Ruth and guest Steve Cuss continue to explore Systems Theory. This week they look at leadership, anxiety, and the false self. What are some examples of false selves and false beliefs and how do they relate to anxiety? What is the calm presence? Ruth and Steve’s conversation covers all this and more, including an invitation to participate in the practice of the Welcoming Prayer.

Season 16: Episode 4 | Calm Presence: Leadership, Anxiety, and the False Self

A lively dialogue with Ruth Haley Barton about forging and maintaining a life-giving connection with God in the midst of leading. Learn more at www.transformingcenter.org.

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Welcome to season 23! This season we are using the framework of the enneagram, and in particular the ways the 3 instinctual subtypes impact each enneagram number, to help people do the necessary inner work of knowing themselves and managing anxiety, triggers, and stuck patterns so that they can lead others well. This season, we are moving beyond the basics of describing each number type to look at our instincts and what motivates our behaviors. Special guest, Erin Baute, a leadership behavior strategist with over 20 years of experience in behavior change and professional development, joins us all season long to help us do this important work.



Today, Ruth kicks off the season with a solo episode. She gives an introduction to the season ahead, an overview of how she uses the enneagram as a tool, in conjunction with the Holy Spirit, for self-examination and confession, and some guidance for interacting with the enneagram well. We conclude this episode with the Welcoming Prayer, a prayer Ruth often uses as a way to pray into the new things we discover about ourselves as we work with the enneagram.

S23 Ep1: It Was the Worst of Times: How the Enneagram Can Help Us Navigate a Troubled World

We are revisiting last year’s Easter Monday episode because we found the reflections to still be so timely with the themes we discussed during this season of the podcast. We hope it encourages and blesses you on this Easter Monday.



He is Risen, indeed! Happy Easter Monday, friends. Today, Ruth helps us celebrate the Risen Christ with five stories of post-resurrection encounters with Jesus. In each story she helps us consider our own invitations to transforming encounters with Jesus that God might have for us. Which story resonates most profoundly with you and what healing or transformation is God wanting to bring as you sit with God and these stories? We invite you to take some time today to listen to these stories reflectively, imagining yourself in them and to take a moment to be with Jesus right there in the biblical story as you find him there and as you find yourself there.

Easter Monday | Transforming Post-Resurrection Encounters with Jesus (A Replay)

In this special episode, Ruth wraps up our season on suffering and the formation of hope and ushers us into the last few days of Holy Week. Holy Week allows us to practice true unity with Jesus, the “at-one-ment” she and Curt talked about this season. What does Jesus’ suffering mean for us- for our lives and our own suffering? How does it help us to make sense of our own stories? We’ve spent all season discussing how suffering can lead to true and durable hope, and how we can walk with Jesus in His suffering as a way of deep transformation for ourselves. Finally, Ruth guides us through a lectio divina practice with Romans 5:1-5, the scripture we have been sitting with all season. We encourage you to listen to this episode in a quiet setting, free from distraction, so that you can listen deeply to what the Holy Spirit might be saying to you through these verses.

S22 Ep7: Walking With Jesus in His Suffering During Holy Week

This week concludes our conversations with Curt Thompson, MD. Ruth and Curt examine what makes for a safe community. Why is it important to experience places of tension, hurt, and repair in the community? They also discuss the meaning of a hope that does not disappoint or put to shame. And as we turn our attention to Holy Week, they wonder: What is a psychologically healthy way to understand the concept of taking up the cross? Over on Patreon, Curt leads us in a practice to help us vulnerably give ourselves away to others in a safe and psychologically healthy way.

S22 Ep 6: A Hope That Does Not Disappoint

How does endurance or perseverance fit into this process of having a durable hope formed in us? How do we know we are making progress in this endeavor? What do we do with the stories we tell ourselves about the parts of us that are unlovable or unwantable, and how does bringing those parts before a loving and safe community change us? Ruth and Curt tackle these questions and more in this week’s episode. Over on Patreon, Curt is giving us concrete ideas on how to cultivate a confessional community, a structure for being together, and tips for how to be safe members of the community.

Season 16: Episode 4 | Calm Presence: Leadership, Anxiety, and the False Self

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