My name is Caryn Berley and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I live on land that was once tended by the indigenous nations of the Cowlitz, Cascades, Clackamas, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, also known as Portland, Oregon.

I am a white, cis, heterosexual, able-bodied, highly-educated, neurodivergent, Jewish woman who is in the “wellness” space. I used to feel embarrassed about all of my unearned privilege*. Over time, I have come to remember that I am worthy of showing up exactly as I am - and so are you.

In 2017, I was on track to becoming a Licensed Clinical Social Worker when it became apparent that I was woefully out of touch with my own intuition. I experienced burnout, depression, confusion, and doubt. In advocating for others, I had lost sight of who I was outside of who I served.

It was around then that the Enneagram found me. It made me feel seen on a deeper level than I had previously experienced. It gave me language for the familiar patterns that I hadn’t fully had language for, and it integrated psychology in a way that I found to be both profound and practical.

I recognized the need to shake things up to get back my life in alignment with my own desires so I could be in service in a way that also energized me.

So I dug in.

I went full force into Enneagram training, got certified as a coach, and put myself in spaces where I could explore who I really am without the pretenses I had been carrying around. It has not been comfortable.

In committing to my Inner Knowing, I’ve also committed to letting what I previously took to be “me” fall apart.

I don’t recommend doing this work without a ton of support, and I’ve been fortunate to have incredible mentors and journeymates along the way.

Eventually, I found the courage to follow my inner knowing and step outside of the formal systems of social work to embrace service through the lens of coaching in my own practice, drawing on my formal training, lived experience, and intuition to support my clients to embrace their inner knowing.

In this ongoing process, I have come to trust that we are all inherently creative, resourceful, and whole. I believe our mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual systems are intelligent and are in constant communication with us, offering clues and invitations to explore our deepest yearnings.

It took me a long time to include myself in this trust.

What I have come to know is that as we practice presence, we are able to see ourselves, each other, and reality more clearly. We can develop the capacity to meet our anger, grief, fear, pain, and discomfort with compassionate curiosity. And from there, we can take aligned action to transform ourselves and the world around us.

As we learn to recognize, honor, and then shed the conditioning that takes us away from our deepest truth, it becomes harder to stay in situations that deplete us, separate us from parts of ourselves, and diminish our true nature. When we liberate ourselves enough to make conscious and aligned choices, we naturally shake up things in our lives - and inspire others to shake things up as well.

My journey continues to be messy and is laden with tantrums from my ego (which I’m slowly learning to embrace). But even on my lowest days, I can honestly say that I believe I’m on the right path for me.

I’m still digging in. I’m still letting myself fall apart. I’m still shaking things up with the intention of disrupting the current paradigm. I’m still receiving a ton of support from others as I navigate this messy unfolding.

It’s my biggest delight in life to offer you the invitation to do the same. Not just for you, but because none of us is free until we are all free.

With Love,
~Caryn

P.S. For those who know the language of the Enneagram, I lead with Type 9 and I lean toward my 1 wing. After years of identifying as a sexual subtype (sx), I have come to see myself as social dominant (s0). I love building community around the Enneagram and love hearing how you found it (or how it found you!) and what you’re currently exploring in your own process of self-discovery!

*In addition to showing up as I am, I also recognize my responsibility to leverage the privilege I have to do the work to render my privilege unnecessary, which is why I’m committed to ethical and anti-racist business practices.