Stephen J. Costello, PhD

Philosopher, Psychoanalyst, Enneagram Coach, Corporate Consultant, Author, Founder of the Viktor Frankl Institute of Ireland

Promoting personality development, perspective, and purpose in work and life through the Enneagram, practical philosophy, and contemporary psychology.

Knowing who you are changes everything.

We are at our best when we are aligned less with our ego and more with our essence.

Insights are drawn from

The Enneagram, with its focus on motivation.

The Enneagram is a personality profiling system which shows how our unconscious motivations determine our behaviour.

I believe it [the Enneagram] is truly the MOST PROFOUND tool I’ve ever come across in my 50+ years as a doctor, therapist, professor, teacher, and author’, Dr David N. Daniels, M.D. (formerly Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford Medical School).

Viktor Frankl’s school of psychology, with its emphasis on meaning.

Logotherapy points the way to wholeness and highlights the importance of attitude (mindset).

Like iron filings in a magnetic field, man’s life is brought in order through his orientation toward meaning’, Viktor Frankl (Austrian psychiatrist and philosopher).

Stoicism, with its concentration on the mindset.

Philosophy in Graeco-Roman times was a way of life offering practical remedies through a series of existential exercises. The aim was to form more than inform – to transform.

The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts’, Marcus Aurelius (Stoic Emperor and philosopher)

Taken together, these three interrelated sources offer a wealth of wisdom to individuals and organisations, powerful tools and technologies for transformative change.

Formula for Flourishing

We are much more than our ego-personality, which holds us hostage, keeping us in a trap/trance. When we shift gears from the ego (the acquired or false self) to the authentic, true Self, we become happier and more effective. This new alignment is what empowers, enhances, and enables us to excel at everything we do.

Four things are necessary:

Discovery

Deploying our gifts, talents, skills, and interests

Detachment

Distancing from our ego-agendas and other peoples’ expectations.

Discernment

Determining what brings out the best in us.

Direction

Devising an action-plan to move forward.

This work is carried out through a SOAR perspective, the objectives of which are to:

S

See yourself clearly, including your shadow-side (perception & knowledge).

O

Order your life according to goal setting (integration & momentum).

A

Awaken to your possibilities and the meaning of the moment (depth & creativity).

R

Rewrite your future/story (imagination & renewal).

Thus, concentrating on:

Strengths

Opportunities

Aspirations

Results

In this process, engaging with the Five As is essential:

Awareness: self-observation and understanding, grounded in the present.

Acceptance: facing challenges rather than fighting or fleeing them.

Appreciation: gratitude for what one has and is.

Action: resolute decisiveness.

Adherence: commitment to the practice.

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