In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore return to their previous series on the Enneagram subtypes and talk about the subtypes for Type Five, “Striving to Feel Detached.” Type Fives are typically misread as insensitive and the hosts discuss why that is and how self-protection drives their sensitivity. “There’s this myth that they’re insensitive. They don’t feel, but the truth is that they feel overwhelmed more easily...
Aug 10, 2023•38 min•Ep. 49
After talking about the obstacles of critical thinking in previous episodes, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore discuss some of the solutions of how to begin to think critically in this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast. They start with falsification, which attempts to find errors in our explanations about the world, and how it applies to the Enneagram and the work that they’re trying to do. “So the thing that falsification does is that it allows us to ...
Aug 03, 2023•17 min•Ep. 48
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their mini-series on critical thinking and discuss availability bias. They explain how availability bias shapes the way we think and why it’s important to know about it. They also discuss fundamental attribution error and what is helpful about drawing conclusions. “Everything that we do that involves thinking in any way is enhanced by understanding how the mind works....
Jul 27, 2023•11 min•Ep. 47
Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their mini-series on some of the topics that Mario and MJ will cover at the IEA Global Conference on critical thinking. In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, they talk about confirmation biases – how we look for ways to justify our existing beliefs – and why this one matters within the Enneagram. They also discuss anchoring bias which is the tendency to give disproportionate weight to our first hypothesis...
Jul 20, 2023•14 min•Ep. 46
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore discuss an aspect of critical thinking – cognitive dissonance – and the mental stress we feel when we have two conflicting ideas. The three hosts talk about how this can shape not only the way we think about ourselves and the world, but also how we think about our Enneagram types and Enneagram theory. “ I’m a big fan of this concept. I hate to feel it, but I love to see it, be...
Jul 13, 2023•19 min•Ep. 45
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore briefly preview the upcoming IEA Global Conference on July 20-23 in San Francisco. In their talk, “Clear Thinking About the Enneagram” at the conference, Mario and María José will discuss the importance of critical thinking when teaching the Enneagram. “ I see people fall into this all the time about themselves, about other people. They look for confirmation of their assessmen...
Jul 06, 2023•28 min•Ep. 44
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about the subtypes for the Enneagram Type Four, “Striving to Feel Unique.” They share examples of this misunderstood type and the pattern of expression for each subtype. “ In a way, I think their emotional intensity is a gift and a burden at times.” -María José [01:22] “For the preserving Four, we can think of their environment as a work of art.” -Mario [13:46] “I get thi...
Jun 29, 2023•57 min•Ep. 43
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore discuss the subtypes of Enneagram Type Three, “Striving to Feel Outstanding.” They talk about why the three subtypes are different and why the Navigating Three is the stereotype for the Type Three. “ Productivity is something that they really aim for. It’s not so much the applause or the recognition, but being productive, using their time, keeping themselves busy, accomplishin...
Jun 22, 2023•43 min•Ep. 42
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their conversation about subtypes and discuss the subtypes of Type Two, “Striving to Feel Connected.” “ I think that preservers in general are very deliberate in the way they choose to use their energy, their personal resources, and it’s limited.” -María José [07:30] “Now one of the differences here between the Three and the Two, when it comes to Navigating Twos, is t...
Jun 15, 2023•44 min•Ep. 41
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore dive into the three Enneagram subtypes for Type One, “Striving to Feel Perfect.” But first, they discuss their criteria for dissecting the subtypes, reminding us that data points are part of the story and not the whole story. “ Preserving Ones are more rigid. There’s something more serious, I think, about Preserving Ones. They’re less difficult to mistype.” -María José [12:28]...
Jun 08, 2023•36 min•Ep. 40
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore begin their conversation around the subtypes, which is the intersection of the three instinctual biases and the nine strategies. Before they dissect the subtype for each Enneagram Types, they first discuss how they define these independent variables and how their approach differs from others. “The instinctual biases shape what’s important to us and what we spend our time and e...
Jun 01, 2023•49 min•Ep. 39
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore go deeper into the foundation of the Awareness to Action process. They discuss the philosopher Carl Popper, who is most known for the concept of falsification in science, which set the tone for how science is done. The hosts discuss how this idea applies to working with types and in working with the Enneagram theory. “ When you have this idea that you’re getting closer to the ...
May 25, 2023•51 min•Ep. 38
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore wrap up their discussion about the process of change and discuss Types 7, 8 and 9. “I think regardless of where you think the universe is inherently meaningful or meaningless, I think that the point stands but all you have is what’s in front of you.” -Creek [23:10] “For Eights, life is battle. There’s some kind of contest going on.” -Mario [38:22] “ For me, that’s one of the m...
May 18, 2023•59 min•Ep. 37
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their conversation about the process of change by talking about types Four, Five and Six. They discuss how each is framed in Mario’s book, “Awareness to Action: The Enneagram, Emotional Intelligence, and Change” and the emotional intelligence that is required for each of those to engage in the ATA process. “I like to think of what happens for each of the types, for al...
May 11, 2023•46 min•Ep. 36
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about the process of change with each type, starting with Types One, Two and Three. They provide specific examples on how to apply the ATA process with these specific types. Mario shares how he and co-writer Robert Tallon originally talked about this in their book, “Awareness to Action: The Enneagram, Emotional Intelligence, and Change,” and how things have evolved since ...
May 04, 2023•41 min•Ep. 35
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about the last step of the ATA process: action. The Enneagram helps us understand the stories in our head that prevent us from doing the things we need to do. The three hosts discuss how the ATA process can help us start applying what we need to do by creating a plan of action, focusing on practicality rather than theory and analysis. “I think the common thing that I’ve s...
Apr 27, 2023•24 min•Ep. 34
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about authenticity, the middle step between awareness and action in the ATA process. They discuss how this constructive act can help people change in a truly sustainable way and create a narrative that is more true to reality and how the world works while still respecting our nature and needs. “The problem is people tend to think that changing a behavior is the same as ch...
Apr 20, 2023•43 min•Ep. 33
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their discussion about the six qualities of the mind, describing the fluid mind, the discerning mind and the conducting mind. They also discuss how these qualities of the mind inform emotional intelligence and how we interact with the world. “The fluid mind is more… this is where you hold the tensions of opposites and you allow two things to be true and inform you.” -...
Apr 13, 2023•34 min•Ep. 32
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore start their discussion about awareness and the six qualities of the mind. They start by defining what awareness is and the process from awareness authenticity into action. They also break down the six qualities of the mind, starting with the beginner’s mind, the focused mind and the noticing mind. “The value of self-awareness is to give us the ability to course correct.” -Mari...
Apr 07, 2023•37 min•Ep. 31
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore continue their conversation about the inner triangle and its lead to change. In the previous episode, they discussed how each point represents the way we write their stories, so they talk about Awareness to Action’s tools that allow us to continue to grow and evolve despite having a story that is not useful. They share their approach to rewriting your story in a way that keeps...
Mar 30, 2023•41 min•Ep. 30
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about the inner triangle of the Enneagram and how it leads to change. The psyche is constantly functioning on autopilot but tries to create a story when we encounter something that causes friction or anxiety. The three hosts explain how this can be a useful thing and how each type writes their stories. “The work is all about recognizing our stories.” -Mario [08:39] “ It i...
Mar 23, 2023•35 min•Ep. 29
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about ego, what it means and some of the misnomers. They discuss how it differs from personality and how people can work with the ego rather than against it. “We can’t reject our Enneagram type, and we shouldn’t try. We should not demonize our bias to rely on one of the strategies more than the other Eight.” -Mario [13:08] “When you see it as a whole package, which has li...
Mar 16, 2023•30 min•Ep. 28
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore discuss how self-awareness isn’t enough with the Enneagram. The Enneagram can be a tool to create change, but it has to be used for action. The three hosts discuss why we should use this tool to give us the capacity to observe not only our patterns but others’ patterns so that we can develop skills that are more intentional and skillful in other areas. “The Enneagram is a tool...
Mar 09, 2023•33 min•Ep. 27
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about lines, as how Awareness to Action refers to them, the connecting points. There are many theories out there and the three hosts explore how ATA approaches them. “Just like we don’t choose the preferred strategies every time we’re doing something, it just happens. The same way when we switch or we use another strategy in one of the connecting points, it’s not consciou...
Mar 02, 2023•39 min•Ep. 26
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about intellectual credibility and the Enneagram. Inspired by an article that grouped astrology with this model of personality, the three hosts discuss how they can position the Enneagram in a way that makes it more credible, but also address why this criticism is justified. “There’s so many aspects of the Enneagram that look like astrology that I think it’s fair that the...
Feb 23, 2023•40 min•Ep. 25
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore speak with Sali Honess-Ondrey, a clinical social worker and enneagram trainer, to discuss Enneagram Type Five. The name of this strategy, “Striving to Feel Detached,” typically gets pushback for its perceived negative connotation, but detachment is a required element of existence. Sali explains the role being a Type Five plays into her life and shares why a yucky truth is bett...
Feb 16, 2023•58 min•Ep. 24
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore speak with Becky Gorman, a leadership coach and partner at Awareness to Action, to talk about Enneagram Type Seven. They discuss why this type, “Striving to Feel Excited,” means to feel a bit of a buzz in some way, but not necessarily doing something extreme. Becky draws from her personal experience to share how she sees herself as a Navigating Seven and shares how she uses th...
Feb 09, 2023•58 min•Ep. 23
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore speak with Seth Abram, co-host of Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast, about Enneagram Type Nine, “Striving to Feel Peaceful.” They discuss this type’s desire to feel inner harmony and how they can be self-deprecating and resistant to change. Seth shares how being a Type Nine shapes how he approaches things as well as debunks misconceptions about this type. “He is the reason that I...
Feb 02, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 22
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore answer questions they’ve received about the history of the Enneagram. They discuss what they’ve gathered about the history of the Enneagram and why it’s important to know it, but they also remind listeners to think critically about the Enneagram, including what is discussed in this episode. “There are lots of different approaches to the Enneagram that are valid as long as they...
Jan 26, 2023•35 min•Ep. 21
In this episode of the Awareness to Action Enneagram podcast, Mario Sikora, María José Munita and Seth "Creek" Creekmore talk about the difficulties and problems with assessing someone’s Enneagram type. Humans have a fundamental desire to put a label on things, but the three hosts discuss things to keep in mind when typing other people. “I think it’s not a wrong thing to do when you’re first learning the Enneagram. Like it’s just a practice. It’s a practice of observing patterns, but you can’t s...
Jan 19, 2023•27 min•Ep. 20
