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People with Type One personalities can be the role models for the rest of us when it comes to social responsibility and appreciating the value of moral and ethical living. They tend to have a deep sense of what is right and wrong, and an inherent self-discipline to adhere to the rules they believe in.

Ones appreciate order and are offended when others call them rigid or perfectionists. They have a vision of how things could be if only everything were done the right way. This turns out to be both a gift and a curse, since people, organizations, and Life itself always fall short of that perfect vision, leaving Ones feeling irritable and angry. They try to manage that anger, not wanting to lose control or be judged for their judgmental tendencies, but sometimes it breaks through in self-righteous fury and they suffer. No matter how critical a One may seem, they are never more strict than with themselves.

Ones are great reformers because they really do see how to improve almost anything that matters to them. The problem is that while they may be very bright, they often have trouble thinking objectively but rather tend to be emotionally biased without realizing it.

Early in their lives, little Ones needed a sense of guidance and protection that their families did not adequately provide. Not understanding how to identify and manager their instincts, their basic hungers, they devised rules to keep themselves controlled. Inside every One is a child that still longs to play and have a good time, to indulge themselves without having to worry about doing something wrong and being judged. True freedom comes when that child feels safe to allow its joyful enthusiasm for life to overflow.

FAMOUS ONES: Mary Poppins (and Julie Andrews), Ralph Nader, Hillary Clinton, Kenneth Starr, Miss Manners.

  ©2002 Enneagram Institute of Central Ohio