In some circles, when the topic of the Enneagram comes up, people get all excited and start to rattle off numbers. With others, there’s a quizzical and skeptical look that emerges, and they might ask “Isn’t that a personality-cult-thing?” And still others respond with a blank look that tells me they have no idea what it is. So let’s give some basic info, dispel some myths, and start to build a common understanding.

I’ve never done a “word of the year” before. Each January, Facebook friends far and wide post about their words, but it wasn’t until this year that I finally decided to try it out. I guess I just got around enough people who use this practice that I wanted to be like the cool kids.

Boy, was I surprised by my word!