Sixes and Courage

To an Enneatype Six, the world can seem like an overwhelmingly threatening and unpredictable place. Their attention naturally goes to what could go wrong and worst-case scenarios - losing faith in themselves, in others, and in the world around them. We all have a bit of Type Six within us (especially in today’s crazy world), lulled into the “seduction of safety”, as John O’Donohue puts it in his poem For a New Beginning. What if we were able to quiet our minds, acknowledge our fears and “kindle” our courage? As O’Donohue asks of us…”can we learn to find ease in risk”?

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In out-of-the-way places of the heart,

Where your thoughts never think to wander,

This beginning has been quietly forming,

Waiting until you were ready to emerge.

For a long time it has watched your desire,

Feeling the emptiness growing inside you,

Noticing how you willed yourself on,

Still unable to leave what you had outgrown.

It watched you play with the seduction of safety

And the gray promises that sameness whispered,

Heard the waves of turmoil rise and relent,

Wondered would you always live like this.

Then the delight, when your courage kindled,

And out you stepped onto new ground,

Your eyes young again with energy and dream,

A path of plenitude opening before you.

Though your destination is not yet clear

You can trust the promise of this opening;

Unfurl yourself into the grace of beginning

That is at one with your life's desire.

Awaken your spirit to adventure;

Hold nothing back, learn to find ease in risk;

Soon you will be home in a new rhythm,

For your soul senses the world that awaits you.

- For a New Beginning, by John O'Donohue

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