Growing as an Enneagram Six: The GuardianSample

The Hum of What-Ifs

As a Six, you may or may not be aware of the inner committee that is holding sessions inside your head at any given moment. This committee serves a few essential purposes in your life, but it’s also the reason for a lot of your pain. Your inner committee recites the what-ifs that you hear when faced with a decision, a proposition, a possibility, or something new. These voices want to keep you prepared for any scenario that you may face, they keep you informed of the risks, and keep you thinking realistically about life in general. But they also can cause a lot of anxiety.

With your inner committee whispering potential scenarios in your ear, all of a sudden, any small decision could have major consequences, anything terrible is possible, and it can be hard to hope for the best outcome. Others think you’re a pessimist when you vocalize these what-if possibilities, although you are simply trying to be realistic about possible dangers and consequences. It can be hard to make decisions because of your inner turmoil over all of the what-ifs you’re hearing. This can cause you to experience a lot of second guessing, low self-confidence, and scrambling for confirming opinions or reassurance.

You may realize that people think you’re a pessimist. You may be aware of your second guessing and how easy it seems for you to come up with worst-case scenarios. But do you know why? Have you been told your whole life that this is a symptom of your anxiety instead of the cause? Have you gone your entire life thinking that everyone has an inner committee, and hearing multiple what-ifs about every situation was part of the normal human experience?

Similar to Enneagram Ones’ inner critic and the heart triad’s inner shamer, your inner committee is unique to Sixes, but it’s probably not something you’ve ever heard explained as specific to you. 

Although we don’t have a clear reason why your inner committee exists, we do know that the Creator of the human mind, soul, and body is our kind and loving God. He made your mind the way He did specifically and with purpose. There may be some aspects of your inner committee that are impacted by sin and the fall, but we know that the way you function is also specific and can be redeemed by our Savior.