Thinking Well & Why

Lee lost a parking spot and concluded it was a coordinated conspiracy. Mario, Creek, and Lee examine agenticity—the habit of assigning intentional agency to random events—and why it kills your ability to actually solve problems. Using Michael Shermer, Karl Popper, and the Enneagram as a case study in self-deception, they show how maturity means knowing when something is just stuff that happens. Ma...

In this episode of Thinking Well & Why podcast, Mario, Lee and Creek trace confirmation bias in the Enneagram and how pattern recognition becomes a filter that cherry-picks evidence and dismisses contradictions. When you learn the Enneagram, your brain trains itself to recognize a pattern, and that pattern instantly becomes a filter. The hosts examine why people who constantly reference their...

You're not being thoughtful when confirmation bias hits—you're being filtered. Mario, Creek, and Lee trace why the brain locks onto information that confirms what you already believe, how this wrecks your ability to see the same data differently than someone who disagrees with you, and why intellectual self-defense isn't about winning arguments. It's about surviving dinner without losing your fami...

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...

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 h...

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...

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 Awa...

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 En...

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 f...

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, Poppe...

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...

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 l...