Episode Description

Do you tend to push forward and make things happen? Pull back and feel easily overwhelmed? Or constantly track how much you are giving so you can be sure you are giving more than you receive?

In this episode, Michael, Hari Prasada, and Rasanath explore a core dimension of the Enneagram that is critical in being able to type efficiently and accurately as well as understand better how we show up the way we do and why: the Behavioral Patterns. They unpack the Go-Getter, Withdrawn, and Dutiful triads, three distinct ways we habitually move through the world, relate to others, and respond to stress.

At the center of the conversation is the idea of the Ego Boundary – how protected or permeable we are to external demands and internal experience. They explore Solid, Thin, and Perforated Ego Boundaries, and how these shape introversion, extroversion, perceivable sensitivity, and other aspects of how we function. They explain why people within the same Behavioral Pattern are so often mistyped as one another, and why behavior alone can be misleading without understanding underlying motivation.

Podcast Hosts: Michael, Hari Prasada Das and Rasanath Das

Highlights

• [00:50] Behavioral Patterns as a core Enneagram dimension

• [04:10] Why mistyping most often happens within the same Behavioral Pattern

• [05:00] Michael’s early mistyping as an 8 when he was working as a trader at Goldman Sachs

• [06:00] The Enneagram vs. Myers-Briggs: classifying behavior vs. revealing motivation

• [07:30] The Go-Getters (Types 3, 7, 8)

• [09:30] Solid Ego Boundaries and the ability to compartmentalize

• [13:10] Donald Trump

• [14:40] The Withdrawns (Types 4, 5, 9)

• [15:00] Perforated Ego Boundaries and the ability to be impacted by the world

• [20:10] Susan Cain’s Quiet and the cost of an extrovert-centric world

• [20:30] The Dutifuls (Types 1, 2, 6)

• [22:00] Thin Ego Boundaries as a complex middle ground

• [24:40] Understanding the Types based on their Behavioral Pattern

• [45:30] Rasanath’s personal experience with a Solid Ego Boundary

• [50:10] Hari Prasada’s personal experience with a Perforated Ego Boundary

• [54:00] Final reflections about the importance of understanding Behavioral Patterns for the spiritual journey from the ego to the true self

Quotes

• “By observing somebody's Behavioral Pattern, which…significantly aligns with their body language, it's a very quick and effective way to be able to understand and hone in on somebody's Enneagram Type.” -Rasanath

•  ”The Solid Ego Boundaries are not foolproof…It's not that nobody can get to me. I may present myself that way. I may like to think of myself in that way. It's absolutely not true…But these thick walls made me feel like, yeah, I'm fine. I'm good.” -Hari Prasada

• “The Go-Getters are very much wanted and accepted in the world. They are making things happen in the world. They're shaping the world, and the world then revolves around them. And the Withdrawn Types have to somehow fit into that and be sort of governed by the Go-Getters, which is extremely challenging…and in many cases excruciatingly painful.” -Hari Prasada

• “All the Types can be prone to numbing and going towards all kinds of self-medication.” -Hari Prasada

• “Everyone has a soft, sensitive heart and everyone is being affected by the external and internal world…” -Hari Prasada