7 Life Path | What’s Your Attachment Style?
January 5, 2024
9 Life Path | What’s Your Attachment Style?
January 18, 20248 Life Path | What’s Your Attachment Style?
There’s a lot of conversation about Attachment Styles or Attachment Theory as we collectively evaluate our personal relationships.
Attachment styles are psychological frameworks that describe how individuals relate to others in close relationships, particularly in the context of emotional bonds.
The premise here is that we’re “hard-wired” or programmed in our earliest years as to how to engage in relationships.
Ultimately, each of us desires to love and be loved, to have our needs met, to trust our care providers, and to feel a stable and consistent sense of love and caring.
The early bonds between children and their caregivers sets the groundwork (like it or not!) for the way in which each and every one of us seek out romantic partnerships and it also shows up with friendships, family of origin dynamics, and work colleagues.
These styles are characterized by patterns of emotional and behavioral responses to attachment-related situations.
Psychologist Mary Ainsworth (and others) have conducted extensive research on attachment theory, leading to the identification of four main attachment styles.
Most of us fall more distinctly into one category and yet many can have more of a “hybrid” attachment style. Yet the four “official” attachment styles are a great place to start.
The 4 Attachment Styles
Anxious-Preoccupied Attachment
Dismissive-Avoidant Attachment
Fearful-Avoidant (Disorganized/Chaotic) Attachment
Secure Attachment
Attachment styles can develop early in life based on interactions with caregivers and later influence how individuals engage in adult relationships.
However, they are not fixed and can be modified or change over time through therapy, self-awareness, and new relationship experiences.
Understanding your attachment style and that of your partner can be valuable in improving communication and relationship dynamics.
Let’s break down how the 8 Life Path might engage or present with each Attachment Style.
**I’m not a licensed therapist and this article is meant to offer a numerological perspective that might shed light on the core issue each Life Path might have that within each described Attachment Style. It is not meant to diagnose or be prescriptive.
8 Life Path
Code Word: DOMINANCE
8 Life Path | Anxious-Preoccupied Attachment: People with anxious-preoccupied attachment styles often have a high need for emotional closeness and fear abandonment. They are inclined to worry about their relationships and may be excessively preoccupied with their partners. This attachment style can lead to clinginess, a fear of rejection, and a tendency to seek constant reassurance and validation.
This attachment style may present as someone who has a tendency to choose partners who want to control and dominate them. Or alternately, the 8 Life Path is driven to choose partners who * they* want to dominate and control. This is a classic narcissist coupling where you get the love-bomb at the beginning and quickly fall into the snare of the partner chipping away at your sense of self, personal power, and personal autonomy. Or, again, the 8 can be the person (narcissist) who is at the helm of this Anxious-Preoccupied attachment style. Control is the key word here and with this attachment style, the control extends to keeping constant tabs on the partner (calls, texts, etc) and can extend to controlling who they see, what they do, and how much personal freedom they do (or don’t) have in their lives.
8 Life Path | Dismissive-Avoidant Attachment: Individuals with dismissive-avoidant attachment styles often value their independence and self-sufficiency. They may downplay the importance of close relationships and may be uncomfortable with emotional intimacy. These individuals tend to be emotionally distant, self-reliant, and may have difficulty expressing their own feelings or empathizing with the emotions of others.
For the 8 Life Path, this attachment style can be lodged in an over-focus on work, money, and status. Any relationship the 8 Life Path pursues is meant to add to their status or help them move up in the world. The powerful 8 will choose people who are helpmates and “look good on their arm.” They’re the power-player in the relationship and with this attachment style, can see people as “steps on the ladder.” In this scenario, the 8 is “the boss” rather than a team player or equal partner. Alternately, the disempowered 8 Life Path can be someone who can’t handle relationships because their lives are quite unstable or volatile. In the extreme, this version of the 8 Life Path struggles with financial difficulties, perhaps has addiction issues, and can struggle with anger-management.
8 Life Path | Fearful-Avoidant (Disorganized/Chaotic) Attachment: This attachment style is characterized by a combination of anxious and avoidant traits. Individuals with a fearful-avoidant style want close relationships but also have a fear of being hurt or rejected. They may struggle with inconsistent behavior, vacillating between the desire for closeness and the need for distance. This attachment style can be rooted in past traumas or unresolved issues.
If the key themes for the 8 Life Path are money, control, power, and authority, this particular attachment style can present itself as the 8 who’s attracted to the “bad boys” and “bad girls” – or is the bad boy or girl in the relationship. The extremes play out as risky or downright dangerous behaviors – from drug use to sexual power-plays. There is a constant pushing the envelope and needing the Adrenalin rush that comes from the intensity of this type of relationship engagement. Therefore, the 8 Life Path who displays with this attachment style can be extremely hot-and-cold, physically and emotionally abusive (or volatile) or can attract partners who have those characteristics where they themselves become the “victim.”
8 Life Path | Secure Attachment: Individuals with secure attachment styles tend to have a positive view of themselves and others. They are comfortable with intimacy, trust their partners, and believe that they can depend on others as well as be depended upon. They are able to express their emotions and needs openly and deal with conflict in a healthy manner. These individuals are generally more self-assured and less anxious or avoidant in their relationships.
This attachment looks like the healthiest and most dynamic version of the 8 Life Path! With a Secure attachment style, the 8 Life Path is fully empowered on every level – financially, physically, emotionally, and spiritually! The balanced and secure 8 Life Path is a powerhouse whose worthy of admiration and respect. S/he’s an influential person who is devoted to being a wise and supportive protector and provider within their relationships. They’ve learned how to wield their power in the most positive ways and don’t have a prove or show their dominance – their life tells the story, they don’t have to put others down in order to raise themselves up.
