Expanded Description of Type Nine

Type Nines are calm, patient, steady, agreeable, uncomplicated, easy going, supportive, receptive, conflict-avoidant, contented, genuine, trusting and inwardly optimistic. They are usually warm, friendly, tolerant, accommodating, uncompetitive and enjoy being with others. They prefer a peaceful, structured, predictable and comfortable life, and like to have a sense of belonging. Even when their lifestyle looks unpredictable, harmony is deeply important. They will often unconsciously set up small rituals - coffee shop at 4- to give structure to an otherwise unstructured, or extremely busy, day.


Nines find it hard to know their own priorities, and they go along with other people's wishes, sometimes even taking on their accent, vocabulary and body language. They are most productive on behalf of others, or in a team. Socially they appear easy going, laid back and mellow- happy to go along with consensus and easily fitting into the background when they want to.


“If I’m left on my own often I feel lonely and depressed. There’s a ‘juice’ in being with other people and I’ll seek that out. I often feel I should pay my clients rather than the other way round because it gives me structure. They walk into my office and I kind of take on its very intuitive and immediate – their values and beliefs, even their mannerisms. Being able to use my skills to help them gives me a sense of solidity and there’s a lot of power and good feeling, whereas on my own it’s very difficult.”


Type Nines are 'self-forgetting' and lose awareness of what is essentially important to them. They are easily distracted even when alone and leave high personal priorities till last. This looks like procrastination, but is not intentional. Self-forgetting is literally a ‘forgetting’ of ‘who I am’, and unconsciously it’s as though they do not have permission to pay attention to what actually matters to them personally.


Nines "self-forget" through merging with others, or by dispersing their energy into substitute objects and physical pleasures, or by losing oneself in the needs of a group. In each case there is a sense of peace created by not having to listen to one's own needs, by subduing one's internal reactions and not having to assert individual  determination and purpose. 


Over time this creates the sense that "I am unimportant" and builds what is understood in psychology to be the inferiority complex that re-affirms that one's needs are not important and will not be met. This can leads to a despondency that means the Nine gives up trying and then loses themselves deeper into self-forgetting behaviours.  

Unimportant tasks, new interests, other people, all seem more immediate than the essential work. Nines meet deadlines at the last minute and often rely on other people to remind them.


 "It's the classic scenario: I'll be going upstairs to fetch my diary, then the plants call me and I go to water them but the sink needs to be cleaned...an hour later it's 'What did I come up here for?'. I have a lot of goals but it's hard to focus. People keep having to remind me to do things for myself, like keep appointments."


Nines see all points of view and when seeking or giving information, like to have the whole context and all relevant information stated. Therefore they can seem long-winded or pedantic and find it hard to come to decisions. They seem to sit on the fence most of the time; 


"Do I have all the information here? I'm not sure what I think, particularly if I've got several people giving different opinions. In business meetings I sit and listen, and every argument has something valid in it."


Nines can easily get absorbed in something which to onlookers seems secondary, they can be distant and lose interest in other matters. At the same time, they want others to participate or at least acknowledge their project. Nines are not good at fighting their own battles, though they will fight for others fiercely as arbitrators or to ensure one side is not overlooked. In personal matters they find it hard to know what they think or feel.


Anger is expressed passively in stubbornness or inaction, or in outbursts so distant in time from its original source that even they are not sure what it's about. They dislike being told what to do, but will do nothing rather than disagree, until the 'flow' takes them elsewhere.


"I wake up one day and say 'No, this isn't me' and everyone says 'Hey, I thought you were on the team'. Well, it never really fit, but I was there and I might as well do it but now it's not it any more and it's time to move on"


Unaware Nines can be indecisive and apathetic, blaming the world for their situation and expressing it through complaint and passive-aggressive behaviour.Aware Nines can be empathetic and generous, peaceful to be with, open-minded, forgiving, and able to create harmony by intuitively sensing the appropriate balance of energy in a group and bringing out each person's real contribution. Intuitively they will know the right thing to do, and take action without hesitation.

The Scripts that Motivate Type Nines

 to live with an inner state of calm, peace and harmony

to feel the peace and fulfilment of letting things be

to lose myself in the simple physical pleasures in life

to feel the love of fully merging with another 

to avoid situations that make me emotionally react

to seek common ground in conflict, and find harmony where there is discord

to live and let live

to avoid asking myself the challenging questions

to listen long enough so that the solutions will find themselves

to keep life comfortable and familiar

to please significant other(s) and go along with things to keep the peace

to resist the threat of change being forced on me and my world

to remind myself that nothing matters enough to get worked up about

to avoid taking a position unless I am being pushed