The idea behind the name Big Self is a paradox. We encourage people to do the inner work before they take big leaps, so they know their ladder is leaning on the right wall in the first place, and that they're motivated for the right reasons. Or if they come to us in burnout or crisis, we still begin with inner work, which usually begins with self-awareness training, and personality "hacking." 

When it comes to the self we want to diffuse the ego so that when we lean into our ambitions and aspirations we do so with authenticity, healthy boundaries, integration, and sustainable purpose.

We work with businesses to help them improve their communication and culture. That is why we do have an audience that talks about personality types in order to shortcut the inner growth. We've indexed hard on that this past year. 

More recently we're hitting on topics like burnout, healthy work culture, shorter workweeks, boundaries, and topics related to the outward manifestation of real change. 

What we’re talking about today:

• How the idea for the name came about. The Buddhist idea of the Big Self. 
• How it came to mean aim high but also manage your ego and how you engage with the world.
• How we focused on burnout at first.
• How we have come into the Enneagram as a tool for personal growth and development
• How we are for leaders in the professional world, but we also are getting ready to make offerings for parents and couples

Time Stamps:

2:49--Shelley quotes Thomas Merton's "ladder leaning on the wrong wall" verbatim without reading

4:50--Who we are is how we lead

7:45--We have discussed burnout from the beginning and have several experts in forthcoming episodes

9:34--The idea of Big Self as a name

13:27--The different ways you can use the Enneagram

17:05--Parts of ourselves that we own and disown

23:05--Three stages of reactivity

27:27--The brilliance of the Enneagram

30:00--You can use it for spiritual purposes, but if you're uncomfortable with that, you don't have to use it that way

Leave us a review and subscribe on Apple iTunes.

Subscribe on Spotify.

Find us at the Big Self Community on Facebook.