In this episode of Inside Story, Kristen sits down with Joe, a Type Nine whose journey through recovery, Enneagram work, marriage, parenting, and leadership offers a thoughtful look at what growth can look like for Nines.

Together they explore the relationship between the Enneagram and 12-step recovery, the challenge of recognizing and expressing anger, passive-aggression, conflict, self-forgetting, and the fear of disrupting peace. Joe reflects on how routines, courage, accountability, and trusted communities have helped him find his voice and take meaningful action.

The conversation also touches on humility, expertise, relationships, spirituality, and why growth often requires doing the thing we least want to do. For Nines—and anyone who struggles to trust themselves, speak up, or act before they feel ready—this is a rich conversation about what it means to remember that you matter.

Dan Siegel's Patterns of Developmental Pathways (PDP) framework is one of the first serious attempts to bridge Enneagram ideas with neuroscience, developmental psychology, and clinical practice.

In this episode, I break down the core concepts behind PDP: temperament vs. adaptive strategies, neuroplasticity, the role of "wholeness" in personality development, and the three pillars of the framework -- Vectors, Attendency, and Emotional Regulation Strategies.

We'll also explore how PDP maps onto traditional Enneagram types, where it agrees with existing Enneagram theory, where it diverges, and why Dan Siegel prefers talking about patterns rather than fixed personality types.

If you've heard about PDP but haven't wanted to tackle a 400-page book, this episode is your quick-start guide.

📅 Tuesday, June 9

🕢 7:30 PM Eastern / 5:30 PM Mountain / 4:30 PM Pacific

📖 Discussion Topic: Atlas of the Heart, Chapter 1 — Places We Go When Things Are Uncertain or Too Much

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In this Reading Room episode, Jeff continues our summer study of Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart, exploring the emotions and experiences that emerge when life feels uncertain, overwhelming, or simply too much.

Drawing connections between Brown’s research and the Enneagram, this discussion covers stress, overwhelm, anxiety, worry, avoidance, fear, dread, and vulnerability—and asks what these experiences might be trying to teach us.

Topics include:

• The relationship between stress, coping, and Enneagram movement
• Why overwhelm may require something different than more effort
• The distinction between anxiety, worry, and fear
• How personality shapes emotional experience
• Vulnerability as courage rather than weakness
• The ongoing conversation between head, heart, and body

Jeff and Katie continue their exploration of the numbers that sit beside each type, uncovering how neighboring types share underlying emotional patterns, coping strategies, and ways of moving through the world.

They discuss why wings may be more useful for self-awareness than personal growth, the role of instincts and subtypes in Enneagram study, and the surprising similarities between Sixes and Sevens as they manage anxiety.

The conversation then turns to the dynamic relationship between Sevens and Eights: adventure, challenge, disruption, leadership, independence, and the pursuit of a life fully lived. Why do these types seem drawn toward bigger experiences? What happens when feeling takes a back seat? And what gifts emerge when they learn to bring others along for the journey?

Katie talks to a mother/daughter duo that she first met at one of her in-person courses in Cincinnati. Featuring our youngest podcast guest ever (eee!), the trio discuss what it feels like to be a teenage 4, what's important as we grow up and think about what we want our life to look like, and the many different ways that a 1 can show up as a parent.

This week on the Morning Show, the crew continues their exploration of the Enneagram centers by diving into the Head Center.

Jeff, Kristen, Jackie, and TJ discuss fear, certainty, anxiety, planning, and all that emerges through that cognitive, future focus.

Sign up for a Free Membership : HERE

We've selected our next book.

Brené Brown's Atlas of the Heart is one of the most influential books on emotions in recent years, and we're going to talk through it this June and July.

The first 2 classes are free to all free members.

Register : HERE

In this episode, Jeff highlights fifteen key ideas from the introduction that connect emotional awareness, language, and personal growth with the wisdom of the Enneagram. Along the way, he reflects on the relationship between feeling, thinking, and behavior, the importance of naming emotions, and why emotional vocabulary matters for both self-understanding and healthy relationships.

Connect with us at Aroundthecircle.org : HERE

Katie Whitlock and Jeff Cook continue their dive into the shared space between adjacent Enneagram types, exploring the emotional and psychological overlap between Threes and Fours, Fours and Fives, and Fives and Sixes. Along the way they discuss authenticity, significance, narcissism, objectivity and subjectivity, emotional processing, rumination, preparation, and the strange intimacy that can emerge between neighboring types.

This conversation moves beyond simple wing theory and into the deeper architecture of the Enneagram itself: why certain types sit next to each other, what they share beneath the surface, and how understanding those shared dynamics can deepen our understanding of motivation, emotion, and personality structure.

Topics include:

• Why Threes and Fours both long to leave an impact
• The tension between authenticity and adaptation
• Rumination, analysis, and the private inner world of Fours and Fives
• Whether feelings can ever be “objective”
• Why Fives and Sixes both prepare against uncertainty
• Emotional data, problem solving, and internal processing
• The hidden strengths shared between neighboring types

This episode originally aired on Patreon. To join future type panels, discussions, and bonus conversations, visit aroundthecircle.org.

n this episode, Katie talks to mother/daughter duo Penny and Tori. We chat about how a 4 navigates life with two independent stance parents, and we ask ourselves an important question: Exactly how much fun can a 7 create at a wedding when given the opportunity to do so?

Thank you to Penny and Tori for coming on the show, and if anyone else is interested in being interviewed, don't hesitate to navigate to my website and fill out the application form.

ALSO - Registration is now live for Tyler Zach's newest Enneagram summit! Jeff and I will both be speaking on day 3 (June 11). Get your free tickets here!

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We continue our dive into each of the types and their relationships with their Heart Center, spending most of our time on 9s, 2s, 6s, and 1s.

Sign up for a Memebership : HERE