“The Enneagram, Relationships and Intimacy” – Now on Amazon!

Posted |

THE NEW BOOK

“The Enneagram, Relationships and Intimacy: Understanding One Another Leads to Loving Better and Living More Fully”

AVAILABLE NOW AT AMAZON >>

MESSAGE FROM DAVID

This book addresses the powerful need we have — physiologically, emotionally, and spiritually — for connection, for love. Research tells us that we are “social” creatures and that our cognitive-emotional-somatic development is dependent on “love,” on consistent-enough “connection and bonding,” during our formative years. Without it, we flounder. We ache emotionally, and we struggle to potentiate, individuate, even to love freely.

Choosing to develop our “love-ability,” our capacity to give and receive love, is just about the greatest gift we can gift ourselves and others; it’s at the core of what sustains us and is a pursuit that I have come to cherish over all else. There are lots of books written on love; some great ones discuss secure attachment and plenty too have been written on relationships and how to make them better.

Scientific Verification
of the Enneagram

Posted |

Scientific Verification of the Enneagram as a Vehicle for Personal Change

Introduction by J.D. Daniels, Ph.D. and Denise Daniels, Ph.D.

Official Article:  “Advancing Ego Development in Adulthood Through Study of the Enneagram System of Personality”

Our father, Dr. David Daniels, loved the Enneagram with all his heart. One of the reasons he was so passionate about this personality typology was seeing how extraordinary the Enneagram could be towards facilitating personal growth.

Individuals suffering in emotional distress could find a path to their version of healthy, and those intent on further growth could pursue transformative change. He observed the benefits of the Enneagram for psychological and emotional change, both in his psychiatric private practice, and in the countless Enneagram workshops he co-lead nationally and globally, which often resulted in rapid personal growth.

Temperament and
the Enneagram

Posted |

How Our Somatic Reactions Tell Us Much About How We Are Wired…

Have you noticed that in addition to each of us manifesting a particular personality pattern (easily recognized once you study the Enneagram system, I might add), that we also manifest identifiable “physical,” somatic patterning as well, patterns that stay with us across a lifetime?

For example, we can see that one person may be quiet, more withdrawn per se, taking time to respond to situations while another person may be notably loud, quick to respond, and confrontative even? Some of us are more naturally outgoing, “extroverted,” whereas others can be more reserved, “introverted.” Some of us are quickly irritated, whereas others rarely get upset; some respond aggressively, whereas others respond more gently or not at all.

Did we “choose” how we responded to situations when we were little, on up? Or, did “something inside of us,” something about the way we are each wired, choose the response seemingly automatically, for us?

Mothers often say that they experienced their young children differently, even when carrying the child in utero.

Why is this?

Forgiveness: How It’s Truly
a Path to Freedom

Posted |

Overview: Forgiveness, the profound letting go of grievances, provides a key to reclaiming the essential self and building healthy relationships. Ironically, each type holds specific resistance’s to forgiveness which are tied to the type’s survival strategy. The barriers to forgiveness, the costs of holding grievances and resentments, and how the barriers to forgiveness be worked with are all explored here. In reading and responding to this blog, bring an open mind, heart, and spirit and an example of something or someone (which could be yourself) you need to forgive.

Forgiveness: How It’s Truly a Path to Our Own Freedom

“Without forgiveness, life is governed by an endless cycle of resentment and retaliation.”

— Roberto Assogioli

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a permanent attitude.”

— Martin Luther King, Jr.

“If you are bitter at heart, sugar in the mouth will not help you.”

— Yiddish Proverb

“Forgiveness is an absolute necessity for continued human existence.”

— Desmond Tutu

In working with inmates for the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP), I rediscovered how, “We are all prisoners of our own making,” as Susan Olesek[1] puts it. And a key to remaining in this “self-imprisonment” is the lack of forgiveness. This is key to both those incarcerated as well as for the rest of us.