EPISODE · Jun 29, 2026 · 22 MIN
The Foundation Before the (Sexual) Fireworks
from Enneagram and Marriage · host Christa Hardin, MA
This is the turning point of the Summer of Intimacy, the bridge from everything we have built in June into the sexual intimacy series beginning in July. But this episode names something deeper that has been happening all along. All month, Christa has not been teaching you to try harder at your marriage, she has been guiding you toward second-order change, a concept from family systems work that means transforming the actual rules and patterns of your relationship rather than just doing more of the same. In this episode she unpacks the difference between first-order change, pressing the gas in a car stuck in the mud, and second-order change, getting out of the mud entirely, and shows how learning to bear witness, build love maps, and put safety before closeness are not just techniques, they were a rewiring of the whole system. Then we land in the research on desire, why for healthy people, desire is responsive and flows out of emotional connection rather than appearing on its own. This is the groundwork we lay before the fireworks. Watch on YouTube! Find more about your type, the pod, freebies, and SO much more at our website right here! www.EnneagramandMarriage.com Love what you're learning on E + M? Make sure you leave us a podcast review so others can find us, too here! Get Christa's Best-Selling Book, The Enneagram in Marriage, here! https://a.co/d/df8SxVx Show notes: Sign up for the Awakening Intimacy Intensive 5 week courses now (Awakening Connection or Awakening Joy) now!! Get your E + M Love Map Questions Freebie here! OPEN for Registration! The E + M Summer Intensives, Awakening Connection (Track 1) and Awakening Adventure (Track 2) beginning the week of July 13! Click here! Scroll down on our podcast page to find episodes on intimacy here! https://www.enneagramandmarriage.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
What this episode covers
This is the turning point of the Summer of Intimacy, the bridge from everything we have built in June into the sexual intimacy series beginning in July. But this episode names something deeper that has been happening all along. All month, Christa has not been teaching you to try harder at your marriage, she has been guiding you toward second-order change, a concept from family systems work that means transforming the actual rules and patterns of your relationship rather than just doing more of the same. In this episode she unpacks the difference between first-order change, pressing the gas in a car stuck in the mud, and second-order change, getting out of the mud entirely, and shows how learning to bear witness, build love maps, and put safety before closeness are not just techniques, they were a rewiring of the whole system. Then we land in the research on desire, why for healthy people, desire is responsive and flows out of emotional connection rather than appearing on its own. This is the groundwork we lay before the fireworks. Watch on YouTube! Find more about your type, the pod, freebies, and SO much more at our website right here! www.EnneagramandMarriage.com Love what you're learning on E + M? Make sure you leave us a podcast review so others can find us, too here! Get Christa's Best-Selling Book, The Enneagram in Marriage, here! https://a.co/d/df8SxVx Show notes: Sign up for the Awakening Intimacy Intensive 5 week courses now (Awakening Connection or Awakening Joy) now!! Get your E + M Love Map Questions Freebie here! OPEN for Registration! The E + M Summer Intensives, Awakening Connection (Track 1) and Awakening Adventure (Track 2) beginning the week of July 13! Click here! Scroll down on our podcast page to find episodes on intimacy here! https://www.enneagramandmarriage.com/pod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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The Foundation Before the (Sexual) Fireworks
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