By Jessica Dibb, host of the Enneagram Global Summit

In this holiday season, and with more global collective awareness of each other than ever, it is thrilling to be able to offer the world a deep adventure in consciousness — and embodied love, wisdom, and presence for ALL people and communities — through the Enneagram Global Summit.

The Enneagram is a life-changing orientation that guides us to non-fixated consciousness — moving us beyond binary feeling, thinking, and being — personally, relationally, and collectively.

It allows us to see, work with, and dissolve our blind spots, thus consciously metabolizing the shadow material within us that is painful, and liberating our golden shadow and gifts to be given more purely and fully.

It provides accessible, nuanced, compassionate, and objective guidance for becoming awake to the aspects of love and consciousness that our type has avoided, and how we can embrace and embody a more whole presence and consciousness.

Whether you are completely new to the Enneagram, an Enneagram enthusiast, or a longtime lover and practitioner, I cannot urge you enough to sign up for this stimulating, provocative, enriching, and deeply nourishing conference. You can attend each of the 40 sessions for free during the five days of the summit itself.

And because the Enneagram Global Summits have been so impactful, 2021’s eighth annual Summit has evolved to an exciting new level!

First, the entire Summit is a demonstration of “the Enneagram in Action.” Many of the sessions have three or more teachers teaching about the essential qualities of consciousness, and the personality types in the way that they would teach it, so you get to experience a greater multidimensional understanding of what these points and personality journeys may entail.

Second, in so many sectors of our culture, we still find teachers from marginalized communities teaching only to their communities, or being asked to speak on marginalization in dominant communities. This summit has changed that dynamic! Teachers from historically marginalized cultures are teaching straight Enneagram theory, practices, and applications right alongside teachers from historically dominant cultures. We find out what we’ve been missing!!!  We have been poverty stricken. Segregation has hurt the human potential movement in general, and thus our understanding of the Enneagram has also been limited.

Third, there is a deep emphasis on the connection between inner work and outer work in the world and how the Enneagram can facilitate a greater integration of the two.

Other highlights include:

• Dr. Dan Siegel explaining the neuroscience of why working with temperament is essential for wholeness and awakening
• The first-ever real public teaching about the Enneagram’s use in trauma healing
• A panel of 5 wisdom teachers exploring how the Enneagram can aid in the integration of the psychological and spiritual vectors, prevent spiritual bypass, and transform human potential practices
• A powerful, raw, tearful, and exuberant panel on ending othering and marginalization — and how diversity, inclusion, and equity teachers are using the Enneagram as their most potent tool
• Three medical doctors talking about integrating the Enneagram into their healing practices with remarkable results
• A powerful session with a Christian minister, a rabbi, and an Islamic scholar about the Enneagram and the three Abrahamic faiths
• An ecstatic session with renowned mystic Andrew Harvey, where we relate the poems of Rumi with the Enneagram
• Four poems for each of the nine points and types at the beginning and end of each day
• All of the important teachings of the Enneagram with new levels of sophistication
• And much more...

Please join in the adventure and nourishment, and help create a more compassionate and creative world that we can all thrive in.

Register for free here.

The uplifting stories in this issue’s “The Nicest Thing” section come from summit host Jessica Dibb and new Shift faculty Dr. Bradley Nelson.

A Personal Invitation to the Enneagram Global Summit (December 6-10) From Your Host, Jessica Dibb

My name is Jessica Dibb, and it is my honor to invite you to the eighth annual Enneagram Global Summit. The Enneagram is a system of teachings and understandings that have origins way back from ancient times, and in the last 50 years have been joined by understandings from modern psychology and neuroscience, and temperament that help us understand that there are nine different expressions of reality, nine different expressions of presence, nine different expressions of love. Some would say nine different expressions of the Divine. 

To watch this 3-minute video and read the rest of your invitation, click here.

In this special video series, prominent authors, thought leaders, and others answer the question, “What is the nicest thing a non-family member has ever done for you?”

Jessica Dibb’s Story
Founder of the Inspiration Consciousness School and Community, and host of the Enneagram Global Summit

EXCERPT: And this beautiful woman came up to Jamie and said, "How much do you need?" And Jamie started crying and after a long conversation said $6,000. So src="https://theshiftnetwork.com/sites wrote her a check for $6,000, and then over the course of the next year and a half, she wrote two more checks for $6,000 each; $18,000. And after my sister did pass away, src="https://theshiftnetwork.com/sites wrote me a check for $4,000, so that I could take a month off and try to get my life kind of in order after the three years of almost not sleeping.

To watch the video and read the transcript of Jesscia’s 8-minute story about a compassionate and generous family friend, click here.

Dr. Bradley Nelson’s Story
Shift faculty and author of The Emotion Code

EXCERPT: ​​There was a teacher at the school that I was going to, this very, very small private school. And her name was Billie Peterson. I don't even think I had a class with her but I think that she knew and could sense that I was kind of a lost soul. At 15 years old, a runaway, far away from home, really deeply unhappy and needing love. 

To watch the video and read the transcript of Dr. Brad’s 3-minute story about a teacher who with a few simple words filled a terrible void in his life, click here.

Introducing the Enneagram
By Tom Condon, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

There is an organization called The Flat Earth Society that has a circle of members all around the globe. Through its literature and online presence, it advocates a medieval view of the world, promoting an elaborate thesis that “proves” the world is flat. Each of us is an unwitting member of a Flat Earth Society, in that we have a personal map of reality that is not reality itself, an inner subjective view of the world that only partially reflects the world around us. We don’t often experience reality per se but rather our reactions to it and what we internally believe about the world drives our behavior as much as does external reality.

To read more, click here.

The Polarity of Holy Love
By Dr. Avon Manney, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

One day my husband had the news on and as I walked into the room there was a glimpse of footage of the officer with his knee on George Floyd’s neck. Unexpectedly, I felt the oncoming rage of type 9. I had dinner on the stove and stopped cooking because this was not the energy that I wanted to go into the food. So, I told my husband that I had to go outside for a minute. The tears came gushing forth as I sank to the ground shaking. I asked the Earth permission to release this energy into her. Permission was granted and I allowed the energy to flow into the ground from my system. In return, I became more embodied again feeling myself upon the earth.

To read more, click here.

It’s Our Relationship to Ourselves That Makes or Breaks Our Relationships With Others — the Enneagram Can Make a Difference
By Suzanne Dion, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

We are living in a very interesting, very fascinating time. Gender is up for discussion even obliteration, divorce is somewhat expected, nurture-dependent infants are left in daycare as early as six-weeks old — the potential for developmental neglect nationally normalized, technology has far surpassed our wildest dreams and so many of us struggle to find a partner who can meet our needs, who can “make us happy.” The level of disenchantment across our world is incredibly high as well as the level of progress, advancement, and fascination too.

To read more, click here.

Applying the Enneagram: Helping to Heal the Soul of Policing

From Rev. Dr. Aliah MaJon:

I must start by saying that I am truly delighted to introduce you to my new friend, Police Chief Mike Alexander…

Rarely have I encountered someone who, like myself, focuses on healing policing in our country, and who wishes to go beyond demonizing the people and the agencies who work within that profession. And, when I learned that Chief Mike is using the Enneagram, as he says, “to help heal the soul of policing,” I couldn’t wait to learn more! I’m happy to report that my education is well underway.

In fact, when I spoke with Chief Mike to create this article, he shared with me a history of how the Enneagram showed up in his law enforcement career in Austin, Texas, and it was yet another lesson.

Let me begin my telling of that story with his quote in response to my question of why he sees the Enneagram as a primary tool:

“The Enneagram helps me focus on the micro to mitigate the macro.”

He went on to say that he was introduced to the Enneagram years ago by police psychologist Dr. Rick Bradstreet, who presented the tool of the Enneagram to Austin Police without giving it a name. This took place during a time when Mike was aware of his own personal failures as a police officer, when he was in a negative spiral, and (according to him) experiencing a vortex of issues. People might describe Chief Mike as a wounded healer, which I would agree with, since it means that the person facilitating healing intimately understands what needs to be done because they were the first subject to receive help. This is a blessing.

Next, Mike explained that the Enneagram is an elegant tool for becoming self-aware and to assist individuals to cultivate self-management skills. However, to help to heal the soul of policing, what is needed is for us to remember that police officers have souls in the first place. That’s the reason that I call Chief Mike a wounded healer, as he clearly knows that his colleagues are human beings with souls, because he is just like them. He professes to know their experiences inside and out, having had the same experiences before the Enneagram assisted him in transcending them. He found his way to the other side of the vortex, and he is now determined to create a pathway of healing for others. What an example Chief Mike is! His own life was a laboratory and now he applies the Enneagram to heal others.

The two of us have talked about and shared many insights regarding the power of psychological safety, emotional intelligence, and leadership engagement to support officers to be guided by their own souls and to operate from their core morality while carrying out their sworn duty to uphold the law. The real question to answer is: What will get them there? Can we see police officers differently and find new ways to offer them an appropriate amount of compassion and understanding, while still insisting that they be accountable for their actions?

The Enneagram serves people all over the world and is used in a myriad of arenas, and law enforcement is now one of them. Chief Mike says that 18,500 policing agencies nationally are operated by officers who may be experiencing some form of compromise, and that legislation and more policy is not the answer. He is convinced that the “guardians of our democracy” are in desperate need of transformation, and that this is a critical time to reimagine law enforcement and to apply the Enneagram as a primary tool. In fact, he will tell us more about this in his session in the upcoming Enneagram Global Summit.

And, if you’d like a preview of Chief Mike talking about how the Enneagram came into his life, take a little time to watch the 47-minute interview on YouTube below:

Transforming Leaders with Police Chief Mike Alexander

Chief Mike Alexander, a member of The Narrative Enneagram (TNE) Board of Directors and a veteran of nearly 40 years in law enforcement, has adapted the Enneagram system to deliver leadership training to law enforcement personnel.

Rick Bradstreet, PhD, is a psychologist whose career with the Austin Police Department (APD) spanned 25 years. He retired in 2004 and continues to work as a consultant for APD and other Austin-area departments.

Honoring Race: On Land, Racism, and Native American Futures
 

November marked Indigenous Heritage Month in the United States, but a majority of Americans still remain unaware of the reverberating trauma Indigenous people have suffered in the past and still endure today.

This special episode of Shift’s Liberating Race podcast on “Honoring Race” is our humble contribution to this vital and necessary conversation.

Special guest Dr. Joely Proudfit joins hosts Aliah MaJon, Joy Donnell, and Nick Mattos to discuss land, America's complex founding, and the rich restorative opportunities that present when we maintain Native American futures as intrinsic to our global future.

Additional Resources:

• Native Land Digital, a Canadian not-for-profit organization, strives to create and foster conversations about the history of colonialism, Indigenous ways of knowing, and settler-Indigenous relations.
• Native Time, an app that brings together complex historical information and Indigenous calendars, so that you don’t just read about Native American history through the app; you feel it.
• Sogorea Te' Land Trust, an urban Indigenous women-led land trust that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people.
• Land Acknowledgments Meant to Honor Indigenous People Too Often Do the Opposite
  By Elisa Sobo, Michael C. Lambert, and Valerie Lambert of Pocket
• To find out more about Dr. Joely Proudfit, click here.

This podcast is an invitation to all those who are willing to take this journey and be architects of the process of racial healing. Evolution is a stretch, but our convictions matter.
— Aliah MaJon

Listen on Spotify, Apple, The Shift Hub, or anywhere you get your podcasts.

Criticisms of Nonviolence with Micky ScottBey Jones and Kazu Haga
By Micky ScottBey Jones, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

This conversation focuses on how those who are going to attend to the spirits, relationships, emotions, ritual needs, healing, and resilience of those engaging in social change, in movement work, can embody nonviolence. In his book, Healing Resistance, Kazu says, “a commitment to nonviolence means a commitment to healing the open wounds in our hearts, our families, our communities and our world.” This conversation gives you the tools to begin the work of nonviolence.

Watch this 57-minute video here.

Keys to the Enneagram
By A.H. Almaas, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

More than just a tool to diagnose your personality type, the Enneagram was originally developed to help people find the ultimate freedom of consciousness and achieve spiritual liberation. A.H. Almaas brings us back to this original mission as he shares the essential keys that will help readers break free from the limitations and distortions of each type’s fixation—and to express their true spiritual nature in everyday life. Almaas's teaching, which originated in his own experience of personal transformation, is informed by his grounding in spiritual traditions (e.g., the Gurdjieff Work, Sufism), depth psychology (he has a PhD in psychology), and scientific inquiry (MA in physics).

Watch this 57-minute video here.

Infused with visionary power, this book by Stephen Dinan, Shift Network’s co-founder and CEO, is a manifesto for our country’s evolution that is both political and deeply spiritual. It offers profound hope that America can grow beyond our current challenges and manifest our noblest destiny, which the book shows is rooted in sacred principles that transcend left or right political views. To order your copy, click here.

Sacred America, Sacred World is so crucial to the times we’re in that we are serializing it in every issue of Catalyst. You can read the 10th installment (as well as the previous ones) here.

The Emotion Code
By Dr. Bradley Nelson, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

The Emotion Code helps people improve their health using the Emotion Code^® technique. Users of his technique have experienced freedom from emotional and physical problems, including sadness, anxiousness, anger, fatigue, discomfort, and disease.

A key element of the Emotion Code is removing emotional baggage that may have clustered around the heart, interfering with one’s ability to find love and success. Dr. Brad has coined this cluster of emotions the Heart-Wall^®, which has been called the most important discovery in the history of energy medicine.

For more information and to order your copy, click here.

Keys to the Enneagram: How to Unlock the Highest Potential of Every Personality Type
By A.H. Almaas, a featured speaker in the Enneagram Global Summit

More than just a tool to diagnose your personality type, the Enneagram was originally developed to help people find the ultimate freedom of consciousness and achieve spiritual liberation.

A.H. Almaas brings us back to this original mission as he shares the essential keys that will help readers break free from the limitations and distortions of each type’s fixation—and to express their true spiritual nature in everyday life.

For more information and to order your copy, click here.

Through God’s Eyes: Finding Peace and Purpose in a Troubled World
By Phil Bolsta of The Shift Network

Through God’s Eyes is a roadmap for living a more peaceful, beautiful life. It’s the only book that shows you how dozens of spiritual principles interact, how to weave them together into a cohesive worldview, and how to practically apply this spiritual wisdom to bring joy and vitality to your daily life.

For more information and to order your copy, click here.
To access a free sample chapter on forgiveness, click here.

Through God’s Eyes is a superb book, a truly enlightened piece of work that is an essential read for all people who are truly devoted to the care and refinement of their soul. Phil is a contemporary mystic, a man whose life is a living commitment to spiritual service. I am honored to know him.
— Caroline Myss, author of Intimate Conversations with the Divine, Anatomy of the Spirit, and Defy Gravity

One of the most important books I’ve ever read. An incredible compilation of spiritual wisdom and insight. It’s the owner’s manual God should give you when you’re born.
– Robert Peterson, author of Answers Within

For several years, The Shift Network has hosted Indigenous leaders from around the world and invited them to share their sacred knowledge, rituals, and practices to guide us in a way of living that is sustainable, healthy, and just. We’re thus delighted that the Global Indigenous Wisdom Library makes this “virtual council” of leaders and their wisdom available for everyone, everywhere for free.

The Global Indigenous Wisdom Library is a collection of audio and video interviews featuring Indigenous leaders from around the world sharing prayers, sacred songs, prophecies, spiritual teachings, and pathways to healing, as well as concrete examples for birthing a new era — one in which all members of the human family are treated with respect, understanding, compassion, and justice. This sacred wisdom is important medicine for us all.

The production of The Global Indigenous Wisdom Library is a gift from The Shift Network, designed to inspire, inform, and involve you by highlighting the voices and important messages of Indigenous leaders from around the world. We want to give a heartfelt thanks to Hereditary Chief Phil Lane Jr. (“Brother Phil”) for his partnership in helping create this Indigenous Wisdom collection. And we thank all the speakers who have contributed to this body of knowledge. To discover more, click here.

World Peace Library. Designed for the layperson and professional peacebuilder alike, the World Peace Library has over 425 audio and video interviews with some of the most remarkable, inspiring peacebuilders in the world available to you at NO COST. You’ll find hundreds of hours of inspirational, peacebuilding, compassion-spreading talks and trainings at your fingertips with this FREE global resource. There’s no way you can’t come away from the World Peace Library deeply inspired, transformed — and part of the solution. Click here to find out how to take peace to the next level — and help co-create a global culture of peace that leaves a legacy of good for our children, our children’s children and all of humanity and life on earth.

A Dreamwork Practice to Ignite Your Soul’s Wildness & Meet Your Boldest, Truest Self — A free video event with dream analyst and hypnotherapist Kelly Sullivan Walden, host of the “Ask Dr. Dream” podcast. Discover a revolutionary approach to Dreamwork that unlocks your inner wildness and empowers you to become unleashed and fully expressed — so you can become fluent in the language of your soul. Wednesday, December 8, at 5:30pm Pacific

Discover How the Somatic Pandiculation Technique Restores Optimal Movement & Reduces Chronic Pain & Tension — A free video event with Martha Peterson, CCSE, the founder of Essential Somatics^® and author of Move Without Pain. Reverse Sensory Motor Amnesia — the number one reason for muscle pain — using a technique that resets your central nervous system and “unsticks” your body from harmful repetitive movements so you can live a full and active life. Saturday, December 11, at 10:00am Pacific

Bridge Ancient & Modern Healing Wisdom Through a Sacred Frame Drumming & Breathing Practice — A free video event with multifaceted teacher and frame drummer Krista Holland. Move through a guided sound-healing experience featuring the rhythms of the sacred frame drum, guided imagery, active visualization, and your own breath — to shift your mindset and enjoy optimal health and wellbeing. Saturday, December 18, at 10:00am Pacific

Deepen Your Healing Capacity With the Chakana & Your Personal Mesa — With Andean medicine man Puma Fredy Quispe Singona. Experience a wide variety of healing practices and rituals to infuse your altar with the powers of the Chakana and call in your allies of the Earth and cosmos for guidance — as you become a more powerful healer for yourself, your family, and your community. New 11-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, December 8

Musical Medicine to Activate Mind-Body-Spirit Wellbeing — With multi-award-winning producer, composer, author, and musitarian Barry Goldstein. Experience powerfully healing music and sound practices to help manage your emotions and energy... uplevel your happiness, health, and creativity... and rise to your highest potential — so you can live your most fulfilling life. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, December 8

Activate Health, Abundance & Love With the Emotion Code^® — With veteran holistic physician Dr. Bradley Nelson, author of The Emotion Code and creator of the Body Code™. Locate and remove trapped emotions and identify the underlying causes of illness using the Emotion Code so you can address your health issues — and heal inherited trauma patterns in your family lineage — to live a happier, more abundant life. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, December 15

Awaken & Celebrate Your Sacred Voice to Come Home to Your Authentic Self — With transformational voice leaders Isaac and Thorald Koren, co-creators of Your Big Voice. Explore your distinct musical cosmology (the songs that really move you) and be guided in fun and powerful healing vocal practices to raise your sacred voice to the surface — so you can sing out the fullness of your vibrant being and cultivate self-awareness, self-healing, and whole-hearted joy. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Wednesday, December 15

Tap Into Your Vagus Nerve’s Healing Power to Rewire Your Nervous System for Optimal Health — With doctor of Oriental Medicine Dr. Melanie Smith, an energy medicine advanced practitioner. Master simple energy medicine self-care techniques to support and restore your parasympathetic nervous system — and activate your vagus nerve, unlocking radiant mind-body health. New 7-Week Video Training With Live Q&A Starts Monday, January 3

Conscious Breathwork to Ignite New Possibilities & Your Deepest, Most Vibrant Self — With world-renowned breathwork trainer Anthony Abbagnano, founder of Alchemy of Breath and the Alchemy School of Healing Arts. Experience conscious connected breathing techniques to tap into your subconscious, release old patterns, and refuel your life with inner authority, purpose, and unlimited possibility — for far-reaching, sustainable transformation. New 7-Week Live Video Training Starts Thursday, January 6