Melanie Bell

Author, Writer, Editor


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“Take Chances, Make Mistakes”: Two Weeks in Barcelona

I was getting off the metro in Barcelona when I noticed all the passengers’ eyes drifting to one spot on the platform. A young woman had a thread trailing from her backpack, as long as multiple subway cars. Everyone was staring, but no one was pointing it out to her. And I was closest.

Armed with my beginner Spanish, I got her attention: “Ma’am! Ma’am with the glasses!” Once she looked at me, I did my best to communicate the problem. I pointed to the super-long thread and mimed. And out of my mouth came the words, “I have a…line.”

It would have been much better if I hadn’t confused the verb forms for “I” and “you,” wouldn’t it? Or if I’d known the word for “thread” (but let’s stick with the basics here). But she got the idea and thanked me!

I took two weeks in May to travel to Barcelona and attend Spanish classes in the hope of improving those newbie-level language skills I’ve just demonstrated. I had a fabulous time, but it sometimes felt like I’d bitten off more than I was prepared to chew!  

Learning Spanish was one of those goals that stuck in the back of my mind for years. In French Immersion school growing up, I did well with learning French. People had this idea that I was good with languages. Maybe I should take a Spanish course?

I’ve made various attempts to “start to learn Spanish” over the years, none of them terribly committed. I stayed with a Spanish-speaking host family in Montreal at age 16 and asked one of the daughters if she could teach me some of the language…given that she wasn’t a teacher, we got as far as parts of the face. I bought a Rosetta Stone CD in graduate school…and never used it. In 2022, I requested an online Spanish course for Christmas, and got through two of the introductory mini-courses in a whole year. There was just no accountability.

Then, in January, I started learning Spanish on Duolingo. Every day, a little green owl on my phone guilt-tripped me into doing a lesson, or two, or more if I was feeling on top of things. They were bite-sized, easy, and I was learning. In a hotel this spring, I met a Spanish-speaking woman who didn’t understand the English spoken around her, and I was actually able to communicate…well, a couple of things. I could translate “hot coffee,” though more complicated items tended to break down. It was a heady experience, though! 

The next step seemed to be an in-person course. I’d wanted to visit Barcelona for a while, so I booked one with Camino Barcelona. They had a lot of flexible options, including activities every evening that you could participate in if you wanted to. I asked to stay with a host family, and off I went!

The host was a woman who rented out rooms to students at multiple schools. During week 1, an Italian woman and a Japanese woman were staying there as well, with the Japanese visitor staying for both weeks. Our host offered half-board, with three-course meals at 8:30 every night. When I arrived, she explained some of the house rules (in Spanish, of course), and I stood there blinking, rather confused. That’s when I realized how challenging the next two weeks were going to be.     

I haven’t forgotten supernatural teacher Ms. Frizzle’s instructions on The Magic School Bus, a TV cartoon from my childhood, to “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!” My stay in Barcelona was a prime opportunity to do that! On day 1, Eugenia the Italian asked how long I was staying, and I said, “I’m 35 years old.” On the weekend, Mathilde “voluntold” me to take Yuka with me to museum night. What time? “New thirty,” I said. What a relief when Yuka asked me at the subway station, “Do you speak English?”

Classes were a bit easier. It was strange to have homework each day, but the teaching, which was also entirely in immersive Spanish, progressed at a level that proved quite understandable. I’ve taught English as a Second Language before, which gave me some empathy for language learners, but I gained a new level of it on the other side of the desk. I met some intriguing globe-trotting polyglots, and toured several neighborhoods (and, one memorable afternoon, fumbled my way through dance classes), picking up on the Spanish as the instructors spoke it. 

Barcelona had lovely weather and beaches, and astonishing architecture that I’ll have to come back to explore more fully. (Too bad, so sad, right?) Some of my adventures were memorable, like the day I went to Montserrat, a lovely monastery in the mountains. As I was preparing to leave, I heard singing. A statue of Mary had appeared before a crowd of worshippers in orange scarves holding paper candle lanterns, praying and chanting hymns to it! 

I learned a lot in those two weeks, but it’s clear that I have a long, LONG way to go. Potential and expectations are funny things – so much so that I wrote a whole novel about them. And languages are complex to learn. I’m grateful to have been exposed to French early in school because, even if you have some aptitude for languages, they take an immense investment of time and effort. Someday I’ll be making more sophisticated mistakes than “I have a line,” and I intend to keep taking chances and practicing messily until I reach that day!


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Modernizing the Enneagram

Co-written with Kacie Berghoef

The Enneagram is a practical tool created from combining ancient wisdom teachings and contemporary psychology. Part of its appeal is the way it has stood the test of time. From its roots in the philosophies of the Desert Fathers and the Kabbalah, as well as its integration of newer psychological insights, modern students of the Enneagram have an eminently applicable system for understanding themselves and others, communicating, resolving conflicts, and working on themselves. Human nature has remained consistent over time, so it’s no surprise that a system rooted in long-standing wisdom traditions has a lot to offer us today.

The Enneagram of personality, as it is currently taught, is also old enough to have acquired its own history and tradition. Most teachers and students still consult classic Enneagram resources from a few decades ago, and there’s good reason for that. There’s nothing like the early works of Riso and Hudson, Palmer, Naranjo, and other Enneagram pioneers to give a sense of the system’s depth and intricacies. There are situations, however, where a modern update is called for in teaching and learning the Enneagram. The economy and job market have changed since the first Enneagram books were written. In our globalized world, we use forms of communication on a daily basis that would amaze even yesterday’s science fiction writers. It’s useful to have ways of teaching the Enneagram that reflect these new realities.

In our book The Modern Enneagram, we gave a lot of thought to bridging the gap between the Enneagram’s timeless insights and the interconnected world of today. Here are some principles we came up with for modernizing Enneagram work for contemporary audiences, while maintaining the essence of its teachings.

Adapt to a changing attention span.
People today are busy, with the constant buzz of smartphone alerts adding on to schedules full of work and family commitments. The ease of rapid communication means that we are expected to pay attention to more input, more quickly, for shorter amounts of time. A 2015 research study shows that the human attention span has fallen to about eight seconds. When introducing the Enneagram in a modern context, it’s helpful to offer a concise introduction that gets the point across and piques your audience’s interest. From there, you can ease students into more in-depth learning, but first it’s helpful to communicate why the Enneagram is worth their time.   

Use contemporary examples and case studies.
A lot of our favorite Enneagram books reference celebrities and pop culture from decades ago. If you’re introducing the Enneagram to newcomers, they may not be familiar with these examples, or they might find them hilariously dated. It’s helpful to find type examples from modern pop culture, which audiences can immediately relate to and younger students will recognize. Workplace and social realities have also changed since many Enneagram references came out. If you’re working with a group, address these changes and make a point of incorporating recent case studies to support the ideas you’re conveying. In our book, we included references to social media, dating apps, and modern workplace dynamics to keep the content relevant to readers’ lives.        

Take advantage of new ways of learning.
There are more ways of teaching and learning the Enneagram now than ever before. Some of the most popular Enneagram courses are now offered online, and you don’t have to travel to a workshop, or live in an area where one is convenient, to learn about the nine types in depth. There are Enneagram blogs, apps, and podcasts. While new ways of learning the Enneagram are proliferating, there’s still a lot of room for expansion. Consider ways you could reach a broader audience through the wide array of platforms available, and seek out people who want to learn what you have to teach. Don’t be afraid to incorporate new ways of learning into your in-person Enneagram work, too.        

The Enneagram has been around for a while now, and it continues to grow in popularity each year. With an eye to modern realities, it will continue to be a relevant and useful way of learning about ourselves and the people we interact with every day.