From Chapter 12 of Mary Bast and Clarence Thomson’s Out of the Box Coaching with the Enneagram, 4th Edition, available at Amazon.com in   Not only clients get stuck in boxes. So do coaches. Each Enneagram style has a corresponding coaching style that will be intuitive and comfortable – and will require breaking out of your own box. Remember [...]

Editor’s Note: For those of you who are coaches, here’s an article about “closing the deal” using your knowledge of the Enneagram. From Chapter 12 of Mary Bast and Clarence Thomson’s Out of the Box Coaching with the Enneagram, 4th Edition, soon to appear at Amazon.com in paperback and digital formats. You’re about to complete your introductory meeting with [...]

Now that we’ve shared abbreviated life stories from our forthcoming book on transformation with the Enneagram, C.J. Fitzsimons and I thought Nine Points readers might be interested in excerpts from our own stories.   Mary and CJ, you’re both Nines, you’ve known each other for years. What stimulated your decision to write this book? Mary: My interest in writing [...]

This ninth life story from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with a Nine. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style   “The word transformation definitely has a positive meaning for me. Also sometimes I think of it as shifting. I picture moving to the side [...]

This abbreviated life story from my forthcoming book with C.J. Fitzsimons is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Eight. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style. I can remember the exact date of what was probably my biggest transformational experience. It was gut-wrenching! I recognized I could no longer live the way [...]

This abbreviated life story from my forthcoming book with C.J. Fitzsimons is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Seven. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style. “My transformation has been in ideas about what is, learning something that all of a sudden convinced me, I thought I knew and I really didn’t [...]

This sixth life story, from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Six. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style.   “One of my friends had told me several times you can’t fundamentally change – all you can do is change your behavior. I’d argued [...]

This fifth life story, from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Five. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style.   “Transformation is moving from one consistent and orderly psychic state to another more consistent and more integrated psychic state. The Enneagram  provides a context [...]

This fourth life story, from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Four. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style.   “Transformation is a word we use in the West because we want to get someplace. I think of an evolution of consciousness that’s endless, [...]

This third life story, from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with an Enneagram Three. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style.   “Until I started doing some real work, all my energy had gone to being a success, putting on a show, and hiding what was [...]

This second life story from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with a Two. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style Style Two: Staying Awake “To me transformation is becoming anew, changing from where you are or have been to a new place. “A transforming experience for [...]

This first life story from the forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, is condensed from an interview with a One. In the book there will be eighteen life stories, two for each Enneagram style     Style One: Evolution of Consciousness “My notion of goodness or rightness has shifted over the years, so in that sense there’s been some transformation. But [...]

There will be eighteen life stories in a forthcoming book co-authored by C.J. Fitzsimons, two for each Enneagram style. We trust that the ones we post on Nine Points will provide readers with companions along their own paths, and a better understanding of all styles. Over the years, I’ve interviewed people of all nine Enneagram styles about their everyday [...]

Mortificatio, Killing Ego Attachments Mortificatio—killing or dead-making, consciously working on reduction of ego attachments; in Jungian terms ‘bringing home’ our projections, going inside ourselves to embrace the shadow so our being reflects the whole instead of a dissociated part. Before I knew anything about mortificatio, I thought only of “mortification,” as in humiliation or shame – feelings most of [...]

Solutio, Releasing Buried Emotions Solutio uses the purifying and dissolving properties of water to return to its most basic state the whitened ash left from burning away our ego-based illusion of reality. This dissolution works on the heart to release buried emotions. Some people find it particularly difficult to acknowledge and explore their own needs and emotions. All of [...]

First published in Enneagram Monthly, October 2011 Our collective predicament depends much on individual human transformation and… we cannot afford not arousing the potential and motivation of individuals to work on themselves to the extent that they can.” Claudio Naranjo, “Suggestions for Further Work on Self,” Character and Neurosis. In 2009 I viewed Xue Shen and Hongbo Zhao’s graceful [...]