How's That Working For You?

Regular listeners to the How’s That Working For You podcast have been asking who is this ubiquitous ‘Carie’ person that keeps being referred to by guests and the host throughout Season One?  And what is this enigmatic  'THE Apc' organization that regularly pops up in many of the conversations?  Inquiring listeners will be relieved to hear that Season Two’s opening episode finally solves the mystery of both as Enneagram and Recovery Coach Art Wimberly shares the mic with his favorite Ennea-Type One in the whole world.

Join us for this special two-part episode (We couldn’t help it; Carie talks a lot!) as Art and his wife share their story of a marriage and family system threatened to the breaking point by multiple addiction issues over two decades, and the ongoing storys of lives being re-purposed.

We also try to address the eternal enneagram question: Would a type One be crazy to even consider a long-term relationship with a type Seven?  Wait! Maybe it's the other way around?

Recovering addict, author and non-profit exec Glennon Doyle famously said that by the time she hit bottom in her addiction her loved ones had come to view her essentially as an “insensitive liar”, and with good reason.  But, Doyle adds, she felt like she started life as an “ultra-sensitive truth teller”, someone who struggled intensely with the deep and painful mysteries of life.

Thats how far down the scale substance use disorder can take a fearfully and wonderfully made human being.  And Drew Callner, Birmingham filmmaker and recovering heroin addict, experienced that (almost) total shift away from his created essence into a nightmarish existence where his loved ones - and even he himself - could barely recognize the shy, sensitive and caring boy he had been.

Join us on this episode of How’s That Been Working For You as Drew recounts some of his and his families’ journey through years of heroin addiction, rehab stints, sobriety, depression and relapse, The End Heroin Bham Walk, and, back to a little boy with a camera and a vision.

In today’s episode we are joined by Tyler Currier, an Ennegram type 7 who is also in long-term recovery from drugs and alcohol.  Sevens are often ‘life-of-the-party’ personalities, constantly filling their days and nights with new and exciting experiences. Often this over-planning can become emotionally gluttonous in nature, where if a little is good then more has to be better  This overuse of their mental space tends to keep unconscious Sevens in the future and thus disconnected from being fully present. As a result they rarely process life’s experiences effectively or deeply which limits their emotional and relational growth. 

When you then add substance use as an option to instantly change the way you feel with that personality style it can easily lead to serious addiction. But Sevens can prolong addiction because they are natural masters of the mental energy required to stay in denial, which allows them to fool others along with themselves over long periods. That was Tyler's journey for many years until he faced a shock-point in his life, was welcomed into a Narcotics Anonymous (NA) fellowship, found sobriety and eventually a timely and powerful intersection of his Christian faith and the promises of the 12 Steps in the world-wide ministry of Celebrate Recovery.

Join us for some help, hope and humor as Tyler shares part of his story of addiction, redemption and giving back.

The very well-known Serenity Prayer contains a less well-know line which claims we must become willing to “accept hardship as a pathway to peace” in order to mature into a life that is both powerful and serene at the same time.  But while most any of us would say we desire peace, we often go through life unconsciously resisting the healthy integration of hard things - such as conflict or tough questions - as a necessary element of a deep inner peace that can then powerfully impact the world around us.  And probably nowhere is that resistance more ingrained than it is in the ennea-type 9.  Most type 9’s can easily and naturally relate to all other types, yet struggle throughout life to relate to the deep power in their self. As a result they often only produce a faux peace internally that restricts the powerful role they are designed to play in their outer world.

In today’s episode you and I get to hear how circumstances - and Providence - conspire to awaken a particular 9 to this pattern, and the effective, loving power that is being released.

The inside joke about type 3’s is that they were all "dropped in a box of glitter when they were babies and its not their fault they’ve been shining ever since!”  Glittering 3’s just naturally attract people.  But underneath their ‘I am successful’ inner belief, 3’s are deeply starved for the affection or esteem those connections seem to promise. 

This week’s episode explores the contours of 3-ness through an interview with Birmingham local Brent Bonham.  Brent seems to always succeed and perform at high levels, whether as a sober wine-tasting expert (Huh?), server of haute cuisine, homeless heroin addict, or leading voice and effective connector within the recovery community.  Could Brent be an enneagram type 3?  Join us for a fascinating - and at times jaw-dropping - conversation.

In today’s episode we talk with the Reverend John Adams, who was introduced to the Enneagram wisdom tradition late in his life and identifies as a type Two. In a long life of helping others John, now in his seventies, serves on the faculty at the Institute For Conscious Being, headquartered in Anniston, Alabama, by teaching and training deeper levels of consciousness through combining work in the enneagram and spiritual practices. Additionally, John uses his enneagram experience and his training as a certified coach, to help guide individuals, couples and teams in his private practice, Coaching Thru the Gaps. But there was a long and winding road that brought John to this stage of life, and a pivotal turn on the way was the enneagram ‘finding’ him and revealing some of the hidden unhealthiness behind his helping. Join us as John discusses his pathway of reconnecting to his created self and how that has deepened his ability to give to others.

Ennegram type Fours are some of the deepest, most beautiful souls on the planet.  In fact, Fours have been described by some as the ‘Bringers of Holy Beauty’ and Fours are often incredibly and distinctively creative. Members of the Heart Triad of the enneagram, they can display a seemingly unlimited range of emotions, ranging from deep melancholy and darkness to fantastically bright and beautiful and everywhere in between.  Fours deeply feel they are somehow different from everyone else, and while they might love being different that dynamic can also be quite frustrating for them as they regularly wrestle with a sense that there is always something essential ‘missing’, that they may even be disconnected from their Source.

In this episode I get to catch up with Lauren Taylor, who identifies as an Ennegram ego-type Four.  Speaking of ‘identity’ , Lauren also identifies as wife, mother, counselor, Auburn football fan and - most significantly for her - Christ-follower.  Listen in as Lauren recounts some of her life journey as a Four and how God has been tenderly revealing a unique plan.

Dr. Joel Bennett - founder and president of Organizational Wellness & Learning Systems, one of the world’s premier consulting firms in evidence-based wellness and e-learning technologies promoting organizational health and employee well-being - joins Art on today’s episode. Dr. Bennett, benefitting from an unusually deep and varied combination of life experiences, academic rigor, spiritual work and travel, has trained hundreds of thousands in prevention and wellness lifestyles for over 35 years.  Not surprisingly, in the podcast we cover a lot of ground and an ecclectic variety of topics, ranging from poetry to science-based wellness issues, to the relationship of Time and Presence in a person’s life, to 12 Step revelations, to a personality system that shall remain nameless, and all the way to the Attractions that are hidden within each of us as part of our design and destiny.  

Join us for a roller-coaster ride as Dr. Bennett sets out to prove that ennea-type Twos don’t have to play nice!

At a time in human history where it seems nothing is needed more than for people who are different from each other to find ways of forming deeper fellowship and understanding, we also seem to be going in the opposite direction, focusing on what we perceive makes us different and divides rather than what we share in common that can unite. Given the cultural, political and emotional climate we find ourselves in, how do we reverse that trend?  Is the biggest change in forming deeper fellowship that brings greater understanding and empathy likely to come from the top-down, from the ground-up or is it a both/and dynamic?

Join us in this episode as Art interviews best friend and ennea-type 3, Tim Clay, and they recall meeting, building an unexpectedly deep relationship, the role enneagram and 12 Step work has played and is playing in their growing consciousness, systemic racism, as well as two old-timers just talking some smack and ancient basketball trivia!

Listen in as Art Wimberly shares a bit of his story and how it led him to start this podcast.