We are patterned beings, and the patterns we live get started very early in our lives. They bring both blessings and blind-spots. One of the great opportunities of a well-lived life is to come to see the patterns, inquire into them, and find ways to open more spaciousness in us than the patterns have allowed so far.

This is what we might call ‘growth’ or ‘development’. In this conversation we talk about what it takes to do this, and about the Enneagram, a wise, kind and deep body of language and invitation that we have both found incredibly helpful in walking this path.

This week’s conversation is hosted, as always, by Lizzie Winn and Justin Wise of Thirdspace.

Episode Overview
00:00 Introduction to Turning Towards Life
02:50 The Enneagram: A Personal Journey
08:55 Understanding the Enneagram
11:51 Blind Spots and Self-Awareness
17:41 Patterns and Growth
26:04 Gifts Beneath the Surface
34:50 Conclusion and Recommendations

Here’s our source for this week:

The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up

At one level the personality types are based on a very simple thing - where we focus our attention as we move through the world. But what we see also defines what we don’t see - as well as the fact we don’t see it. These are our blindspots. When we remain unaware of these key aspects of our experience, we stay blind to the impact they have on how we think, feel and act. And this explains why we can be said to be ‘asleep’ - going through life like zombies.

To wake up from this state, we must confront the ego - as well as the Shadow cast by the ego. We need to become aware of the automatic habits that structure our defensive egoist persona, as well as all that remains unconscious in us connected to our ego’s need to protect itself. This self-protective persona keeps us focused on its needs and prevents us from feeling pain - or joy - condemning us to a kind of waking sleep in which we don’t know who we are and what’s possible for us.

We suppress these shadow elements because they create pain or challenge our self image. By making these elements more conscious, however, we become more self aware and whole. Without facing them, we can never know ourselves as we actually are. When we don’t see and own the unconscious tendencies connected to the personality, we stay focused on (and limited by) we are held hostage to who we think we are or who we fear we are or who we would like to be. When we move beyond the ego and actively engage in the process of growth that the enneagram maps out for us, we begin to awaken to our full potential.

Beatrice Chestnut and Uraneo Paes
From ‘The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up’, Simon and Schuster, 2021

Photo by Tomas Martinez on Unsplash

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Join Us Live in 2025

Turning Towards Life Live Season 1, from September 2025
We also have the launch of our Turning Towards Life live programme which is going to run in six month seasons from September. It's going to be in person on Zoom once a month. We're very excited about it. A chance to expand beyond the bounds of a podcast into forming a community of learning and practice. You can register your interest for Season 1 of Turning Towards Life Live here.

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About Turning Towards Life
Turning Towards Life, a week-by-week conversation inviting us deeply into our lives, is a live 30 minute conversation hosted by Justin Wise and Lizzie Winn of Thirdspace. Find us on FaceBook to watch live and join in the lively conversation on this episode. You can find videos of every episode, and more about the project on the Turning Towards Life website, and you can also watch and listen on Instagram, YouTube, and as a podcast on Apple, Google, Amazon Music and Spotify.

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Keywords
blind spots, defensive patterns, shadow work, personality types, protective mechanisms, essential goodness, waking up, automatic habits, self-protective persona, unconscious tendencies, growth journey, authentic connection, gift liberation, inner world mapping, community learning, pattern recognition, ego confrontation, sacred qualities, birthright gifts, castle metaphor, boarded rooms, turning towards life, sincerity practice, integrity development, anger recognition, happiness demand, frightening presence, Soho realisation, protective strategies, truthfulness emergence, inclusion practice

People mentioned
Beatrice Chestnut (co-author of "The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up")
Uranio Paés (co-author of "The Enneagram Guide to Waking Up")