Thinking Well & Why

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

Ways of Knowing

Fri, 07 Aug 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

Stories Your Brain Tells Before You Know It

Fri, 24 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

Darwin's Most Important Idea (And Why You're Still Using It Wrong)

Fri, 10 Jul 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

The Philosophy of Karl Popper

Fri, 26 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

Why Your Brain Wasn't Built to Think Well

Thu, 11 Jun 2026 05:00:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore:

Welcome to Thinking Well & Why

Wed, 10 Jun 2026 04:30:00 -0400

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:

Mario Sikora:

TikTok: @mariosikora

Lee Fields:

Seth "Creek" Creekmore: