Resources

Books:

Awestruck by Jonah Paquette. 

Awakening Mode is recognizing our Pure Awareness and learning to live as that.  It includes a transformation of our ego that allows for a more consistent groundedness, open heartedness, and clear mindedness.  The integration of these qualities allows us to perceive and experience life as an expression of Pure Awareness.  There is a more prevalent experience of freedom, flow, awe, love, and joy.

Consciousness, Awareness, and Conscious Awareness. Although there are subtle distinctions among these three terms, they are used interchangeably throughout Thrive and Awaken®.  In the Tools section you’ll find a video describing Conscious Awareness.

Essentially these terms are the experience that is ever-present throughout one’s life. This underlying sense of self is why you feel the same inside at 50 years old as you did when you were 20. As the thoughts and emotions associated with the ego-mind evolve, the underlying presence of being is experienced more deeply as our true nature. This is referred to as Pure Consciousness or Pure Awareness.

Many teachers and philosophers propose this experience is a part of the universal consciousness.  While this is a possibility, we really don’t know enough about the nature of reality to claim this perspective with certainty. You’ll find throughout these teachings that there are many other tangible ways we are integrally connected with the greater reality that don’t require consciousness to be the underlying essence. I’m comfortable with the mystery and possibility there may be some other force that weaves this amazing tapestry of life.

Ego. I tend to use ego, identity, self, and personality interchangeably.  Freud and others referred to the ego as one of three aspects of the personality, the other two being id (instincts) and superego (the judging part of your mind). I have found the Freudian perspective helpful but limiting.  I see all three aspects as interwoven so for simplicity I use ego, to include that sense of self as well as the id and superego.

Surviving Mode is our day-to-day default way of living with the primary function to keep us safe and connected.  This is programmed into our brains through our ancestral genetics, family history, culture, personality style, and physiological predispositions.

 Thriving Mode is learning to manage all the reactivity associated with Survival Mode.  When thriving there is greater awareness of our personality, a development of thriving tools, and a conscious application of the tools so we choose how to think, feel, and act.  It leads to a balanced, healthy, happier, and lovingly engaged life.

Reality or the nature of existence is referred to in the following terms:

Universe, Essence, Pure Awareness, Greater Consciousness, Life, Ground of Being, Life Force, True Self, Deepest Nature, Conscious Awareness, Absolute, Infinite.  Although there are significant differences between these terms, they are all inclusive of a transcendent and mysterious dimension that is the foundation of our presence.

Assessment:
The most validated instrument is the RHETI.
Another great assessment is: Integrative Enneagram

Websites:
Enneagram Institute
Enneagram the Narrative Tradition

Overview Books:
Wisdom of the Enneagram by Riso & Hudson; Great place to start
Understand Yourself, Understand Your Partner by Schneider & Corn
Personality Types by Riso & Hudson
Spiritual Dimensions of the Enneagram by Sandra Matri
Deep Living with the Enneagram by Howe-Murphy

Parenting Books:
The Enneagram of Parenting  by Wagele
Knowing Me Knowing Them by Tresidder, Loftus, & Pollock

Workplace Books:
Deep Coaching by Howe-Murphy
The 9 Types of Leadership by Chestnut
The 9 Ways of Working by Goldberg
What Type of Leader are You by Lapid-Bogda

Please click HERE for a list of guidelines for our community and posting in groups.  Thank you!

Apps:
Thrive and Awaken® has many meditations to sample by clicking here. The following apps are additional resources for meditations.

Headspace
Insight Timer
Calm

Books:
Altered Traits: Science Reveals how Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body
by Goldman & Davidson

Aware: The Science and Practice of Presence
by Dan Siegel

Best Guide to Meditation
by Victor Davich

How to Meditate
by Pema Chodron

The Now Effect
by Elisha Goldstein

Wherever You Go There You Are
by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Mindfulness as Flow
The Flow State, Where Creative Work Thrives.  BBC (2019) by Robb

The Inner Game of Tennis, Golf, & Music (2020) by Gallaway

Research:
1. “Despite the limitations of the literature, the evidence suggests that mindfulness meditation programs could help reduce anxiety, depression, and pain in some clinical populations.” from:

Meditation Programs for Psychological Stress and Well-being: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis in JAMA Internal Medicine (2014) by Goyle et.al.  

2. “Psychological scientists have found that mindfulness influences two different stress pathways in the brain, changing brain structures and activity in regions associated with attention and emotion regulation.”

Mindfulness meditation: A research-proven way to reduce stress. American Psychological Association (2019) by Creswell et.al.

3. “Mindfulness meditation interrupted the communication between brain areas involved in pain sensation and those that produce the sense of self. “

Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Pain by Separating it from the Self. UC San Diego Today (2022) by Zeidan

The Tapping Solution
This is a great resource for examples of tapping and research about it.  They have an annual summit where experts provide examples of tapping.

How Tapping Works Infographic by David Feinstein.

Physiological Mechanisms of Energy Psychology Treatments (2025 Energy Psychology Journal)

Meta-Analysis of Tapping Research.  Article demonstrates that tapping is better than placebo and traditional treatment of trauma.  Frontiers of Psychology (2023) Stapleton et.al. 

Tapping: Self-Healing with the Transformative Power of Energy Psychology (2024) by Eden & Feinstein.