Point 7 Optimist

The growth edge for Point 7 Optimist is recognizing value in working with pain and emotions.

"Life is an adventure."

Strengths

  • Vision
  • Playful
  • Helpful
  • Optimistic
  • Inventive
  • Imaginative
  • Egalitarian
  • Love of Life
  • Enthusiastic
  • High Energy

    • Optimist path symbol


    Where Attention & Energy Go Against Personal Growth

  • Point 7 Optimist is able to synthesize unusual connections
  • Desire to maintain high levels of stimulation, which is one way to create personal growth barriers
  • Charm as a first line of defense - talking your way out of trouble
  • Maintenance of multiple options as a way to buffer commitment to a single course of action
  • Belief that one can escape pain and fright by going into imagination (possibilities) and into pleasure
  • Replacement of deep contact and pleasant mental alternatives talking, planning, and intellectualizing
  • The tone and color of these tendencies will vary depending upon your instinctual subtype
  • Focus energy on interrelating and systematizing so commitments necessarily include options.

    • Fixations

    • Gluttony
    • Planning

    Higher Aspects

    • Sobriety
    • Work





    What Supports Personal Growth

    • Appreciate more deeply the feelings and concerns of others
    • Practice working on one thing at a time until it is completed for personal growth
    • Live life more fully in the present moment, and less in the future
    • Practice healthy self esteem - realize that it is limiting to seek just the positive
    • Consider accelerating your progress with personal growth counseling
    • Notice when seeking pleasurable options is a response to fear of deprivation, a desire to escape from responsibilities that constrain freedom or escape from pain

    Enneagram Optimist Look-Alikes

    Point 2 & 7 -- Both are active, upbeat, charming, selective in relationships, want to be liked
  • 7's - Keeps separate, oriented to own needs, easily gets self-absorbed into intellectual pursuits
  • 2's - Alters to meet the emotional needs of others

    • Point 3 & 7 -- Both are active, assertive, upbeat, overbooked, tend to avoid negative feelings
  • 7's - Focus on pleasures, interests, a sense of personal entitlement to keep options open
  • 3's - Focus on good image and external approval for accomplishments to sustain self-worth

    • Point 4 & 7 -- Both intense, idealism, highly stimulating, attention to what they want, think, feel
  • 7's - Point 7 Optimist is upbeat, pleasure-seeking, avoid pain and negative feelings when possible
  • 4's - Goes into melancholy, deep feelings, accepts pain as a part of life

    • Point 9 & 7 -- Both want life to be pleasant and upbeat, want to be liked, want to avoid conflict
  • 7's - Frenetic, fast paced, orients toward self, knows / expresses own wants-agenda-options
  • 9's - Even, slower paced, forgets own needs-agenda-opinions by orienting toward others

    • Summary - Point Seven - Optimist


    The Point 7 Optimist is a fear type, but doesn't look fear based. They handle their fears by focusing on the positive and imagining future plans, options, and possibilities. This type wants to avoid inner pain in themselves and others by looking on the bright side of things.

    Their strategy is to sublimate their fears by giving into their appetites, be it drugs, ideas, activity, people, food, or new experiences. They keep an active pace in their lives in order to not be bored or bogged down with the less desirable emotions or feelings, and are natural 'reframers.'

    Commitment is often difficult for a Point Seven because it feels like confinement in their mind. After all, something more interesting may present itself, and they need to keep all their options open. If they find that their options are closed, they will feel trapped and anger can erupt. There is an ongoing search for what is new, exciting, stimulating or fun, --- wanting to maintain a continuous high.

    Strong, vivid imagination allows planning to be almost as enjoyable as the actual adventure itself. This point is often seen as a jack-of-all-trades because of their many varied interests. They may be strong at starting a project but weaker on the follow-through. The idea can be more exciting than the actual project itself.

    Point Sevens like to equalize the playing field around authority, wanting to have no one above or below them. They can also have fears about their inadequacy and tend to compare themselves to others.

    A healthy Point 7 Optimist have recognized the realistic necessity for both pain and commitment in their lives. Many possess great charm and are able to appreciate life's gifts and inspire others to see a more positive outlook on life. They are often highly gifted and are considered 'renaissance' people with an authentic zest for living.

    Growth occurs by the Point 7 Optimist staying instead of leaving and dealing with their pain, setting a framework for emotional depth.

    Learn how a Point 7 Optimist can benefit from the upcoming Enneagram Panel Workshop.