You're doing all the right things... showing up for your family, your faith, your work, yet still something feels off. You're overwhelmed more than you want to be. Your relationships have the same friction points. You wonder why you keep getting in your own way.
Your starting point doesn't have to be your stuck point.
The Wholehearted Enneagram Podcast with Amy Wicks exists for faith-driven women who are ready to get to the root, not just better strategies, but real transformation from the inside out.
Each week, Amy brings honest conversations, personal stories, and the kind of practical wisdom that actually changes how you see yourself and the people you love.
The Enneagram is the tool. Christ is the transformation. And you were made for more than just managing your patterns.
🎙️ New episodes every week. Subscribe and start wherever you feel most stuck.
Faith-based identity coaching for women who are tired of feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and unsure of who they really are.
Curious what this Enneagram is that you keep hearing about? Wondering if or how it can really benefit you?
I'm kicking off a new five-part series all about the Enneagram: what it is, what it's not, and what it can do for you.
In this first episode, we'll talk about:
-- how the Enneagram is different from other personality tests
-- an overview of the nine Enneagram types
-- the traits and behaviors of each type at their best and worst
-- how to engage in self awareness with a biblical context
The Enneagram can name your patterns. It can't set you free from them. That's the difference between insight and transformation, and it's the whole focus of this summit.
Welcome to the Simply Wholehearted Podcast with Amy Wicks, your wholehearted life and business coach. You should know this podcast will inspire you to grow in self-awareness, be passionate about your faith, and get clear on your calling. If you are new here, then welcome to the community of multi-passionate women who love to go deep on topics like faith, Enneagram, relationships, leadership, and community. This conversation might provide the step you need to make the change you desire. So let's get started. Hey friend, welcome to the beginning of a new series about the Enneagram, what it is, what it's not, and what it can do for you. We are going to have fun exploring all sorts of different insights and information about the Enneagram from different angles and perspectives. We're going to talk about the origins of the Enneagram, how not to use the Enneagram, myths surrounding the Enneagram, and even Enneagram and spiritual direction. I'm so excited to have these conversations with you. Now, some of the information might be new to you, and some of the information might be things that you have heard before. How I hope this serves you is to reaffirm your understanding about the Enneagram and maybe to use this conversation and the following conversations as a resource to share with friends and family who are curious about the Enneagram. Because believe it or not, there are still so many who are wondering what this tool is, how to say it, and how we can really benefit them. I don't know about you, but I totally geek out and nerd out on personality quizzes. And apparently I'm not the only one because when I Googled recently about how many personality tests there are, over 2,500 showed up. Well, I didn't count them all, but that is what my initial search engine told me. And this isn't too surprising because I mean, who doesn't love a good personality test? I mean, when you need a good laugh, you can go find out what Disney princess you are. Or if you want to reminisce, you can dive into the friends characters and discover which personality you're most like. And I think the reason that you and I enjoy personality tests so much is because, first of all, we love to learn about ourselves. And second, we want to know that we belong somewhere with someone. And third, we want simple ways to understand other people. Now, all of these are great reasons. And if we discover the answer to the question, we can experience good fruit in our lives. But is it really possible to get those big life questions answered in a brief test? Well, I don't know about you, but I have found a few different resources that actually have helped me understand other people, figured out how I belong in my community, and even has helped me learn about myself. My most favorite tool, of course, has been the Enneagram. And when I first heard about it, well, my first question was how to pronounce the word. Of course, after Googling and doing some research, I got to utilize many faith-based books and podcasts to understand this tool and ultimately frame a little bit better how I would relate to God and how I reflected our creator God. I really enjoyed getting into any teaching that I could find on this tool. Of course, I did mistype or misassign myself twice, but I did learn a lot in the process about what the Enneagram is. And of course, eventually I decided to get certified in Enneagram coaching because I wanted to share this tool with others and offer the help that I had learned along the way of my discovery. Okay, now if you are new to the Enneagram or if you want a little refresher about what the Enneagram is, let's start at the beginning. The Enneagram describes patterns of how people interpret the world and also manage their emotions. In its basic root form, as in the Greek word, ennea means nine in Greek. And gram is simply diagram or a drawing. Now there are nine basic personality types described and represented in the Enneagram. And each of those nine types represents a different way someone views the world, takes in or processes information, and even responds to situations uniquely. Now, if you Google Enneagram, you may quickly see a diagram represented by a circle with nine points around the circumference. It typically consists of an outer circle where there's nine personalities evenly spaced and numbered in a clockwise fashion, with nine being at the top. The key difference of the Enneagram typology from other personality resources such as Discs, Myers Briggs, and Strength Finders is that the Enneagram focuses on your motivation rather than behavior. So the Enneagram is not just a personality test to tell you what to do or how to change. It actually serves as a decipher and decoder to provide the language for why you do what you do. The Enneagram describes your inner world of motivations, desires, and the core of what drives your choices. Yeah, it's a pretty awesome tool. Now, most of these basic fears or struggles that are outlined in the Enneagram are just an opportunity to describe our starting point, how we come into the world with motivations and these core fears and longings. And of course, I like to use this information as a spiritual direction tool, but more on that in another conversation. Now, the first thing that most people want to hear are what are the nine Enneagram types? So I thought I'd give you a quick rundown of those nine types today. Now remember, these are going to be very, very simplistic and basic descriptions. If you have utilized the Enneagram before, you know how many different layers and nuances and caveats there are to each Enneagram type. But I won't get into that today. That is for further conversation here in the next few episodes. But I want to give you an idea and overall picture of the nine different types. And you can listen to maybe find yourself in one of these types, or to be able to use as a refresher of understanding all nine types, or just get an idea of how different all nine types are, and yet maybe some of the similarities as well. So for today's conversation, I'm going to go through all nine types in numerical order. That means I'm going to start at the one, I'm going to end at the nine. Sorry, nines, I promise your turn to go first will happen within these conversations. If you've been around here for a while, you know I like to mix it up. And if you're new here, well, I promise you, we won't always start with the one, but it's a great place to begin today. The Enneagram 1 desires to be known and seen as a person of integrity and balance. Now, when an Enneagram 1 is at their best, they're supportive and responsible, and they work hard to make the world a better place. But when an Enneagram one is at their worst, they are nitpicky, critical, have unrealistic expectations of others, and are stubborn. The Enneagram 2 desires to be loved and wanted. And at their best, an Enneagram 2 is generous, playful, attentive, and nurturing without expecting anything in return. When an Enneagram 2 is at their worst, they're insincere, manipulative, possessive, and needy in hopes of controlling their relationship. The Enneagram 3 desires to feel valuable and worthwhile. When an Enneagram 3 is at their best, they are efficient while still engaging with their family and community. They derive joy from motivating others, and they take failures as a learning opportunity. When an Enneagram 3 is at their worst, they are impatient, self-absorbed in personal success, and dishonest. The Enneagram 4 desires to find themselves and their unique significance in the world around them. When a four is at their best, they are a true empath. They're supportive, authentic, and share a depth of emotional connection unique to them. When an Enneagram 4 is at their worst, they may become jealous, which often leads to self-sabotaging their relationships and perhaps even their career. The Enneagram 5 desires to be capable and competent in all subjects that they find interesting. When a five is at their best, they are generous with their knowledge, time, and energy, even when their resources are limited. They will choose to be perceptive and make efforts to engage on an emotional level. But when a five is at their worst, they're constantly on guard, suspicious of others, and they withdraw from those who are closest to them. The Enneagram 6 desires to have support and guidance from people they know and trust. When a six is at their best, they are loyal, supportive, and reliable. They are committed to family and friends, and they will work hard to meet the needs around them. But when a six is at their worst, they operate in fear, doing their best to control the possible scenarios at present or in the future. When they are feeling threatened, they respond with sarcasm or perhaps are inflexible with others. The Enneagram 7 desires to be satisfied, content, and to have all of their needs fulfilled. When a seven is at their best, they invite others to experience new adventures and activities while offering lighthearted care to others. When a seven is at their worst, they slip into narcissistic behavior. They're noncommittal, and they allow themselves to be distracted instead of finishing important tasks. The Enneagram 8 desires to protect themselves and those they love from the risk of betrayal. When an eight is at their best, they are honest, committed, and passionately supportive of the causes they hold dear. An eight will lead and take charge, yet invite others into the process. But when an eight is at their worst, they become demanding and controlling of people and situations. They may polarize projects, conversations, or situations. The Enneagram 9 desires to have inner stability and peace of mind. When a 9 is at their best, they're reassuring and accepting while also expressing their personal opinion. They are also able to invite others to relax and have a good time. When a 9 is at their worst, they become passive-aggressive or overly accommodating to keep the peace. Eventually, their repressed desires can create stubbornness when they decide they want their way. Now, when you first listen to this, you may align yourself with each of these personalities, or maybe you can't find yourself in any of these at all. And remember, each Enneagram type has many positive traits and characteristics. But of course, as with everything, there are sometimes blind spots and pitfalls that each type can quickly slip into, which is why we have the benefit of this Enneagram tool in written form so we can better understand our starting point so it doesn't become our stuck point. Now, your interpretation of the highlights that I share today are going to land in a unique way for you, depending on your stage of life, your current stressful situation, or maybe currently how good things are going for you and how you're feeling. Ultimately, the Enneagram does help us better understand our whole story. And so I often invite people to explore even their childhood, especially their late teenage years and early 20s, to better understand how they were uniquely made from the very beginning. That is a conversation that we'll have to pick up at another time. Now, of course, because for me, the gospel and Jesus are way more valuable than a typology tool like the Enneagram, I always want to make sure that my friends in this community engage in self-awareness with a biblical context. I hope that you can utilize the Enneagram to understand your true essence and as someone who has been created in God's image and eventually be able to use this tool to tap into the deeper story of your longing and motivations, the ones the Lord has put there from the very beginning. I do think when we give ourselves some time to examine what is below the surface of our outward behavior and actions, we can walk away with clarity about how we might be held captive to habitual maladaptive patterns and even distorted beliefs. And I do want you to walk away knowing this though. I want you to know you're not just one number. I think we get to have an aspect of each of the nine types. Ultimately, I want you to have the gift of being able to identify and articulate your desire and a desire that is universal to everyone, but specifically how you possess a trait and how you go after to fulfill what you're longing for. Okay, remember, if you are new to the Enneagram, enjoy taking your time learning about this really valuable resource. We're going to take several conversations to unpack what it is, what it's not, and how it might serve you. If you've been here for a while and this was all old information to you, I'm so grateful that you listened all the way through. I hope that something maybe stood out to you in a new way, or you thought of someone who could really benefit from this Enneagram 101 conversation. Now, if this brief conversation barely scratched the surface of your curiosity about this typology tool, well, you are in luck. I have so many resources that I would love to share with you. I've linked some of those resources in the show notes, like my Enneagram quiz, beginning guides, and videos that will help you on your journey as quickly as you want to have it. Okay, friend, I'm excited to continue with several conversations just like this all spring and summer of this year. It's going to be a good one, and I think these will be conversations that will be so fun to share with others. Until next time, friend, continue to pursue God's perspective, purpose, and plans for your simply wholehearted life.
