One of the gifts of the Enneagram -- the wisdom that we can gain from it -- is self-knowledge. No matter your Enneagram type, self-knowledge can help you dis-identify with those aspects of your personality that put you in an unhealthy place of habitual reactivity.  And once you start to observe those unhealthy aspects, and dive into your work, you'll no longer be ruled by your personality.

Our guest this week, John Mark McMillan, is a brilliant singer-songwriter, artist. He's a platinum-selling songwriter, and as an Enneagram Four, he joins Ian to discuss his deep connection to his feelings, touches on the Four's defense mechanism of introjection, and shares a checklist of ways he counteracts when he's feeling down.

About John Mark McMillan

John Mark McMillan is something of an anomaly: an artist and Platinum-selling songwriter bending genres and defying categorization by carving out his own unique and independent path. With an ear for melody and a poet's eye for metaphor, no topic has been off-limits. While each of his albums over the past decade have continued to explore new territory, it's McMillan's ability to give lyric and language to the human experience that many consider his greatest gift.

McMillan, who has made a career of rejecting easy categorization and challenging expectations, co-founded the independent record label Lionhawk Records with his manager Josh Lujan Loveless in 2015. Mercury & Lightning was the third release from the label followed up in 2018 with The Mercury Sessions and The Lightning Sessions - alternative takes of the records with special guests including Joy Williams and Josh Garrels. McMillan recently remastered and re-released his beloved album The Medicine (10th Anniversary Deluxe Edition) available digitally and vinyl. His first-ever Christmas record Smile In The Mystery comes out Nov. 23.