The Authentic Way Podcast

Aaron Zint is a public speaker, author, and incredibly genuine and inspiring man. I’ve had the honor of getting to know him during my time attending The Whole Man Project, a weekly men’s meeting which he leads here in Redding. In this conversation, we talk Enneagram and growth work, living intentionally, overcoming passivity, Internal Family Systems (IFS) and more. Aaron is a fellow Enneagram Social Nine, and shares clearly about what it looks like for this subtype to embrace deep inner growth work with intentionality and strength and to move from the passion of sloth to the virtue of right action. I hope you enjoy! To learn more about Aaron and his work, you can check out his website: www.zintsquad.com He and his wife also have an incredible podcast on marriage that you can access here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/marriage-lab/id1559373076?i=1000662787626 If you or someone you know is dealing with porn addiction and wants to break free from it, you can purchase his phenomenal book here: Numb to Known: The Surprising Path Away From Porn https://a.co/d/dXAaktk

In this episode, we take a step away from the Enneagram to explore a different personality assessment. I'm honored to have with me Caitlin Hawekotte, a certified Clifton Strengths and MBTI (Myers-Briggs Typology Indicator) Coach, who has experience working with individuals and teams using these personality assessments. We discuss the value that personality assessments provide in the process of finding objectivity, cultivating mutual appreciation for differences, coming outside of our own limited perspective, and providing a common language for communication.  To learn more about Caitlin and her work visit www.caitlinhawekotte.com

In this episode Levi talks with his good friend, Matthew Haverly, about ideas and growth practices from the book The 15 Commitments of Conscious Leadership by Jim Dethmer, Diana Chapman, and Kaley Warner Klemp. Matthew shares honestly and vulnerably about how facing difficult challenges personally and professionally opened up a space inside of him to begin an inner growth journey and catapulted him into living more consciously and intentionally. Resonating with the Type One personality for some time, Matthew shares about how he learned that his core type was actually Type Seven. Listen in for some inside knowledge from a Seven about what it can look like to grow in learning the important skill of identifying and being with your emotions.  For more information about ideas explored in this episode, check out The Conscious Leadership Group at: https://conscious.is 

n this episode, Levi interviews his spiritual director, Kyle Stevens. Listen in as Kyle authentically shares his story of burnout and disillusionment as a pastor and missionary and how learning new practices in spiritual direction training dramatically shifted his inner experience of his faith. As an Enneagram Type One, Kyle speaks about the experience of the inner critic, and how learning to more deeply receive the acceptance and love of God for himself replaced this inner critic with a deep-seated confidence in the faithfulness of God’s love for all people, including himself. Kyle currently works as a therapist and a spiritual director, helping others both heal from their past pain, and more deeply recognize the movement of God’s Spirit in their hearts and lives.  To learn more about how to work with Kyle, you can email him at: kylestevens2525@gmail.com or click the link below and attend one of his live soul care workshops locally at The Stirring church in Redding, California: https://www.thestirring.org/upcoming-events/soul-care-lab

In this episode, Levi talks with Rachel Peterka, LPC about her journey through learning about and seeing herself in the Enneagram Type 1. Rachel is a devoted follower of Jesus, and shares openly and honestly about how seeing her personality structure through the tool of the Enneagram led to significant growth in her journey of faith. This conversation is full of laughter (learning to laugh at ourselves as we grow is key ;)) gut-wrenching awareness, sorrow, and paradox. If you're a type 1, this conversation may be helpful in bringing both a sense of solidarity and maybe some new awareness for you around your type structure and how to grow using the self-awareness that the tool of the Enneagram provides.  For more information about Rachel and her work visit: https://www.deepwaterscounselingllc.com/rachel#:~:text=Call%20Rachel%20at%20(636)346,to%20schedule%20an%20appointment%20today.

In this first episode of season 2, Levi talks with Tom Cole, co-founder of Pure Heart Ministries, around familiar topics on the show. From emotionally healthy faith and spirituality, engaging with the tool of the Enneagram for growth (Tom is an Enneagram type 7), to journeying intentionally through the messy waters of deconstruction, this conversation is a beautiful smorgasbord of many of the themes touched on in season 1. Tom has been working with people to face, feel, and heal their emotional pain for more than 30 years. His pastoral heart and rich wisdom shines through in this conversation.  For more information about Tom and Donna Cole, their books and teachings, and the important work that they do through Pure Heart Ministries, check out their website at: www.pureheart.rest

In this final episode of season 1, Levi + Loren talk through the limiting mental beliefs of their types called the fixations, and the benefit in learning to spot these sneaky type-specific thought patterns in order to do the intentional work of moving away from being internally controlled by them. They also go through the holy ideas of their types and how these have served as important aspirations for them as well as points for internal connection with and reflection on the nature of God. They wrap up by giving a brief overview of the fixations and holy ideas for each Enneagram type. Enjoy the conversation about this fascinating aspect of the Enneagram system, and get excited for some more great stuff coming up in Season 2!

After a long hiatus, Levi + Loren share candidly about how seeing the passion of their types and working through the painful narratives and heart-centered challenges associated with this aspect of their Enneagram type, has opened new awareness and a greater capacity for growth into embodying the Virtue, or higher emotional side of their type. 

Listen in as Levi + Loren dive into the Passions. They begin with an overview of the Passions as the nine emotional patterns that produce suffering for the nine Enneagram types and describe how these patterns fit into the broader system of the tool, from a Christian perspective. They then summarize the Passions and lay a framework for the growth that happens when we move beyond the Passion of our ego and step into the higher side of type: the nine Virtues.

In this episode, Levi and Loren take a brief pause from discussing the different in-depth growth paths within the Enneagram and highlight how these growth paths have fueled their spiritual growth. They share what it has looked like for each of them to translate self-awareness into self-compassion and how this has impacted their journeys of faith and spiritual development. They also introduce and briefly discuss two models of faith development that have been pivotal for their inward transformation taken from The Critical Journey: Stages in the Life of Faith by Janet O. Hagberg + Robert A. Guelich and The Calling Journey  by Tony Stotzfus.

In this second part of the discussion on the role of the repressed instinct in the Enneagram system of personality, Levi vulnerably shares his experience of seeing the sexual instinct repressed in his life. Tracing some key childhood messages that formed and reinforced this experience, he talks about what having the sexual instinct repressed can look like (including how it can often show up more in one-on-one relationships, creativity and legacy, and not sex itself), how having this instinct repressed has affected him, and what practices have helped him bring this instinct more into balance. The awareness of our dominant and repressed instincts (the one running the show and the one hiding in the shadows) can give us powerful insight into how we can begin to release the grip of ego, receive compassion, and find balance.

In this first of two episodes on the repressed instinct, Levi and Loren describe the challenges and blindspots that come into play in our personalities when we repress or neglect one of the three core instincts within the Enneagram personality system. In this episode, they paint a clear picture of the types of challenges that can arise for people when the self-preservation or social instincts are repressed, and share how recognizing the neglected instincts in their personality patterns has brought about significant clarity toward their  places of pain and allowed them to engage intentionally in their continued journeys of personal and spiritual growth with deeper insight.

In this podcast episode, Levi + Loren explain the three instincts (survival strategies) within the Enneagram system that combine with type to create the twenty-seven subtypes. They each share honestly about their own challenges and growth work from working with their own dominant instinct of their types and provide a framework for using this aspect of the tool for transformational spiritual growth in Christ. 

Listen in as we discuss the ways that we, as Christians, can unconsciously use faith and spirituality to bypass our challenging emotions, moments of uncertainty, and feelings of powerlessness. In this episode, Levi and Loren share from their own journeys and their observations of others within Christian charismatic church movements how this tricky defensive approach to avoiding the difficult things in life can show up, how it can keep us from meeting God within the challenges of our human experience, and how to begin to recognize if we're limiting how we engage with God in order to avoid our pain.

In this episode, Loren interviews Levi about his experience of identifying with Type 9 and how the growth path prescribed by the enneagram was consistent with the journey he already felt God leading him in. He describes the process of getting in touch with anger and through that, himself, then tenderly shares discovering the sadness underneath anger and how facing it began to unlock deeper levels of freedom in his heart. With a focus on the nuance of subtype and his individual journey, this episode is a powerful illustration of growth and encountering the love of God through the self-awareness tool of the enneagram. 

In this episode, Levi interviews Loren about her experience in discovering her enneagram type. Loren beautifully shares about the challenges, pressures, and limiting belief systems she began to see in herself once she found her type, and how God used this tool to help her to begin the journey of growing beyond these patterns and to unearth the deeper places in her heart to receive Unconditional Love.

In this episode, Levi and Loren give a spiritual and faith-based context for why self-awareness is an important part of faith development. They share the ways that their journey of growing in awareness around the feedback loops of their personalities has been transformational for them in getting out of the boxes they had put themselves and God into. 

In this second part of Levi and Loren's story, they describe the events that brought them to a place of uncertainty, deconstruction, self-reflection, and a crisis of faith that ultimately led them to seeing themselves and each other more clearly. Listen in as they share honestly about the pain of these experiences and how, in retrospect, this led them toward a deeper understanding of God's unconditional love and compassion for them in their real and raw human experience. 

Listen in as Loren and Levi tell Part 1 of their story: how they met, dated and got married, with some pretty cringe-y and crazy stories in the middle! Full of honesty about the imperfect and real start to their relationship, what they would have done differently, and what they learned about themselves and God as they grew in love.

In this very first episode we introduce ourselves and give some background for why we wanted to start this podcast together. Hear a broad stroke overview of our journey from naive ministry interns to inner-work enthusiasts, and how our perspective on God, ourselves, others and life in general shifted as we grew. We hope you enjoy!