Three weeks ago I had the luxury and pleasure to attend the 2013 IEA European Conference in Paris. As soon as I got off the plane, I had to run in order to participate in the European Affiliates meeting that took place the day before the conference started. There were representatives from most of the European affiliates, which account for almost half of the affiliates we have around the world, and many members from the IEA board. It was a rich and productive meeting where we shared ideas, issues, and concerns and discussed our vision for the IEA Affiliates.
The conference itself started on Friday, April 12th, and was excellent in every way: very well organized, with superb presenters from many countries but focusing mainly on Europe, a beautiful location (Paris!), and there was an incredibly friendly environment that I’m sure we all enjoyed. My deepest gratitude goes to the IEA France board, for their efforts in making this conference so successful.
Reflecting on this conference, and on some of the challenges that the affiliate boards and the global board share, got me thinking about what it is that makes us work on this. What is it that is so powerful that it makes us want to overcome the financial, political, or personal barriers in order to keep trying to enhance and share our knowledge of the Enneagram?
The only answer I have is “Passion.”
It is this passion what allows us think about the bigger picture, about benefiting more people, about working hard to make things like this conference happen. Without the passion of the IEA members, none of this would happen and the IEA would not exist today. I see it every day when I work with Enneagram professionals, the board members, the affiliates and the chapters.
It is this same passion that sometimes gets us into trouble; we are so passionate, that sometimes get carried away with our views and preferences. But the more we work in order to create a friendly, harmonious and constructive atmosphere in our community, the better we will be able to channel this energy in a positive way.
There are two initiatives that might be able to channel this passion. I want to share them with you, and see if you want to be part of them.
Nine Points Magazine
The first is our new Nine Points Magazine (www.ninepointsmagazine.org). After a tremendous amount of work from CJ Fitzsimons and Peter McNab, IEA Vice President and Nine Points Editor, we are launching a web-based platform for our Nine Points Magazine. We want this to be a place for the community to share ideas and information, making it a live forum for our members, affiliates and chapters to share news, articles, profiles, etc.
This is only a start, and we need your involvement; we would love to work with you in order to strengthen this potentially great resource for Enneagram knowledge and make it grow. Get in touch with us to share your ideas and how you would like to participate. Send us an email at ninepoints@internationalenneagram.org.
World Enneagram Day
The second one is World Enneagram Day. This initiative has been running for a few years now, and consists of celebrating the Enneagram through organizing and offering free events for local communities on the last Saturday of May (or around that date). It is the affiliates and chapters who have usually been more active in this, but we are all invited to organize an event where people can attend and get to know more about the Enneagram. If you do something, you can use Nine Points to promote it, and afterwards, be sure to share photos and testimonials with us. We will have a dedicated section on Nine Points for coverage of these events.
Finally, I want to honor this passion and embrace it, and thank all the people who work hard in the Enneagram community, not only at a national or global level, but especially in your own areas and communities.
Let’s share what we are doing and inspire each other!
With warm regards,
MarÃa José Munita
President, IEA Board of Directors
