The Enneagram in Love and Work

When self-esteem is low, shame increases when you see the qualities in others that warrant social respect. You have a sense of not meeting the standards that others are capable of meeting, of an inner defectiveness that will eventually be seen. Feelings of low self-esteem, often based on actual losses in the past, perpetuate the illusion that other people possess and enjoy the things that are missing from your life.

Impatient with mediocrity and mundane life. Ordinary feelings are flat in comparison with heightened inner intensity. Avoids the ordinary.

Envy is the belief that others possess the missing element. “They are happy,” “They feel loved,” “They are satisfied.”