Confirmation Bias - Why You Keep Finding What You Already Believe
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 family.
18 Sept 2026
Why You Can't See Your Own Cognitive Dissonance
We all spot cognitive dissonance in others but miss it in ourselves. Mario, Creek, and Lee trace why the brain filters out uncomfortable truths, how this wrecks Enneagram typing, and what separates honest explanation from rationalization. The discomfort isn't the trap. What you do next is.
4 Sept 2026
How We Lie to Ourselves (And Why It Works)
We reason toward what we want to believe, not what's true—and we're devastatingly good at it. Mario, Creek, and Lee examine Robert Trivers' evolutionary biology of self-deception, Harry Frankfurt's *On Bullshit*, and why tribal loyalty makes us all motivated reasoners. The antidote isn't perfection; it's recognizing when you're doing it.
21 Aug 2026
When You Confuse Your Tools With Your Task
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.
7 Aug 2026
Ways of Knowing
Not all ways of knowing work for all problems. Mistaking your feelings for facts is how you end up reasoning backward from what you already believe. Mario, Creek, and Lee examine why you need logic for some questions and feeling for others—and what happens when you mix them up.
24 Jul 2026
Stories Your Brain Tells Before You Know It
Your brain runs on stories—mostly ones you don't consciously hear. Mario, Lee, and Creek examine what storytelling buys us, what it costs us, and why learning to rewrite your narratives matters for actual thinking.
10 Jul 2026
Darwin's Most Important Idea (And Why You're Still Using It Wrong)
Evolution works by a simple algorithm: genes replicate or die. No intention, no morality, no goal. Mario, Creek, and Lee talk through why misreading Darwin blinds you to human nature, tribal behavior, and why your brain still runs on Paleolithic hardware.
26 Jun 2026
The Philosophy of Karl Popper
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 (https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/religion-and-philosophy/falsifiability-rule) by Karl Popper
The Open Society and Its Enemies (https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691210841/the-open-society-and-its-enemies) by Karl Popper
Philosophy and the Real World: An Introduction to Karl Popper (https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/138335520-philosophy-and-the-real-world) by Bryan Magee
Connect with us:
Awareness to Action (https://awarenesstoaction.com/)
Mario Sikora:
IG: @mariosikora (http://instagram.com/mariosikora)
TikTok: @mariosikora (https://www.tiktok.com/@mariosikora)
Web: mariosikora.com (https://mariosikora.com/)
Pod: Enneagram in a Movie (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-enneagram-in-a-movie/id1547495077)
Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram (https://the-awareness-to-action.captivate.fm/)
Lee Fields:
Web: enneagrammatic.com (https://www.enneagrammatic.com/)
IG: @enneagrammatic (https://www.instagram.com/enneagrammatic/)
Seth "Creek" Creekmore:
IG: @_creekmore (https://www.instagram.com/_creekmore/)
Pod: Fathoms | An Enneagram Podcast (https://linktr.ee/fathoms.enneagram)
Pod: Delusional Optimism (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/delusional-optimism-with-dr-b/id1521911162)
Pod: The Awareness to Action Enneagram (https://the-awareness-to-action.captivate.fm/)
11 Jun 2026
Why Your Brain Wasn't Built to Think Well
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 reasoning, usually invisible. Mario Sikora, Kreek, and Lee Fields explore why clear thinking and the Enneagram belong together, and why that's worth an entire podcast.
10 Jun 2026
Welcome to Thinking Well & Why
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 reasoning, usually invisible. Thinking Well & Why explores the thinking skills that actually make sense of the world.
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