A new search engine for my memory

Damian inspired me to write this. While he has a memory-recall superpower, I have something ... uh, else.

I remember random events from my childhood, like standing in line in elementary school, telling my best friend I had "Coughitis," and he quipped that I had the "Coughees." I remember the white tiled walls, the squares on the floor and painted lines ... everything. I also remember being at a particular birthday party with this best friend and another close friend, playing with some boxing game.

Certain memories just stand out for me. As Damian mentioned to me once, it's crazy what sixes tend to remember.

The thing is, I suspect all my memories are in my head -- I just have a really poor search engine.
There are times when a friend will say, "Remember when?" and I won't ... at first. As he or she describes the past event, eventually, a word or phrase will trigger the memory, and I'll immediately go, "Oooooo!"

Other times, the person I'm talking to will ask me if I remember something, and no matter how they describe it, the memory doesn't come back. I guess they're not using the right keywords to stimulate that particular part of my brain.

Sometimes, I will assume I can't remember something, and then it hits me later. For example, prior to writing this, I was thinking about how I don't remember specific details about a vacation at Disney world when I was ten years old. After a few moments, I remembered being on Space Mountain (WOOooooooh!), holding on to the handlebars for DEAR LIFE as I sat at the VERY FRONT, committing my life to Jesus if I survived the roller coaster ride, hearing my mother scream behind me, seeing my dad smiling afterwards.

So, the memories are there.

I suspect, as I get older, I will get better at recalling things. I just need to train my mind, kind of like switching from Alta Vista to Google, back in the day.

I hope I'm good at it, like those great baseball players from Glory of Their Times.

How Vahl was introduced to the Enneagram

I recently read a post where a friend of mine explained how he took an Enneagram test and would figure out the results later. That post inspired me to share how I was introduced to the E-gram, in the hopes of simplifying and demystifying it.

Damian started telling me about the Enneagram about nine years ago. The more he described it, the more I wanted to learn more. One day, we finally sat down together and he showed me the book Personality Types, by Riso and Hudson.



First, we turned to Part I, which listed the 9 basic types, and four word description for each. He told me to read through the list and see which description or descriptions I related to the most. Here's the list:

The One, also called The Reformer, is principled, orderly, perfectionistic, and
self-righteous.
The Two, also called The Helper, is caring, generous,
possessive, and manipulative.
The Three, also called The Achiever, is
adaptable, ambitious, image-conscious, and hostile.
The Four, also called The
Individualist, is intuitive, expressive, self-absorbed, and depressive.
The
Five, also called The Investigator, is perceptive, original, detached, and
eccentric.
The Six, also called The Loyalist, is engaging, committed,
defensive, and paranoid.
The Seven, also called The Enthusiast, is
motivating, accomplished, uninhibited, and manic.
The Eight, also called The
Challenger, is self-confident, decisive, dominating, and combative.
The
Nine, also called The Peacemaker, is gentle, reassuring, complacent, and
neglectful.

Once I had chosen a couple of types, we turned to the Appendix and looked up more detailed descriptions of those types. Basically, there are more one-word descriptions broken down into three levels: healthy, average, and unhealthy.

Damian told me once I found my type, it would feel like a K.O. punch. He was right -- there was no doubt about it. I felt like I was reading a kind of biography for my personality, or my own internal programming code. It felt like someone knew me and described me to a tee. My strengths, weaknesses, fears, and desires that I had experienced throughout my life were there.

Slap me with a number six. I went on to read the full description in Part II, and gained even more perspective. As I read more about the other types, I began to see the ones and zeroes of the Matrix, so to speak.

If you're interested in figuring out your Enneagram type, I highly recommend the book Personality Types and trying out Damian's method. It's simpler, more intuitive than an exam, and does not require voluminous reading. You'll get more out of it than confusing test results!