The Helper

“Put My Mask On First” is my Enneagram Two piece. Twos are called “The Helper”, and they are known for doing anything and everything that they can to meet the needs of those around them. Two's main motivation is to love others and be loved in return, and their greatest fear is being unwanted. They often shove their own needs and emotions down in order to be what others need them to be, and this is the idea that I wanted to capture in my piece.

I knew that I wanted the main elements that I used to be color, shape, and space. Each color used is intentional and it represents another type that Twos are connected to. Light purple for Two, white for their One wing, dark purple for their Three wing, blue for their connection to Fours, and finally red for their connection to Eights. I used circles to emphasize togetherness, community, and wholeness, and I used tissue paper to layer over the circles to create depth.

I made a background layer of tissue paper to get all of my colors in, and then I started with the circle images. Each image represents something that the Two needs: love, care, attention, friendship, safety, etc., and there are three tissue paper plus image layers. The first layer is obviously harder to see as the tissue paper is covering it, but this is meant to represent how Twos ignore their own needs and push them away. You can still see the images, and they still affect the piece visually. The same goes for Twos. No matter how much they ignore their needs they are still there, and they affect Two’s ability to love others to their fullest capability.

There are eight images on the final layer because, in stress, Twos take on negative characteristics of Eights meaning that they can act out, refuse to be vulnerable, and completely neglect their own well-being. I want Twos to see that it is unhealthy and counter-productive to ignore their own needs, and when they express their emotions and needs to others they are able to be loved in the ways that they long for. This is exactly what the uncovered images in the foreground are meant to represent. I left these images uncovered to resemble these needs being brought to the surface, and to show Twos that it is beautiful for those around them to be let in and see what they need.

The lyric from the Sleeping At Last Song “Two” that I chose to title my piece after is “put my mask on first” because this lyric alludes to the rule that if you’re in a plane that is crashing you’re supposed to put your mask on first to be able to help other people. As we have seen, Twos ignore this metaphoric rule by addressing everyone else’s needs before their own. My piece is meant to help Twos see that it is not only good but necessary to put their own mask on first.