According to Jung's personality theory, psyches are constantly flowing between two extremes, and your primary task is to successfully balance the two polarities. To achieve individuation, each personality has to acknowledge and work through the limitations of its idealized self and shadow, its strengths and weaknesses, and its motivations and fixations (what keeps it stuck).

Shadow and Idealized Self

Every personality forms an inner world that reflects how it feels about itself and an outer world that projects what it wants others to know about it. Jung would also refer to these worlds as the shadow, or hidden traits that your psyche squelches and does not want the outer world to see, and the idealized self, what your psyche creates and wants the outer world to see.

Sevens' shadow hides a smoldering anger that is unleashed if anyone tries to manipulate or even control them or asks them to do their bidding. Their penchant for constant and instant gratification leads them to hop from one idea, job, or romance to another without sinking their teeth into anything, producing anything, or committing to anyone. They are great at envisioning but weak at follow-through. They are impulsive and escapist, which often creates havoc in their lives. If life throws them a curve, they completely lose their optimism and become resentful, spiteful, bitter, rude, and often aggressive. They have an addictive personality and a gluttonous hunger that cannot be satisfied.

A Seven's idealized self is extremely intelligent and extremely likable and charming. They have charisma in spades and are easily capable of spellbinding people. Sevens are highly imaginative and visionary thinkers. They like viewing life in a very positive way and often possess a certain joie de vivre that helps them go through life partying. They use their discriminating taste for all things good to delight and entertain their family, friends, and coworkers. Their idealized self is always upbeat, positive, and blazingly optimistic — they'll be the person championing your dreams.

Turn-Ons and Turnoffs

According to Jung, libido is not connected to your sex drive alone, but instead refers to your overall psychic energy or what gives your personality juice. The opposite of what turns you on would be what turns you off. To individuate, Sevens need to seek a balance between these two polarities.

Sevens are turned off when anyone tries to bring them down to earth or asks them to face reality squarely. They don't like feeling or discussing negative emotions or painful memories and consider anyone who does a wallowing, pessimistic stick-in-the-mud. Their sharp minds grind to a stop whenever anyone or anything bores them, which leaves them feeling pressured to find something more interesting lest they feel depressed, sad, or lazy. They are afraid of slowing down or being alone with their thoughts. If any sad, angry, or aggressive feelings seep into consciousness, Sevens are afraid it will lead to an avalanche of feelings and long-buried pain that they won't be able to control.

Sevens love telling stories, particularly when they have a happy ending. They also love talking about future plans, creating a long to-do list, and setting new goals. They love discussing ideas, philosophies, and psychology, but only on an intellectual level. They don't go near true feelings, particularly if they are painful. Offer them a good time, and they are on board. Sevens are social butterflies who love having a full dance card — anything to keep them on the go and fully distracted from pesky negativity.

Fear and Security

These two basic and very essential characteristics determine how Sevens approach, live in, and eventually conquer their worlds. Fears stop you short and often cause you to regress, and you rarely progress unless you feel a certain sense of security about yourself or your circumstances.

Sevens are afraid to face anything that reminds them that life is difficult and that painful things happen. They are terrified that slowing down will let the darkness in. They feel insulted when anyone bosses them around and hemmed in when anyone tries to tie them down. They are so afraid that something better might come along they are afraid to commit themselves.

Making a long list of fantastical dreams or ambitious goals helps Sevens move their energy forward. If Sevens can form a juicy image of their personal utopia and hold it in their minds, they feel rooted and on course. They feel most secure when they have their options open and don't feel imprisoned or restricted. Since they don't like unpleasantness, Sevens covet happy times and living life full tilt. If they are having fun, they feel that all is right with the world.

Motivations and Fixations

This relates to how Sevens use or ignore their psychic energy. Knowing their primary motivations and what Sevens cling to within their own personality that either helps them progress toward individuation or keeps them stuck in fixations helps you understand how their personality functions.

Sevens are motivated to keep painful feelings or memories at bay. They are motivated to keep the flow of fresh ideas coming and to keep their eyes on the future — their future. They are motivated to develop the next scheme, diversion, or job, or romance. Their burning desire to live life to its fullest motivates them to catapult toward experiences and adventures like moths to flame. Nothing excites a Seven more than the possibility of discovering something or someone new that they can believe — if only for a short while — will totally change their lives and bring them the riches they deserve.

Sevens get stuck when they deny themselves the experience of owning all of their feelings, which prevents them from growing or developing any real character. The need for constant activity prevents them from ever experiencing absolute stillness or meditating about their life constructively. Instead, they keep themselves one-dimensional and on the run. They create an idealized self — based on fantasy — that amuses them but keeps them from developing a real self based on grit, substance, and genuine depth. Their flitting tendency also prevents them from sticking with a craft long enough to achieve mastery, which weakens their opportunities to use the full force of their intelligence and capabilities.

Coping and Failing

This coping-failing dichotomy has to do with the behaviors Sevens adopt to cope with their lives, or maintain the status quo, and how those same behaviors can lead to a failure to grow into their full potential.

Sevens escape their fear by distracting themselves and making life a party. As long as they are surrounded by happy people doing fascinating things and have plenty of opportunities open, Sevens believe their lives are going fine. They focus all their energy on things in the external world to avoid feeling anything painful in their internal world. They use their exceptional mental skills and gift for brainstorming to generate new ideas in hopes of covering the fact that they aren't very good at completing anything. They keep themselves busy and make sure they always have options to forestall the dreaded boredom they inevitably feel if they allow the pace to slow down.

Sevens fail by choosing a superficial life over a fully integrated one. They cut off one part of their personality and thus fail to know the riches that can be hidden in their shadow and in their childhood pain. Denying their pain keeps them from learning from it and making other choices. They fail by not giving themselves the gift of solitude where real dreams can materialize. And they prevent themselves from discovering what they could really accomplish if they stopped chasing their tails. They also don't allow themselves to learn that they can handle difficult emotions, which means they don't develop the self-confidence that helps them go forward.

Falling Apart and Transcending

Each enneatype has a unique way of falling apart. The types each have specific needs they need fulfilled, or mental concepts they can embrace, before they can successfully transcend their ego limitations and become fully integrated and whole.

Sevens fall apart when reality crashes down — when they get rejected, someone betrays them, or they don't get that big job they wanted and deserved. Setbacks turn into traumas, and traumas lead to a major slippage in their subconscious where all those nasty feelings have been stashed, which causes a meltdown in their psyche. Their fragile hold on patience is gone, leading to open hostility, temper tantrums, and excessive drinking, eating, shopping, or other addictive behaviors. They lose their charm entirely and become belligerent, aggressive, bullying, and insulting. A Seven off the deep end is in danger of becoming hysterical, panicked, and claustrophobic. They feel like all their options have dissipated and a deep despair leading to suicide feels inevitable.

Sevens transcend their personality by realizing that being conscious in the moment is the only way to really live the life you were meant to have. They also transcend by remembering their entire past, processing the emotions they shoved under the rug, and then living from that point on fully conscious and fully present. When they integrate all the parts of their personalities into a cohesive whole, they learn to own and share all of their emotions — opening them up to opportunities for genuine intimacy. They transcend their ego limitations when they surrender the need to feel superior and embrace the totality of their personality — when their ego inflation transforms into true self-esteem.