Setting a new intention for yourself as we move into 2022? These encouragements from Kim might help you bring your intentions into focus in a way that doesn't add something to your to-do list.
Mentioned in the episode:
Access the Word of the Year Workshop on-demand
Sign up to be notified when Enneagram 101 is ready!
Access the full show notes on the blog here.
Follow on Instagram || @christianenneagram.coach
Get the Book || Enneagram For Beginners
Learn On-Demand + Get Coaching || Enneagram 101 Course
Visit the Shop || Christian Enneagram Shop
Setting a new intention for yourself as we move into 2022? These encouragements from Kim might help you bring your intentions into focus in a way that doesn't add something to your to-do list.
Mentioned in the episode:
Access the Word of the Year Workshop on-demand
Sign up to be notified when Enneagram 101 is ready!
Access the full show notes on the blog here.
Follow on Instagram || @christianenneagram.coach
Get the Book || Enneagram For Beginners
Learn On-Demand + Get Coaching || Enneagram 101 Course
Visit the Shop || Christian Enneagram Shop
00:00:00 Hey there, Friend. I am Kim, I'm your host of the Christian Enneagram Podcast, and this is the very first episode of 2022! And I'm really excited about what the New Year is bringing; we have so many plans in the works for Christian Enneagram Coaching, the company itself, and we're, we're really excited to bring you new ways to learn about the Enneagram and a lot of, a lot of podcast episodes in the coming weeks of course, and months, but I'm just really excited about 2022! I'm allowing myself to be a little bit excited.
00:00:38 There's a lot of weight that is being carried over into the New Year that I wasn't able or ready to leave in 2021, which I'm sure many of you are experiencing; whether it's from circumstances, or what is going on in the world right now, or something that is happening in your life or a relationship that is, that has a lot of question marks around it; a lot of us are carrying many heavy things into the New Year and we don't just get to close one book and open another. This is simply another chapter that is bringing a lot of the same stuff into the next one.
00:01:18 And in light of that, I did not want to make a podcast episode that was all about setting and achieving your goals, even though some of you types out there might really appreciate that, and it might feel very cathartic. But what I wanted to do was talk a little bit about an intention that you can set that is achievable, doesn't have arbitrary milestones, and doesn't have that future judgment that we often prepare ourselves for by just setting a random goal that is pass/fail. We don't want to do pass/fail this year, at least as far as I'm concerned on the podcast.
00:02:02 I wanted to think about for myself, and encourage you to think about for yourself, the intentions that you want to set; the direction that you might want to head, and what that looks like to get a few steps or many steps or miles down this path.
00:02:21 But as long as we are setting a direction for ourselves and making choices that help us move that way, I think 2022 will be pretty great, whether we meet this milestone or make that standard or whatever it is we might want to be setting for ourselves because it feels like that's what we should be doing. I hope this episode is a breath of fresh air in that it's all about intention and direction.
00:02:50 And it's a little bit like what we talked about, if you were there for the word of the year workshop that we had at the end of December, which was so great; it was a lot of fun. We talked a lot about intentions as opposed to goals; direction, as opposed to expectation. And that's really what we're about: we're about setting an intention and stepping out in a direction because we feel pulled that way; we feel called that way; we have a hope for that area of our life. And so we're moving towards that without the arbitrary standards that will "tell us" (quotation marks) whether we actually "made it" or not. With all of that in mind, I wanted to share a possible intention that might feel like the next step for you, depending on your Enneagram type.
00:03:43 But I want to encourage you to listen to all of them because there may be a different area of life that feels like that might be your next step. And all of these are probably some good intentions to make. I wouldn't suggest you make all nine, but just listen to them; see which one feels right for you, because you might be feeling pulled to explore your, the path that you tend to go to in growth or the path that you tend to go to in, when you're feeling secure and ready to get out of your comfort zone or whatever that is; you might feel pulled to one of these other ones. I promise to keep them short.
00:04:24 So Type One, one intention that I thought could be helpful for you in this New Year is to play more, work less. This feels uncomfortable. And you might ask me how, "Well, how do I quantify that? How do I know if I'm working more, playing less?" Don't quantify it; just work more and play less.
00:04:45 If you have to have a task out of this, an action out of this, one thing that is really helpful for me when I'm setting this intention is to plan my play first. I know how much time I need, basically, to get the things that I need to get done, done; but what would it look like to plan where I want to rest or play or have some downtime first? So that can be a way to put your intention into action without needing to determine how many minutes of play you need to add to your day in order to feel like you're doing the thing, right? So my intention for you, Type One, is to play more, work less.
00:05:30 Type two, the intention I had in mind for you might end up sounding like a task or a to-do list, I suppose, but it holds a deeper meaning. So hold on here with me. So Type Two, your intention is to drink your water. And that, by that, I mean, get your water in that you believe your body needs, right? You know, based on whatever measure you want to use, how much water is good for your body to keep you healthy and keep you hydrated, do that. Drink your water; no matter what anybody wants from you, make sure that, that is a thing that can happen for you.
00:06:13 And this will ripple out into other things like knowing what's good for you is good for everybody. And knowing what is best for you really needs to happen. Water is one of those things where, if you allow everybody else to keep you from drinking your water, because of all of their demands on you, you will end up in the hospital! So Type Two, drink your water and allow that to remind you that you have needs, and needs are okay. So I hope that that intention feels good for you, Type Two; feels like something you can do and embody. And let's move on to Type Three.
00:06:57 Type Three, the intention that I thought for you was to find a secret or understated volunteer opportunity, something that is not tied to how you, like, speak about your faith on social media; that is not tied to taking pictures of yourself or other people with you behind the camera doing this thing. This is simply something that you do, preferably regularly as a part of your rhythm, that is not something that you talk about. We don't have to actively keep this thing a secret, but this is not a part of you. This is something, this is not a part of you that you present or talk about to other people as something that you do; this is just something that you do.
00:07:42 Type Threes, I think you get the difference here. And this intention will highlight the beauty that comes from anonymous service and the beauty that comes from being able to pour into people. And maybe that person that you're helping, the person right in front of you, knows what you're doing, but there is no connection at all to any sort of outside approval. This is all about you doing something that you can do for another human being. And it's a beautiful thing; it's a beautiful thing. So that's my intention for you Type Three (and, or again, like, anybody who decides that this would be a good opportunity or intention for you in 2022.) So let's move on to Type Four.
00:08:35 Type Four, my intention for you is to create and finish something that, that you truly love that is about your heart, and who you believe you are, and the beauty that you are. So the problem that you might run into sometimes, Type Four, is having beautiful ideas, but then they get idealized into something that becomes unattainable or can't be fully realized. So the goal, or intention (I should not have said goal) the intention is to create something that you follow through all the way to the end, finish up all those details and call it finished.
00:09:19 If there's anything that, that you feel is unfinished in you or that you've done, or that you're working on or that you want to work on, but you feel like you can't finish it so you haven't even started; I would encourage you to make 2022 the year that you do that: you create something and you call it finished.
00:09:44 Type Five, one intention that I thought maybe you could really benefit from (or anybody who thinks it's a good idea) is to find a way to share what excites you; what you are interested in; the passion that you have. Find a way to share about that, even if you don't know all of it. So many of us want to know what our type fives know, and we want to know why you're interested in that, and what about it interests you; because you have this beautiful way, often, of making these creative connections that we never would have thought about and seeing, seeing things in a very unique way. So even if you aren't an expert, which is what you might think you need to be, we just want to hear what you think about it.
00:10:37 We're okay if you think something totally different next week; we just want to hear you talk about it. So Type Five, I think that might be a really good intention for you is to find a way and take that first step of sharing whatever it is that interests you. You don't have to lock yourself into talking about it for the rest of your life, but we'd love you to just give us a way to know what's going on inside your brain, because it's a beautiful place to be. And we want to be able to, if you're willing, know what's going on in there, because knowledge shared is knowledge grown. And yeah, I think that's, I, I wanna talk to my type five friends about what's going on in their brain! So please do that. Share, share your knowledge with the world.
00:11:30 Type Six, what I thought about for you as an intention for 2022 is to learn how to develop a practice of gently interrogating your fear, your anxiety, or worry, or whatever is hanging heavy on your mind. Whatever's keeping that hamster wheel going; gently interrogate that. And you may have to come up with questions that help you bring yourself back to the present and what's good.
00:11:58 And you know, the statistically likely outcome is better than you probably think it is; things like that. But what are some questions you can ask yourself in moments of fear or anxiety to help you remind yourself that you are a trustworthy person, that you have been given the gift of making wise decisions and that you are generally better at navigating circumstances and situations than you give yourself credit for?
00:12:30 So learning to interrogate fear in a gentle, curious way can help you move through it and take steps that, take steps with confidence in whatever comes at you this year, whatever you have to walk through this year. And again, this is a great intention for anybody, but this is what I thought of for you type six, is to learn how to gently and curious, with curiosity, interrogate your fear.
00:13:00 Type seven, here's an intention for you that I don't know if you'll like, but stick with me, keep listening, I promise! So your intention this year, if I had any say in it, right, (which I'm just a person in your podcast), but if I were able to help you set an intention for 2022, Type Seven, it would be to do less; do deeper. And by this I mean, plan a little bit less than you might want, especially when you are thinking about the goals that you want to achieve; the things that you want to accomplish; the areas that you want to learn or grow in.
00:13:42 You probably have a big stack (even if you haven't named them all), you probably have a lot of things going on and planned; my encouragement to you is to look at that pile, sift through it a little bit and think about, "In this finite time I have (let's call it 2022, let's call it a year), how can I do less so that I can go deeper in the things that are important to me right now; that I value over other things?"
00:14:19 So looking at the pile that is your life, how can you untangle the plans, or the areas that you want to grow in, or relationships, or goals, or whatever that is; how can you untangle all of that and look at it with fresh eyes so that you can do a little bit less, and in so doing, do more in the areas that really mean a lot to you when, when you get to the core of you and where you're at right now? So type seven, that's my intention for you; I hope that you appreciate it, and I hope that you do it! Because I think that all of us can benefit from that as well.
00:15:01 Type Eight, one intention that I thought of for you was to focus on being present, in the sense of not needing to do anything or make any changes or make anything happen, but just being present where you're at and enjoying the moment. So often I think type eights can feel like the world is on your shoulders in that it's up to you to make whatever you believe needs doing in the moment be what happens in the moment. You might feel like it's up to you to make things happen. And I would encourage you, and maybe gently push back a little bit in that a lot of times, the only thing that the moment really requires of you is to be experienced, to be experienced to the fullness that it can be.
00:15:52 And so my encouragement to you, Type Eight, is to find ways or find prompts that you can use for yourself; or find areas, maybe, where you really want to practice being present; whether that's with people or that's with yourself or that's with your emotions or that's with music or a movie or whatever it is; find ways to help yourself be fully present. And instead of thinking about what needs to happen and feeling the pull and the urge to go ahead and get it done. And that's my encouragement and my possible intention for you, Type Eight, if you feel like that's what you might need to do in 2022.
00:16:37 Type Nine, one thing that I thought about for you as an intention for 2022 is to get more comfortable with being provocative. And I want you to understand what I mean here, because it's probably not what came to your mind right now! By this, by provocative, I mean, oftentimes Type Nine, you might think that simply having and stating an opinion that is different than somebody else is provocative in that it could lead to conflict; it feels like lighting a match, and if there's a fuse close to that match, everything could blow up. And that puts a lot of pressure on you, Type Nine, to be very aware of the situation and making sure that everybody is copacetic and feels okay, and being almost hyper-aware, trying to find a moment where you can state an opinion in a safe way.
00:17:34 And I want to encourage you to, while you don't want to abandon stating your opinions in healthy ways, I want to encourage you with being okay with the fact that some people are going to be provoked no matter what, because you have a different opinion than them, because you are out of line with what they are expecting of you. And while we know, if we've done any Enneagram work, that there are so many perspectives that are so valid and having a difference of opinion is human nature; if you have two humans, you have two different opinions, right? But you might not feel safe, Type Nine, all the time to state those, not just because somebody else is going to respond in a negative way, but because you might need a little bit too much for everybody to be okay throughout the process of, of differences of opinions. And so what might feel to others like a healthy discussion of differences will feel to you like somebody has lit the fuse and now everything is going to go "Kaboom," right? So my encouragement to you, Type Nine, is to find ways to be more comfortable with being a little bit provocative in healthy ways; to share your difference of opinion, knowing that you can handle a healthy discussion or whatever comes up, especially in the areas that are important to you. So that's my encouragement to you and a possible intention for you, Type Nine, for 2022.
00:19:14 And then finally, I just wanted to encourage all of you to set an intention, to get to know yourself better this year, whatever that looks like for you. I love, I love to use the Enneagram. That's one of the ways that I love to do it. If you're still listening 20 minutes into this episode, then you probably like it somewhat too. So I encourage you to just spend time getting to know you; what gifts has God given you that you can uncover? What are some beautiful things about yourself that you haven't really taken the time to notice yet? What are some of the ways that you can go deeper into uncovering who you are?
00:20:01 And that's my encouragement to all of you, no matter who you are, where you're at on your, on your journey. And that's what I'm going to be doing as well. This year, 2022, is where I get to know Kim again and grow myself. So I that's all I have for today. Oh, I did forget to mention if you wanted to be at the word of the year workshop that we had on December 30th, 2021, but you weren't able to make it, or whatever, stuff came up, like, I totally get it, but you wanted to be there; You can actually purchase the replay and the 15-page workbook that comes with it by checking the show notes below. I don't want you to feel left out; it is never the wrong time to set an intention for the next year or season or whatever it is; the next year of your life, if you're coming up on a birthday. So while we call it "word of the year" it's really about setting an intention for whatever is coming next, right? The next period of your life. And so there's never a wrong time to do that. And so check the show notes for that, if you want to be a part of that.
00:21:10 And also, just as a little side note, remember that January 20th is the day that Enneagram 101 becomes available for on-demand! There's going to be hours of videos, workbooks to go along with them, and just a library of resources that will continue to grow over time. I'm really excited about it! Can you tell, can you tell I'm really excited about it?! But that's going to be available on January 20th for anybody who is interested.
00:21:39 So you can check the show notes, link down below, and go to the university page, which will have this little pop-up that says, "Hey, you want to be notified when it's available" and you can put your email in there if you wanted to.
00:21:53 That's all I have for today. Welcome to 2022! I'm sure many people have said that to you, but I haven't yet. So welcome to 2022! I hope that you had a beautiful new year and I'm excited for what the new year has for you. All right, bye for now.