As legend has it, Michelangelo carved the famous statue of David out of a piece of marble discarded by other sculptors.
Why did others discard it? Because it appeared to be an inferior piece of marble: stained, broken, unworthy, and beyond salvation.
But they were no Michelangelo. This man’s mastery lay not only in skills but in how he saw the world.
Years later, when asked how he created this masterpiece out of marble others had discarded, he responded that he didn’t create David. On the contrary, he simply saw David in the marble and then proceeded to chip away everything that wasn’t David.
You don’t make a masterpiece. Instead, you remember it, return to it, and realize it waiting for you deep in the marble. That is mastery!
Fine, so you aren’t a marble sculptor, but make no mistake about it: you are sculpting your life.
You’ve been discarded, or discarded yourself, or significant parts of who you are and pieces about you that you don’t like.
Of course, you’ve wanted to change who you are – we all have.
Certainly, you’ve tried to fix this or that about yourself – who hasn’t?
Undoubtedly, you’ve longed to become someone else at times – we all do.
When this happens, remember the teaching of David. You can’t change who you are. You don’t need to fix what is broken. You must never try to be anyone else. All you have to do is…
Remember: remember who you are
Return: return to what you are
Realize: realize your essence, your true self, waiting for you underneath that broken and battered marble you’ve accumulated in your life.
This is why and how I use the Enneagram.
The Enneagram, often presented as a personality typing system comprising 9 personality types, is misunderstood. Yes, there are 9 personality types. Yes, one of them describes how you move through the world. However, that isn’t who you are. You are not a number. You are not a type. You are not all that broken marble on the surface of your life.
No, the Enneagram simply presents us with all the marble, the junk, and the fears we’ve accumulated throughout our lives. It simply shows us where we’ve become lost underneath it all. It presents us all the hidden strategies we’ve cultivated to hide beneath the surface.
However, it also shows us how to chip away at that marble. It presents a roadmap for how to find our way underneath those layers, remember who we are, and begin the journey of returning, not becoming, to our true self.
Remember who you are.
Return to what you are.
And realize the true you waiting to be discovered within the marble.
It’s time to realize the masterpiece that’s waiting to be discovered in you and that’s what the Enneagram will empower you to do.
Click here to check out Discover Your Number, a complimentary Enneagram Discovery tool that will show you 9 ways we cover ourselves up, hiding beneath the marble. And it will present to you 9 pathways to chip your way back to the True You.
