Donna Fisher-Jackson is a romantic – always has been. But she did not know how deeply it governed her life until her mid-30s. She was introduced to the Enneagram Personality Type System and bingo – vivid bright lights went off as she discovered she was a true Type Four – The Romantic!

Armed with her tools she can help you find your way through relationships and romance, no matter what your Enneagram type is. Here is my interview with her.

 The Romantic is one of nine personality types in the Enneagram Personality Type System. The Romantic, Type Four, is known for their desire to be an individual and to be unique and creative. They are also known for their focus on relationships where a lot of their life-learning takes place. The Romantic lives with a sense of something missing in their life, which creates this longing for the lost love, the unavailable love, a future love and/or a picture of happiness that only love can bring.

 It can help you to make more conscious choices in your life, which can lead to having more conscious and healthy relationships as well. I believe whenever you have self-awareness, then you can make different choices in your relationships. The Enneagram can help you to become more aware of your relationship patterns, and then you can decide to change those patterns for a healthier way of being in relationship. 

My book is a self-help guidebook about the Romantic, which includes the latest insights from the experts in the Enneagram field along with relationship and healing tools that any person can use in their life right now. In the book, there are stories about other Romantics, and how they have found awareness and insight through the Enneagram to make lasting changes in their lives. Included are many relationship tools that could help anyone who is seeking to create a more conscious and romantic partnership.

In honor of Valentine's Day, Donna is giving a talk on the Romantic from 7 to 9.m. on Friday, Feb. 12, at AHmbiance, 884 Lincoln Way, Suite 30, Auburn. For more information, go to www.DonnaFisherJackson.com

Donna Fisher-Jackson will be at Barnes & Noble in Dartmouth for a signing Dec. 17.

I received an e-mail recently from an author from California named Donna M. Fisher-Jackson, who asked if I was interested in writing a column about her book, "The Healing Path of the Romantic."

She lives in the Sierra Nevada foothills in Northern California, she told me, but is going to do a book-signing Dec. 17 at Barnes & Noble in Dartmouth — and she was going to donate 10 percent of her profits that day to The Standard-Times' Neediest Families Fund.

Wow.

Turns out Donna was born and raised in Wareham. She lived in Westport for 10 years, and worked as the public relations director for the Zeiterion Theater in New Bedford.

She and her husband moved to California 11 years ago. There, Donna founded Iris Holistic Counseling Services. But she still has a place in her heart for SouthCoast needy families.

Donna will be at Barnes & Noble in Dartmouth at 7 p.m. Dec. 17 to sign copies of "The Healing Path of the Romantic" (2009).

I called Donna this week to chat.

Lauren: First off, why donate to the Neediest Families when you live in California?

Donna: I remembered that cause from when I lived back there. I remember reading those stories in The Standard-Times throughout the month of December. It's such a great cause. When I found out I was doing the Dartmouth book-signing, I thought immediately that I would donate 10 percent of book sales from those sales to the Neediest Families.

Lauren: That's awesome. Now, in your book, you say the Romantic is one of the Enneagram personality types. What does that mean?

Donna: The Romantic is one of the nine personality types of the Enneagram Personality Type System. It's a self-typing system, so by taking an online test or by reading one of the Enneagram books, you decide for yourself what type you are. The other Enneagram types are: Perfectionist, Giver, Performer, Observer, Loyal Skeptic, Epicure, Protector and Mediator.

Once you discover your type, you can really begin to see some of the behaviors and relationship patterns that you have been living with. With awareness, you can begin to make different choices in your life that create lasting changes.

Lauren: I went online and took an Enneagram test after I got your book. I scored 0 or negative in every category — and I scored a 10 as a Romantic.

Donna: Oh my God! I don't believe in coincidence, so there must be a reason you have this book right now.

Lauren: Yeah, I started reading the book, and I couldn't believe how much it sounded like me — it was seriously eerie. You were dead-on about my whole personality in the book. Do you have to be a "romantic" to glean help from the book?

Donna: No, there are also a lot of relationship and healing tools that could help anyone.   In one exercise, you answer a series of questions about your parents and childhood. Through your answers, you begin to get a clearer picture of your image of love, and why you are attracted to a certain kind of person.

Lauren: That's so interesting. What's the basic theory of help you offer in the book?

Donna: The basic theory is that through working with the Enneagram, you can learn more about yourself, and then, through awareness, begin to make changes in yourself, and the way you see the world.

Lauren: It's really fascinating. So how long did you live in Wareham/Westport?

Donna: I was born in Wareham, and my parents, Donald and Doris, and my sisters, Doreen and Denise, still live in the area. I worked in marketing and public relations for seven years at the Zeiterion Theatre. As the director of public relations for the theater, I worked a lot with the local media including The Standard-Times.

Lauren: What do you do in California now?

Donna: When I got to California, I began to explore all the subjects that I was interested in, including Western Astrology, Jungian psychology, Hypnotherapy, and the Enneagram. I went back to graduate school, and got my Masters in Counseling Psychology specializing in holistic studies, so now I combine all these interests in my counseling business at Iris Holistic Counseling Services.

Lauren: Do you think holistic healing is becoming more mainstream?

Donna: In California, there are many holistic and alternative healers. I do feel like most people would benefit from seeing alternative healers in addition to western medicine. Holistic healers work with the whole person — mind, body, and spirit — which does seem to be the direction that western medicine needs to take in the near future. I have also noticed more alternative healers in Massachusetts, so it does seem to be more prevalent throughout the country.

To learn more about the Enneagram, visit www.DonnaFisherJackson.com. To take a test to figure out your personality type, go to enneagraminstitute.com or 9types.com. Different systems have various names for the same Type.

Lauren Daley is a Type 4: Romantic, aka Artist, aka Individualist. Contact her at ldaley33@gmail.com