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Point Eight - The Protector
Eights are a body-based
type who tend to take charge of situations and step into the
leadership role. They are energetic and intense, and they can
be intimidating at times to other people. Impatient with rules
and regulations, they like to do things their way. Fairness or
justice is a high priority. If they feel wronged, they will fight
back, since in their experience weakness or vulnerability will
precipitate an attack from the outside world. The strength (and
aggression) that is generated in this mission can be awesome,
but also misapplied. The challenge for Eights is to combine assertion
and control with interdependency and cooperation, as well as
learning how to curb their often excessive appetites.
Strengths: Enthusiastic, generous, powerful.
Problems: Excessive, angry, dominating.
Speaking Style: Eights usually speak assertively and exert
strong leadership. They tend to be bossy and when things go wrong,
they often get angry.
Lower emotional habit: Anger and excessiveness, with a
revengeful attitude toward people.
Higher emotion: Innocence, which means to face life with
an open heart and without cynicism.
Psychological defenses: Eights use the defense mechanism
of denial to avoid vulnerability and maintain a self image of
being "strong." (Denial is a kind of forceful re-directing
of attention and feeling based on willfulness and control).
Somatic patterns: Eights tend to keep a high level of
bioenergetic charge in their bodies. They are attracted to intensity,
and get bored or impatient very quickly. They are quick to anger,
and may have trouble with impulse control. Physical armoring,
(chronic patterns of muscular tension), help them ward off softer
feelings or needs which are often present deep inside them. A
fierceness in the eyes and face is common.
Famous people: Sean Connery, John Wayne, Charles Bronson,
Sean Penn, Tupac Shakur, Frank Sinatra, Telly Savalas, ·
Jimmy Hoffa, Lyndon Johnson, George Patton, Indira Gandhi, Golda
Meir, Ann Richards, Fidel Castro, F. Lee Bailey, Donald Trump,
Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse-tung, Robert Maxwell, Gloria Allred, John
Gotti · Pablo Picasso, Emile Zola, Fritz Perls, Milton
Erickson, George Gurdjieff, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Tips for relating to
Eights
To create rapport: Make direct contact; be assertive
and don't back down in the face of their strength.
Try to avoid: Controlling them without their agreement,
making them sit still for long, or being disrespectful.
Join them in: Getting things moving in work or play.
To handle conflict: Stand up to them and confront them
directly (in your own style). Accept their angry energy while
challenging them to not go off the deep end. Be tough on destructive
or threatening behavior, empathetic to underlying hurt feelings.
To support their growth: Support them in using their energy
in constructive ways. Confront them on unconcious aggression
or their use of anger as a comfortable habit. Help them get in
touch with their vulnerability. Assume that they need love and
care even when they don't show it.
Copyright ©2004 Peter O'Hanrahan