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Thinking Well & Why

Awareness to Action

Cognitive Biases, Logical Fallacies and other ways we think we are thinking.

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#8
Friday · 51 min
Why You Can't See Your Own Cognitive Dissonance
In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek examine cognitive dissonance and why the brain filters out uncomfortable truths. The brain protects your self-image by filtering it out and the hosts show how this breaks Enneagram work through mistyping, over-identification and using type as cover story instead of clarity. They discuss how they personally handle being wrong without the ego collapsing. Dissonance itself is neutral. Growth depends on whether you rationalize, investigate, or actually sit with it. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Mistakes Were Made (But Not by Me) by Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson The Prisoners of Hate by Aaron Beck Lisa Feldman Barrett Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Six Degrees of Separation Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
#7
September 4 · 42 min
How We Lie to Ourselves (And Why It Works)
In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek examine motivated reasoning — the tendency to argue toward what we already believe rather than toward truth – by examining Robert Trivers' evolutionary biology of self-deception, Harry Frankfurt's “On Bullshit,” and why tribal loyalty makes us all motivated reasoners. They discuss how this shows up in Enneagram work. People hold type identifications for years, then resist changing their mind because admitting error threatens their identity. The answer isn't eliminating self-deception. It’s recognizing when it causes friction, seeking outside feedback, and practicing intellectual humility. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Folly of Fools: The Logic of Deceit and Self-Deception in Human Life by Robert Trivers On Bullshit by Harry G. Frankfurt Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman How to Think Well, and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking by Mario Sikora Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E6
August 21 · 58 min
When You Confuse Your Tools With Your Task
Most people own every tool in the box but reach for the same one every time. Mario, Creek, and Lee examine why confusing subjective experience with objective fact—especially in Enneagram spaces—undermines credibility and clear thinking. Match the right epistemic tool to the right question. Mario, Lee, and Creek start with Gary Klein's work on expert intuition in high-risk environments—firefighters, jet pilots—to separate mature intuition from guessing. They map epistemic categories: objective facts (true whether you believe them or not) versus subjective experience (valid for you, not universally). The reliability hierarchy runs from mathematics and logic at the top, through empiricism and observation, down to myth and tradition. Why do social sciences shift faster than physics? Because people and culture move faster than natural laws. The real problem: when Enneagram teachers deploy pseudoscience or treat metaphor as fact to legitimize the system, they wreck the model's credibility. Mario calls out revisionist history, sloppy claims about the Enneagram's origins, and using "other ways of knowing" to dodge rigorous evidence. The practical move: identify what kind of question you're actually facing (fact-based or emotion-based), separate opinion from fact claim, and learn to read your gut feeling without mistaking it for proof. Chapters 00:00 Gary Klein on Expert Intuition 03:05 Objective Facts vs. Subjective Experience 09:58 Mathematics, Science, and Reliability 22:32 Logic, Empiricism, and Other Objective Tools 30:58 How Enneagram Spaces Privilege Feeling Over Thought 50:17 How to Match Your Tools to Your Question Resources mentioned in this episode Sources of Power — Gary Klein — Klein's landmark study of intuition and expertise in high-risk environments (firefighters, jet pilots), contrasting naive and mature expert intuition. Thinking, Fast and Slow — Daniel Kahneman — Cited in discussion of Klein and Kahneman's dialogue on intuition, reasoning, and cognitive biases; relevant to understanding mature versus immature intuition. How to Think Well, and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking — Mario Sikora — Mario's framework on epistemology, epistemic tools, and the application of clear thinking to life decisions and the Enneagram. Fathoms & Enneagram Podcast — Three-hour deep dive into the history of the Enneagram, referenced by Mario to support rigorous historical claims about the system's origins. HeartMath Institute — Organization cited by Enneagram teachers to make pseudoscientific claims about the heart's intelligence; Mario examines how such claims are made without proper evidence. Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E5
August 7 · 38 min
Ways of Knowing
In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek talk about other ways to make a decision and when to use each tool. They examine why you need logic for some questions and feelings for others—and what happens when you mix them up. RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Descartes' Error: Emotion, Reason, and the Human Brain by Antonio Damasio How to Think Well, and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking by Mario Sikora Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman Alabama by John Coltrane The Trolley Problem by Philippa Foot & Judith Thomson Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E4
July 24 · 50 min
Stories Your Brain Tells Before You Know It
Your brain runs on stories, mostly ones you don't consciously hear. In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek examine how the brain uses stories to predict and make meaning, often without awareness. They explore what storytelling buys us, what it costs us, and why learning to rewrite your narratives matters for actual thinking. Narratives are also important to the Enneagram, so the three hosts discuss how the Enneagram can be used as a reference tool to recognize habituated stories and how the Awareness to Action model helps identify and rewrite these patterns without getting trapped in type. “When we think about stories, I think it’s easy to kind of put it in this sort of metaphysical, mythological realm, but it is very much biological.” -Creek [03:25] “The storytelling is the shorthand for the meaning that we’re making of the things and what’s driving us to react to that.” -Lee [06:35] “Learning to tie clear thinking skills to the stories we tell makes them more useful, makes them more robust.” -Mario [19:03] TIMESTAMPS [00:11] Intro [00:39] We tell ourselves stories to live [03:25] Stories are biological, not just poetic [10:57] The types of stories we tell [15:13] Clear thinking are important to our stories [20:13] Context and consequence [30:36] How the Enneagram maps your hidden stories [39:16] Limitation can be generative [48:37] How to practice better storytelling RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Rationalisation discussion on “The Big Chill" We Tell Ourselves Stories in Order to Live by Joan Didion Muhammad Ali and Sonny Liston: The Controversial Fight Behind Their Iconic Boxing Photo The Two Cultures by C.P. Snow Ode To A Flower by Richard Feynman Dissect the Bird by John Craigie Please Don't Tell Me Your Story by Mario Sikora Queen & David Bowie v. Vanilla Ice The Gap by Ira Glass Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E3
July 10 · 46 min
Darwin's Most Important Idea (And Why You're Still Using It Wrong)
In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek dig into Charles Darwin and the impact of his ideas, specifically to the ATA model and the Enneagram. They discuss Darwin’s actual mechanism – random mutation and natural selection – and why understanding how evolution works without intention or teleology reframes human nature entirely. Mario connects these ideas to his ATA framework and the three instinctual biases. Understanding these forces, rather than fighting them blindly, enables better choices and real compassion. “If you do not understand Darwin, you will not understand human nature.” -Mario [24:50] “When we think about the Enneagram, when we think about how we want to live our life, the Enneagram’s a tool for that… Staying curious is how you kind of keep up with evolution of thought when it comes to morality and ethics.” -Creek [33:36] “When you catch yourself running a familiar pattern or strategy, stop and ask, is this solving the real problem? Or is it solving one that disappeared a long time ago?” -Lee [44:13] TIMESTAMPS [00:13] Intro [01:06] Charles Darwin and his ideas [10:05] Evolution works at every level [15:17] Why we’re tying it with the Enneagram [18:09] How Darwin influenced the Instinctual Biases [25:19] Evolution ties to the concept of strategies [31:05] The evolution of ideas [39:10] A compassionate way to think about human nature [43:02] Practical takeaways RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins On the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Harvard Magazine: James Watson and Edward O. Wilson: An Intellectual Entente Charlie Rose: Watson and Wilson on Charles Darwin Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E2
June 26 · 39 min
The Philosophy of Karl Popper
In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek talk about Karl Popper, a philosopher of science who had some of the seminal ideas in 20th century philosophy. Mario discusses Popper’s theories, such as The Falsifiability rule and growth of knowledge, how they influence the way he thinks about the Enneagram as well as link to the Awareness to Action approach. “For me, Popper’s ideas are at the heart of epistemology. For me, that’s the foundation, the bedrock for how we know what is true and what is not.” -Mario [06:12] “I have spent a lot of my life avoiding error – not that I’m alone in that – but turning making mistakes into happy accidents is a mindset shift, but a useful one where I can grow and adopt just more curiosity generally instead of defensiveness.” -Lee [20:04] “There would be multiple ways to experience this thing and kind of challenging my own narrative of ‘I’m going to fail and I suck at this.’ And turns out, I didn’t entirely suck at it, so trying to reorient of like ‘Hey brain, remember that you thought you’re going to suck and then you didn’t? Let’s reinsert that story into some other situations and see how that goes.’” -Creek [23:07] TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [01:21] Who is Karl Popper [10:51] The Awareness to Action approach [15:27] Context always matters [18:59] Shifting mindsets with making errors [23:36] Learning to love to be wrong [29:20] Iteration in the face of friction [31:49] How it applies to the Enneagram [37:47] Practical work for everyday use RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Falsifiability rule by Karl Popper The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper Philosophy and the Real World: An Introduction to Karl Popper by Bryan Magee Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
S1 · E1
June 11 · 42 min
Why Your Brain Wasn't Built to Think Well
In the premiere episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek explore why clear thinking and the Enneagram are inseparable. Our brains are wired for survival in simple environments, not for the complex information landscapes we inhabit today. The hosts discuss how clear thinking applies to the Enneagram, which can become a map of the nine adaptive strategies when used rigorously and with intellectual humility. Mario walks through his framework of clear thinking, listing the five nested obstacles we struggle to see and the five solutions to those obstacles. “I have just always felt that the ability to think well is the key to living a productive life.” -Mario [07:20] “We don’t have to agree on everything, but we need to be playing a similar game, at least, of what it means to have a well thought out theory or a well thought idea. Such that in some ways, we can still disagree, but we have both built a case that these are my reasons, my well thought out reasons, trying to avoid as many pitfalls as possible, etc, etc.” -Creek [23:30] “The Enneagram has helped me see myself more clearly. Helped me see what I do more clearly. It’s given me some patterns to point my inevitable confirmation bias at to recognize myself, and it’s been helpful to see that understanding that can ultimately give me more flexibility in how I choose to behave.” -Lee [29:20] TIMESTAMPS [00:01] Intro [00:55] Meet the hosts [05:01] A framework of clear thinking [09:51] Thinking is not that easy [13:43] Five nested obstacles to clear thinking [20:01] How clear thinking applies to the Enneagram [27:24] The Enneagram and the role it plays [36:11] Final thoughts and takeaways [41:11] On the next episode RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE Thinking, Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman How to Think Well and Why: The Awareness to Action Guide to Clear Thinking by Mario Sikora The Open Society and Its Enemies by Karl Popper Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram
June 10 · 53 sec
Welcome to Thinking Well & Why
Thinking Well & Why, a new podcast on the Awareness to Action network hosted by Mario Sikora, Lee Fields and Seth “Creek” Creekmore, will tackle critical thinking, reasoning, and intellectual honesty – not as abstract disciplines, but as practical tools for making sense of life. Your biggest obstacle to being right is trying not to be wrong. The same cognitive biases that shape every area of life show up in your Enneagram work. The hosts promise no guarantees, but will offer sharp, direct conversation about the thinking skills worth defending. Connect with us: Awareness to Action Mario Sikora: IG: @mariosikora TikTok: @mariosikora Web: mariosikora.com Pod: Enneagram in a Movie Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram Lee Fields: Web: enneagrammatic.com IG: @enneagrammatic Seth "Creek" Creekmore: IG: @_creekmore Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast Pod: Delusional Optimism Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram

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