false, crowd-pleasing image, Threes buy their own performance and deceive themselves into believing they are their persona. "
• Envy - The Romantics "believe they are missing something essential without which they will never be complete. They envy what they perceive to be the wholeness and happiness of others.
• Avarice - The Investigator "believe will ensure they can live an independent, self-sustaining existence. This withholding ultimately leads to their holding back love and affection from others. "
• Fear - The Loyalists "are forever imagining worst-case scenarios and questioning their ability to handle life on their own, Sixes turn to authority figures and belief systems rather than God to provide them with the support and security they yearn for."
• Gluttony - The Enthusiast "gorge themselves on positive experiences, planning and anticipating new adventures, and entertaining interesting ideas."
• Lust.- Lust after intensity. "It can be seen in the excessiveness they evidence in every area of life. Domineering and confrontational, Eights present a hard, intimidating exterior to mask vulnerability. NINES: Sloth. For Nines, sloth refers not to physical but to spiritual laziness. Nines fall asleep to their own priorities, personal development and responsibility for becoming their own person."

​The night characters are grouped into three triangles: 

• The Anger or Gut Triad (8, 9, 1): is driven by anger. They "take in and respond to life instinctually or "at the gut level." They tend to express themselves honestly and directly. "
• The Feeling or Heart Triad (2, 3, 4) are driven by feelings—They "each take in and relate to life from their heart and are more image-conscious than other numbers. "
• The Fear of Head Triad (5, 6, 7) are driven by fear—They "take in and relate to the world through the mind. They tend to think and plan carefully before they act.​"

Favorite Quotes

“The Enneagram is a tool that awakens our compassion for people just as they are, not the people we wish they would become so our lives would become easier.” 
― Ian Morgan Cron, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

“The Enneagram doesn’t put you in a box. It shows you the box you’re already in and how to get out of it.” 
― Ian Morgan Cron, The Road Back to You: An Enneagram Journey to Self-Discovery

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