Home · The Dr. Axe Show · Ep. 344
Episode 344 · The Dr. Josh Axe Show

Doctor: Your Personality Might Be Causing Your Biggest Health Problem

Your personality may be shaping your health more than you realize. In this episode, Dr. Josh Axe sits down with Dr. Chris Motley to unpack how Enneagram types influence everything from stress patterns to the foods, supplements, and detox strategies your body responds to best. Discover a more personalized path to healing by understanding how you’re wired: in your mind, body, and spirit.

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Josh

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Dr. Chris Motley

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Josh

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Dr. Chris Motley

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Josh

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Dr. Chris Motley

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Josh

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Dr. Chris Motley

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Josh

Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there. What if your personality type dictated your health? There are certain foods, vitamins, supplements, lifestyle practices that you want to follow based on your personality type.

Dr. Chris Motley

I wasn't just cleaning out the toxins. I was helping them also with alleviating some of their emotional stress. Cleaning out the organs started to help their emotions. Yeah. Oh, I'm so worried about, you know, my family. And I noticed, oh, they have a lot of stomach issues. Stomach and worry. I always pay attention to their history, and then I ask them specific questions. And try to find out more about what their personality is, because that will tell me which organ's congested. And then I work on that to help alleviate the emotions and stress. I started to see that those patients' personalities and their attitudes started to lighten up. Eczema.

Josh

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Dr. Chris Motley

Appreciate it so much. It's such a pleasure. Thank you, man. I really enjoy our conversations.

Josh

Well, I know we had a dinner conversation about this like 5 years ago, and I remember everyone at the table was so kind of, you know, drawn in by it because it was so fascinating, you and I kind of discussing and talking about, um, how our personalities can really have a big impact on the way our organs function and our needs for certain vitamins and minerals. And so I wanna talk about that today. The other thing I wanna get into is how, when we do a detox, you wanna consider multiple organs, and there's a very specific process people wanna follow, whether it's detoxing from parasites or mold or just general environmental detox, like supporting the liver. I wanna go through that today. And also there's certain times of year you wanna be doing a detox the right way, so I wanna do that. But I want to start off with this personality types and how that impacts your health. How did you discover this originally when you started working with patients, that you really noticed that, wow, this person's, uh, you know, the way that they deal with conflict or their personality type and their emotions have a really big impact on their health?

Dr. Chris Motley

I, I remember when I first started, and we talked about how individuals that would have a lot of liver congestion when they would detox, I noticed that in chiropractic, the middle mid-spine, lower T-spine, they say it always has to do with the liver. I started noticing that when I would work on those areas and individuals would start to get that area healed up, at times they would be a little more agitated. They would feel a little bit more, uh, quick to answer something a little harshly. And so as I started to study that more, we know that in Chinese medicine they'll say that the liver and the gallbladder has to do with some anger or frustration, resentment. Yeah. And if you look— the physiology, the biology books, they would say that our liver is highly responsible for how much we detoxify histamine. And so I always see that melding of the East and West where it says, okay, if your liver is congested, there could be a lot of histamine, a lot of inflammatory agents in there. And starting to work on the liver, starting to clean out, even if there's infections in there, I started to see that those patients' personalities and their attitude started to lighten up. Yeah. And especially children, children with liver congestion. And the parents would come in and say, hey, they're not as angry or They don't have as much anxiety as before. And then I started to really look at different levels of the spine and different organ toxicities. For instance, if a person had a little bit more fearful, they're a little more antsy to think that something bad's gonna happen. I noticed they all had kidney issues or UTIs or bladder infections across the board. So when I started to see if an organ was toxic, congested, I started to notice that if I really paid attention to, attitude, emotions, and personality. I wasn't just cleaning out the toxins, I was helping them also with alleviating some of their emotional stress. Cleaning out the organs started to help their emotions. Yeah. And I really paid attention if a patient came in, brother, they would come and they would say something like, oh, I'm so worried about, you know, my family. And I noticed, oh, they have a lot of stomach issues. Stomach and worry. Yeah. And so I think in my, um, not think, in my practice, what I do is with the organs, I always pay attention to their history, and then I ask them specific questions. Questions and try to find out more about what their personality is, because that will tell me which organ's congested. And then I work on that to help alleviate the emotions and stress.

Josh

Yeah, it makes sense. So what I want to do now is go through some of these different Enneagram types. Let's start with Enneagram, and we can talk— we can connect this back to other personality profiles that you may connect with and see if you fit this, and then we'll give our best recommendations there. So let's start off with Enneagram number 1. What is that personality type, and what are some things to know there, and what organs are affected?

Dr. Chris Motley

Number 1's more like the perfectionist, or the person who wants the reformation in their life. They are always going to strive to be the best at what they do. They're always going to try to find the perfect fit, and they're going to work their hardest at it. Um, in the Enneagram though, I always kind of equivocate it over to what we call like the body section of Chinese element. So number 1, and sometimes it's mixed with 9s, sometimes 8, and whenever I find a person has a number 1, I usually try to find out if they have a lot of wood quality. So 1s, 8s, and 9s are really perfectionists in a good way. Like, they really—

Josh

yeah. So let's— so I want to just clarify this real quick. So number 1s, these are the people, things are black and white. Yeah. Okay, things are black and white. They tend to be obsessive-compulsive, or they can be if they get out of balance. Again, they're the perfectionist person. They're that sort of person that wants regimen, they want structure, they want— and that's a really great quality.

Dr. Chris Motley

It is.

Josh

And so in Chinese medicine, that would tend to be a metal element. Okay. And that's sort of like, again, it's this side or this side. Something they can get cold about things and they— and, and, but, um, but sometimes it can move into that sort of wood element, which is more leadership and growth and that type of thing. And a little bit different as well, connected to the liver versus connect to the immune system. Yes. But I just wanted to clarify there. So continue on. So ones, these are the perfectionists, the OCD. Let's get it done.

Dr. Chris Motley

And the let's get it done, um, I love it because the mixture of if I want to get something done to grow My liver is the organ to help grow. It helps create your ligaments, your tendons, your hormones, your enzymes. So you are a person who wants growth and you also want structure to make it go. So you have to try to find the nutrients or the supplements that would actually help clarify the lungs, the colon, and the liver. So I always recommend detoxification with things like schisandra. Sometimes I'll do a little bit of milk thistle. And also I always find something that will help them clean the colon out. 'Cause if you're metal element, And I don't like to use, well, anal retentive. It can be very, very perfectionist, black and white, and some people can be really, really tight. So I always say clean the colon out, use cayenne, use different like slippery elm, use something to get the bowels moving and also get the liver to detoxify.

Josh

Yeah, because when you look at, uh, people with this personality trait, this number 1, yeah, they tend to often, uh, again, they tend to be a little bit less emotional. So, so they're the person, they're a little bit more grounded, sound thinking. They're definitely less emotional. They tend to be than other types, or at least they will keep keep it inside. They're not going to express it, so they keep it bottled up. And one important thing to note here is sometimes with number ones being more of that metal element, if there are things that have happened in the past, oftentimes they will bury it and not address it and just leave it there. And a lot of people do this, but it can be left buried in the past. And if that happens, something that's happened in the past that you've never addressed, that affects the lungs, that affects the colon, that starts to weigh down those organ systems. And your lungs and your colon that's your immune system. So we see this a lot with people with autoimmune disease.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes, yes. When you have like, uh, lupus, irritable bowel syndrome.

Josh

Yeah.

Dr. Chris Motley

When you have those kind of conditions that are in the colon, if you find yourself holding on to something, not letting it out, they would say that you are holding on to toxic things in your life, such as it could be infections or any type of like, uh, excess hormones in the gut. If you're not letting it out, it also backs up and it changes your nervous system, your neurology, your brain. And so you think I'm holding on to this toxic relationship. I'm holding on to this toxic workload. And so I always try to find out if the patient has that holding on. I gotta control this. I have to be very rigid about this or I don't feel safe. So then try to get it to flow out of the colon, and it usually changes their brain.

Josh

It's so good. I'm glad you used that word because that is probably one of the main words, if not the main word, that a 1, if you're working out of balance, you will try and control everything. So as a mom, you try and control— you're trying to control your kid, you're trying to control things are out of your control. And then it becomes a major, major stressor because God didn't create you to control things that are supposed to be in his control, right? And so it is a major, major stressor. So to Chris's, Dr. Chris's point, detoxifying the lungs. So going out and exercising and doing things like deep breathing, cleansing the colon, doing everything you can to keep the lungs and colon moving continually. And then the liver, to his point, is also very connected to this. And what happens is when you're a 1, what you do is you create barriers. This is why they call it a metal element, is they sort of like, you create barriers and everything. So, okay, uh, this part of my life's over here, this thing that's happened in the past, and this is over here. And you do it for protection, self-protection.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right.

Josh

But it's really important, to Dr. Chris's point, that we take care of the lungs. Uh, so it could be— again, exercise is very important for these, these types, especially cardiovascular, moving your lungs, doing things to support the colon, and doing things to support the liver. And then let's move into type 2.

Dr. Chris Motley

Type 2.

Josh

And by the way, number 1, if you would take like a Big Five or Myers-Briggs, these are the, like the judge, the judgmental types. Okay. So they are, again, think about like a, like, like, and, and some of these personality types, they'd be great attorneys or lawyers or accountants. It's, there's black and white. There's right and wrong in life.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah.

Josh

So that's number 1. Number 2, these are, I'll let you talk about it there. What, what, what number 2 is in the video?

Dr. Chris Motley

I kind of think of them as the caretakers.

Josh

Yes. 100%.

Dr. Chris Motley

The caretakers, people who, love to care for others in a sense more than they like to care for themselves. They're always looking out for the best for everybody else. They actually the people that will actually exhaust themselves because they're always going out and becoming a nurse, becoming a caregiver, somebody that sees the beauty in trying to create warmth and love. And so those individuals, usually when they care more for themselves, there's a couple of ways I like to look at it. Usually they have a lot of worry or they'll usually look into somebody saying, "I hope they're doing okay and I'm gonna do my best to help them." So I always say, we have to make sure that their digestive systems really clean out their upper digestion. Also, when they're caretakers, they also have a lot of heart. They really want— they want somebody to feel loved. Yeah. So you— I always tell the patient, we're going to give you a couple maybe herbals and supplements, stimulate and clean out that upper digestion area, that stomach area, so you don't feel the knot in the stomach. So I always like ginseng. I love American ginseng to help warm it up. And for the heart, I like something like Dan Shen to help keep it warm and try to flow and get the cardiovascular system. When you notice that your stomach releases and relaxes, you'll start to care for others, but I, I believe it's where you want to care for others, but also care for yourself. So when we're talking about doing something for others, make sure you give enough time for yourself as well.

Josh

And this is really tied to that motherly, uh, energy, right? In Chinese medicine, a lot of twos tend to be earth elements. Yep. And it's very tied to, to nourishment and care and love for others. And you know, when I think about some of the people I'm closest to, I surround myself with a lot of people that kind of have those two instincts. And Chelsea is a 3-2.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah.

Josh

You're probably a 9 too. I mean, when I think about you and Isaac Meek, I feel I see a lot of 9, but I also see some 2. Like, I mean, just a lot of being amazing at just caring and loving and nourishing and nurturing others. But again, that, that 2 there, the thing that you got to worry about with 2s is they tend to be people pleasers. Yes. Okay. That's good. So, and they also tend to pour so much of their lives out to others and then not fill themselves up enough.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes, that's exact. To me, I think that when you know that you are like that, me and Isaac will talk about that, and we have to keep a limit on ourselves. I always tell people that if you're a 2, you do have to get that metal quality sometimes. You gotta give yourself some boundaries. Yeah. You have to make sure that you don't overdo it. That's why I really appreciate, uh, friends that you have. You are so good at logistics, but knowing plans and such, you have a good metal quality about you, and you help me because as somebody that could have no boundaries, like, you need to set these boundaries. And it helps me to— and my personality.

Josh

Yeah, yeah. And this is why it's good to, uh, you know, have friends that are, uh, and fam— and spouses and things like that that help complete you, that help support you and kind of help, help you, uh, grow in areas, or, or set boundaries, or let the boundaries go for a time in order to grow. We were talking about our friend, uh, Isaac Meek. He is— him and his wife Stephanie are the founders of Five Daughters Bakery. If you've ever been to the Nashville or Atlanta area, they make these paleo donuts that are made with things like honey and maybe cassava flour. It's really clean, cleaner, healthier. They're paleo donuts. Yeah. And, and just amazing, amazing, amazing. But he has five daughters and his wife, Steph. And so we were just on a trip together at Men's Retreat in Park City, Utah. And so, you know, we hear him on the phone Like, yeah, I mean, he's like in full-time counselor mode and he used to be a youth pastor too before this. But you see him, I mean, he is like, he is, you know, a 2 and 9 to a T of always like caring and nurturing and loving and being the peacemaker. Peacemaker. Oftentimes we see that with 2s as well, right?

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes, he's doing that with us. Like we're over there, he's like trying to keep it like in a sense, like always keeping it healed.

Josh

He's the harmony.

Dr. Chris Motley

And at one point he went and he got, made us cookies and it was just so kind. You know, just wanting to make sure everybody was together.

Josh

And I think about this, so my mom growing up, She was a 2/1. Okay. So she was a 2. And like my mom to this day, the thing that fills her up the most is like her family together. Like if you think about the holidays and like, like, you know, for her, the most stressful thing is if like me and my siblings would not be getting along. Yeah. I mean, that like any disharmony in the home. Yeah. It just eats away at her so hard in her versus when the home is intact and there's harmony happening for 2s. And then my mom actually, you know, one of the biggest reasons I believe she got cancer was she was so driven by being a 2 that if she had any criticism whatsoever, she took it so personally. And it was literally like an open wound. It was like an injury, like a physical injury.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah.

Josh

And, uh, and so my— I had that mom growing up who was always trying to please everybody and do everything. She never said no. I mean, just giving and giving and giving until she had nothing left, right?

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

And we see that actually Chinese medicine will talk about that breast cancer.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

You know, that being one of the biggest causes of where a woman will just give everything and never, never fill herself back up.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. And the breast cancer and breast tissue, when we think about how a mother gives to their kid, yeah, that child through breast milk, yeah, that is initiated psychologically, emotionally, physically, and they're giving everything. And then if they are stuck in that mode all their life, it can put a lot of stress on those glands and those organs.

Josh

Yeah, yeah. And so, so let's get like Practical here, you mentioned a few things with twos. Yep. What you really wanna do there with twos, because you are doing so much of nurturing others, you've gotta nurture yourself.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes. Yes.

Josh

So you can better nurture others. So I think there's sort of like even biblical or ancient wisdom around this and sort of like we need to fill up our cup. We need to be filled up with the Holy Spirit so we can pour that out onto others in a very similar way. So with this, think about Thanksgiving, like nurturing meals. Like you tend to need chicken vegetable soup, shepherd's pie, pumpkin pie. Like a lot of those orange foods. Yes, ginger and cinnamon, amazing, very, very nurturing. And a lot of women, because kind of the fad today is do salads, do smoothies, do ice cold drinks, the reality is you're much better off doing a lot of these really warming herbal teas, warming soups in most cases. And also, it's not— you're meant to pour into others, but taking just a couple hours a week or in, in addition to that, maybe 20, 30 minutes a day for self-care, for pausing. Because a lot of women, a lot of moms today, I mean, from the moment they wake up to the moment they went to bed, they have something scheduled of just pouring themselves out.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right.

Josh

So being able to fill— think about that. Like, I'd get out a sheet of paper, uh, or a computer and write down what are the things that fill up your cup. Yes. And start doing more of that on a regular basis.

Dr. Chris Motley

I totally agree. You hit the nail on the head. I think that when you can make a journal about what you are doing to give enough energy back, because the better you take care of yourself, the better you'll take care of others.

Josh

And organ-wise, you mentioned this, I think a lot of it's the upper GI, right? It's the stomach channel that's the most, you know, that upper digestion that's the most affected for those people.

Dr. Chris Motley

Totally. And if you wanted to look into betaine HCL or some pepsin or something to stimulate the stomach, we talked about the ginger. Remember, like you were talking about eating some foods that are like yellow, orange? You want to stimulate the acids in your stomach. And what will happen I find that people give out and don't receive is that they'll skip their meals. They will skip their meals so much, they're like, I'm going to make sure everybody's taken care of, so I'm going to keep myself from eating. You want to stimulate your stomach so that you can receive. You need to learn how to receive. That's how upper digestion is all about, being able to have somebody give back to you.

Josh

Yeah. And I think— and this is interesting too— here's another thing that happens. This happens with twos and earth elements where they can often become overweight. And here's one reason why, is there's a lot of psychological eating because they're not nourished. And it could be maybe their spouse isn't isn't pursuing and loving them the way they should, or they're not feeling affection and love 'cause they've poured out so much. Listen, if you pour out a lot of love, you need to have love poured into you.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's good.

Josh

You will actually eat food to try and fill the void.

Dr. Chris Motley

Wow.

Josh

That's one thing that starts to happen. 'Cause think about the quintessential, like movies where there's a bad breakup.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

And a girl all of a sudden is, they had love and now the love is gone. Yep. Eating a pint of ice cream, eating a bag of potato chips, eating a whole pizza. That's in movies because that sort of thing has happened in real life and is true. But there is this void you're trying to fill. Yes. And so, and of course there are some spiritual things doing and really spending time with Christ and having God fill you. Mm-hmm. That is a really important piece. But also thinking about when you're eating, truly nourishing yourself. What we tend to do is we tend to crave carbohydrates, but those carbohydrates really should be things that are subtly sweet, like cinnamon, or pumpkin or squash, not again these refined carbohydrates. That's right. You do need to nurture yourself. You do need to listen to your body, but we tend to feed it in the, in the wrong way.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. That's right. I always, always pay attention. You're right.

Josh

What you're eating. Number 4. All right, number 4. I know, no, number 3. Number 3. Okay, number 3. Number 3. I'll have you talk about these. These are the competitors.

Dr. Chris Motley

The competitors, the achievers. Yeah. Individuals, um, that make make life interesting. So the people who are Achievers, they want to get ahead in a positive way. They are very— like in sports, you would have a very boring sports field out there if you didn't have the Achievers. And I think that also pours into how we look at our business, how we look at life. We want to achieve, and we want to make sure that we get— we want our family to get ahead. So anybody that's an Achiever, I always say that has to do with a lot of energy production and a lot of mental focus. There are a few times I think that there could be mixtures of how people would say that these individuals use a lot of their brain power, which could be kidney me, but I like fire. It's fire. It's like I'm an achiever, I'm going to go out and accomplish something. I always say, you always nourish your heart, your adrenals, and your thyroid. Those are the ones I always— I say endocrine system. So if you're asking me which ones you— we talk about tulsi or holy basil. I like holy basil. I like ashwagandha. Yeah, I like using those to nourish those. And in personality, when you achieve, um, a lot of times the achievers— I want to get your viewpoint on this. Yeah, they, they want to achieve, and sometimes they can be a little self-critical. That I need to achieve this. I didn't do enough. I can't do enough. If you're like that, you need to keep an eye on that.

Josh

Yeah. Number 3s, and by the way, my wife Chelsea's a 3-2. I'm thinking about like the people that I know. I know a lot of 3-2s and those are the other group of people that are really close to me. Probably the most people that I know that I'm close with. And then again, I've got a lot of other like, you know, 9s. Exactly. So, but Chelsea's a 3-2. My brother-in-law Noah's a 3-2. Andrew East, who we know, Andrew's a 3-2. And so there are a— yeah, so a lot of people— Dan Sullivan, he's a 3/2. So we've got a lot of friends that are 3/2s. And the 3s here are— what they struggle with is self-comparison oftentimes. That's crazy. They're saying, this person's here, and because they're competitive, and it all depends on how you look at it. If you can keep it balanced to where you look at another person and you can stay happy for them and saying, Hey, you know what? They're just pushing me to be better. Yep. That's a healthy mental way for a 3. Yes. Just to allow other people to help them grow.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

But if they're looking at them and there's this level of biblical, a level of envy.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

Or jealousy, or I want what they have, or this sort of thing where you feel like, like I have someone else I'm thinking of who's a 3-2. Mm-hmm. And they are in the top 2% in their field in success, I would say. So very successful. Yes, yes. However, they will compare themselves to the person who's number one in the field, the top 1%. Oh, so they are constantly feeling like they're a failure.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah, totally.

Josh

And so that, that's sort of that ditch. Yes. That threes can get into. And the other thing, threes, and this is really important, is that they tend to burn up a lot of cortisol.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes, yes, they will burn up a lot of cortisol. Perfect point. Because when you burn up that cortisol to achieve, one of the biggest things is when you get that drop in cortisol, you naturally notice that you start to have depression. You can have a little bit sickness, sadness. And like you said, self-comparison. I find that individual 3 had to be very careful of self-shame. Like you just said, I didn't do enough. And I always ask my patient, if you feel that you are not good enough and you, you're starting to self-shame a bit, like I didn't do this great, I didn't do this, make sure that you start to nourish those organs. And always write down— I tell them, who's your, who's your idol, or who's your person you look up to? And like you just— I love the way make sure that you know that those individuals are cheering you on. They're not trying to say that you need to keep you down here.

Josh

Well, and this is also, 3s tend to be very, they tend to be more extroverted. They're not always extroverted. 3s tend to be, to your point, they are looking at other people, they're looking for validation. There's some of that happening. But going back to this, 3s, their first hormone they're gonna tip off tends to be cortisol. Yeah. Okay. Well, you tip off cortisol and here's what I see a lot of times too with 3s. If they, if they go way too far out of bounds, what their entire life becomes about achieving.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right.

Josh

The women will end up with hypothyroidism because that cortisol finally gets to the point where it affects estrogen, insulin, and then later on it starts to affect thyroid hormones and knock the thyroid hormones down. For men, they'll start to have low testosterone. Yes. And the reason it's like, okay, if you're going, going, going, going. And so for a lot of those people, like, I think about some men I know where they just became overachievers in everything and tried to just— they poured themselves out, they were kind of like, they were happy and motivated and pursuing their woman, doing all these things in high school and 20s. And then they get to the point, like in their mid-30s and 40s, where they're like, they're just burnt out. And like they lack the motivation, the testosterone starts to drop down, that starts to happen. So I think for women, to your point, doing those adaptogenic herbs to keep cortisol in balance, you mentioned holy basil, you mentioned ashwagandha, absolutely agree. For men, get good sleep, take downtime, lift weights, eat red meat, do everything you can to stimulate growth. And, uh, that's right, that's good. And the other thing is too, I think sometimes, you know, maybe you're hanging out with men less than you used to. Maybe you had a family and you're spending a lot of time with family and a ton of time at work. So today, maybe you're— a lot of men I see this are working 50 hours. Yeah. So I mean, they don't have this sort of time where they're kind of iron sharpens iron with other men, male bonding. Like, there's a study that came out and said men are the happiest if they can spend at least one day a week, if not two, for a couple hours with other men, whether it's working out or doing a guy's night or something like that. Actually, it's really important for men and their mental health and their testosterone. Yes. In order to do that.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes, I, I agree. Because whenever you find that you are not hanging out or doing things to help build your muscle, some of the biggest keys when you have low testosterone, thyroid issues, I always say at those small signs and subtle things that come up. The tire around the gut. If you start to get a little weight gain around the gut, if you notice that your muscles are getting a little flaccid because that cortisol level is high, it's robbing your muscles of energy. You start noticing that you're having a little bit more of the cortisol high, your adrenaline is a little off, off skew on your blood work. Make sure that you make sure these little signs and symptoms are taken into account.

Josh

You know, another thing here is we're kind of talking about threes Threes can be a number of different elements. One of the elements in Chinese medicine, though, that we could talk about just quickly is the water element. And I think there's this element of threes where they are climbing the mountain. Okay. They're always trying to achieve and go up, up, up, up.

Dr. Chris Motley

Wow.

Josh

Yeah. However, one of the most important practices for everyone across the board that we get very little of today is going very deep. Like my wife Chelsea, she's a 3 too.

Dr. Chris Motley

Oh, man.

Josh

She loves climbing. She loves achieving. She loves going for it. And she is way better at doing that if she has time where she can spend, you know, 30 minutes a few days a week or an hour reading her Bible and meditating and highlighting and praying and like going deep. And that's another, I think, important thing. Think about it like this, is like a tree. Like a tree can only grow really tall and not get knocked over by a storm. Yes. If its roots are going really, really deep into the earth to anchor it down.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's good.

Josh

And so that's another thing I think that's really important for people as we're talking about cortisol. Yeah. Because cortisol Cortisol is the hormone of movement. You're moving, you're active, you're doing things. Melatonin, that opposite, that deep, that, that, that, that, uh, which is interesting, melatonin like actually goes into your cell, into your mitochondria. It is the hormone of depth, of meditation, of, of, of those sort of things. And so you need to balance out that cortisol with going really deep emotionally. Spiritually, digging deep, reading God's word, meditating, doing those things, and having good sleep. That's right. And if you do that, you'll be able to scale so much higher and further if you build that, that, that anchor.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. And you'll start to notice that the symptoms that you are having, like some of the weight gain and some of the things that come up, even, you know, the dry skin, and you could have thyroid issues, like loss of third of the eyebrows on the outside, those little things you'll take notice of. You'll start seeing those things start to diminish if you start to get deeper. And I love how You put it— when you take melatonin, I love when patients come in and I'll give them a higher dosage of melatonin at times, and they'll tell you, me, that their sleep gets deeper, they start to dream more, and they feel like they're more connected to themselves.

Josh

Yes, 100%.

Dr. Chris Motley

I love it.

Josh

Hey, so if you've ever thought, something is wrong with me but I just can't prove it, then this is for you. Now, you might be eating clean, even what you feel like is perfect, working out, taking all the right supplements, but you're still exhausted. Still foggy, gaining weight, and you're not sleeping. And every time you ask for help, you hear the same thing. But your labs are normal. Here's what that actually means. Standard bloodwork only shows what's in your blood, not whether your cells can actually access it or not. You can give your body all the right inputs, but if your cells are in danger mode, chronically stressed or inflamed, they can't absorb or use those nutrients properly. If you're finally ready to heal, go to mybloodwork.com. You'll get an at-home cellular blood work panel shipped straight to your home and reviewed on a private call with one of my senior health advisors at the Health Institute. And this will help you finally connect the dots between your symptoms at the cellular level. We'll also determine if you're a good candidate for one of our cellular healing protocols so you can finally experience lasting healing. Clean. Once again, go to mybloodwork.com to check it out. All right, the next Enneagram here we're gonna hit on is number 4s. Okay, now I've got a 4 in my family. I've got a couple 4s actually. I've got my sister and sister-in-law. They are— they've got their 4s. And so 4s are— and then we were talking about— so I think, I think Steph Meeks— so Isaac, we talked about him. His wife Steph is probably a 3/4.

Dr. Chris Motley

3/4.

Josh

What do you think Steph is?

Dr. Chris Motley

I think she would be a 3/4. I think 'cause that Achiever personality comes in.

Josh

That fire element. I mean, she's very fire. She's a fire element in Chinese medicine in that way. And so, but, but, but talk to us about, about 4s.

Dr. Chris Motley

4s to me though, when they have the tendency to, like you say, when they're very, very passionate, but they can also be in a sense independent, they can be a little internalizing. So those individuals are always seeking how they're unique. They're always trying to find out how they're individual. So some people who are artists, people who are the frontman of a band, people who are very, very intellectual. They know that they're unique and they wanna be sort of set apart. So I always say that individuals that get withdrawn and people who like to write poetry, people who like to think of an idea like a screenplay, those individuals to me are fours. They're just naturally artistic. And I always tell people that if you're a four and you can get withdrawn within yourself, you at times can be very isolated. That's one thing about the fours. And I tell people, you can be very artistic and still be expressive. You still want to be around people and still make sure that you have your community. Because if you're too withdrawn, one of the things that you'll find out though is you'll start to lose that passion to be with other people, and you can start to feel lonely, and you can feel very abandoned about it.

Josh

That's so good. It's so good. One of the things is, we were talking about 3s, they're like going as— I mean, they're like climbing to the top of the mountain. 4s are a lot of times spending almost too much time sometimes in stillness.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

And isolation. And sometimes they have the opposite problem, uh, problem. In those cases. The other thing is they tend to be empaths. They tend to— they're the people where, you know, they can find the person in the room that is having an emotionally hard day, that's struggling. Like, they feel the pain of others. Like, I'll share this. So like my sister and sister-in-law, yeah, they'll see something on the news and, and they'll, they'll be shook up about it. They'll cry. Yeah. I mean, they will be emotionally upset. I mean, if they see something has happened to another family or an animal or something like I mean, they are literally moved to physical tears, and it's really impacting them in such a big way because they lit— and is what a gift in ways to be able to feel the pain of others and notice when someone else is hurting.

Dr. Chris Motley

That is true. I love the way you put that they're empathic. And when they say empath, if you start to know that you can feel other individuals, one of the biggest keys that I, I always look at the heart and I look at their cardio system because they say the heart's so in tuned with the vibrations and the energy of other people. So So I always encourage that the 4s strengthen up their cardiovascular system, their blood flow. And that's like with exercise, it's about doing some things high intensity to get that energy of that heart up. Because if you don't encourage strength of the heart, one of the biggest keys, you'll start to feel more abandoned, more alone, more isolated.

Josh

Yeah, and I think those types will tend to, because they, listen, again, it's a gift being able to feel the emotions of others, but they also tend to overemotionalize things. They're going to have more ups and downs emotionally. Their hormones will tend to go, uh, have greater spikes. Like, I've noticed with, with 4s who I've had as patients or family members, they will, um, they tend to have, uh, a much rougher menstrual cycle.

Dr. Chris Motley

Wow, that's good.

Josh

Yeah, very commonly, because we're just seeing much more of these hormone spikes, ups and down, um, with, with those 4s as well. So something that's really important is, is that you And so sometimes you'd see these people, they're overly dramatic. Yeah. Right? To your point, sometimes they want the spotlight, but they are the artists, the musicians, the creators. I mean, you know, they're those people that have such great gifts, but they also, and I was thinking about this as well, a lot of the women, they will tend to sometimes have their estrogen too high and their progesterone will get too low. And the progesterone is that stability hormone, emotional stability, keeping you anchored, your mind really sound. And so it's really important that you are eating for your hormonal health, you're eating for stability. And I would really focus on insulin. I mean, if your blood sugar is up and down all day, all the time, and sometimes the artist's 10, again, it's like, I'm going to stay up till 2 AM. I'm like going to be like, like there's this variation all the time.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

But the more that you can create some level of stability there, again, insulin, eating more protein, more fiber, more healthy fat. Fat, low moderate carb, taking supplements that balance blood sugar like cinnamon, like berberine. You know, keeping that balance is really important.

Dr. Chris Motley

That is. And I think that's when you have good friendships, because even for a 4, I'm not saying you go out and get a whole bunch of friends, but having good friends that know how to, like you say, stay steady. It's really important for the 4s to have a steady friend.

Josh

Well, the other thing is, for 4s, is you need to have friends around you that you can trust and that are there really supporting you. Yes. Because if you— here's what happens. Like becomes like. Yeah. Okay. If you are around a lot of other 4s all the time. Yeah. And you guys, everybody's up and down together. Everybody's influenced. You need to surround yourself with anchors and around people that are like solid rocks helping support you and that are the right encouraging people. Because if not, like you're already prone to feel like you're betrayed, even if, even if you're, even if it was like, like for me, I like I'm, I'm an 8 and we'll get into that. And I'm a little bit like, I was betrayed. Okay, well, nice person. Like, it's not, but fours will take a betrayal and it will affect them. It's like a deep wound.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

The rest of their life. Yes. Yes. It can be if you don't really turn to God and really focus on healing the right way and build that sound mind. But if not, you can be wounded and it can affect your whole life because you feel emotions more than others. So you really need to be more, even more protective about your relationship. Because they tend to affect you more.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. I, I love the way you put the up and down, and I think that really having those stable friends and working on your blood sugar, whether it's using something like the ginseng or using something to— or chromium. Yeah, using something to stabilize your blood sugar, something that gives you a little bit more warmth and control of your heart, uh, hawthorn berry, maybe some dānshēn. Using things to stabilize the heart when it feels comfortable will make it feel steady and you'll feel more warmth and you won't feel so abandoned. And so you won't have those emotional up and downs.

Josh

Yeah. All right, let's talk about 5. By the way, of all of the types, I probably know the least amount of 5s, but I know one that we both know pretty well, Dr. Will Cole. Yeah, he is a 5.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's— yeah.

Josh

And so I just want to share this about, about 5s, okay? And let me share this about Will. I'm like, so Will and I, you know, we all went to London together last year and, uh, and, and spoke at the— we were at the Health Optimization Summit. It was a great event. And with Will, and I've traveled a fair amount with Will and I talk to Will quite a bit and I'm like, if, like, if I would on a general day, you know what Will does? He will go down the rabbit hole on the internet for 3 hours, you know, reading about something that happened in 19 or no, like 1773 where this, you know, this person did this and this happened and whatever. So like, but talk to us about fives a little bit because it's a really interesting, it's a really interesting type.

Dr. Chris Motley

Type? There is— the Fives are so intellectual in the sense that they dive deep and they will, I say, internalize information. They're the investigators. They're the individuals that will always find out if a person is telling the truth or if what the information out there is truly what it says. And so if you tell a Five something, they're going to take what you said and investigate it, and they're going to find out. And they're great at finding out if a person's a liar, or they think if somebody— they smell a rat, they're I'm like, no, that, that's not true. And so the, the people out there are the individuals who could be like really good lawyers and really good people who are on the law because they can really investigate.

Josh

And I would even say scientists, like they're, they're the research— researchers are going deep. It's like, again, I mentioned with— well, like, hey, what did you read? You know, I, I read the biography of, you know, 30 people this year. Okay, you know, and then I read one about this and this and this. And so yeah, they're the researchers, they're going very, very deep. Now, what can happen to some of those people is, and actually similar to 4 sometimes, is this level of sometimes isolation or almost mental fatigue because you research so much that it's, you're exhausting some of those mental channels.

Dr. Chris Motley

Totally. I think that that's one of the biggest things when individuals are 5 that come in. They are literally the people that say, I can't think, my brain is too tired. I just feel so fatigued. I don't want to look or think about another thing. I don't want to try to figure this next problem out. So if you get to that point where small problems are hard for you to figure out or solve and you're a 5, we need to clear up the brain and we need to strengthen the brain.

Josh

Yeah.

Dr. Chris Motley

One of the biggest things I find that really help though is really keeping the kidneys clean and the urinary system because— Yeah. The kidneys really help with your bone marrow and the marrow of your skull to create more red blood cells. It helps it encourage the iron, oxygen within your bones and within your head. So they always tell us in Chinese medicine and even Western medicine, Western medicine, they say if a person has weak kidneys, they will have weak thinking. And so I always try to give them something to start clarifying the kidneys to help their thinking.

Josh

Well, you know what's interesting about that? And, uh, uh, yeah, and I want to say this as well. One thing, as you're listening to this conversation, one thing, when I started reading sort of this material, I, I always start to think about who are those people in my life that are like this that I can actually help support and understand them better. I mean, there's so much me knowing that Chelsea is such an achiever and what she's doing, but she's also very supported and can, you know, could tend to want to please people and say yes to things. So now, I mean, this is where it comes in. Chelsea's just going to say yes and I'm just going to say no. You know, it's sort of this thing where it's like, but I'm her protector because I know she is going to say yes to everything. I will step in and be like, no, we can't do it. If I know that it's going to make her uncomfortable or we need to create a family boundary.

Dr. Chris Motley

Right.

Josh

So, so I think there's so much value in being able to know other people, those types. As we talk about 5s, this is the sort of person that will be in the lab all day, in the library all day, in the book all day, and then they'll do it for so many days and you're like, you need to get outside.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

One of the greatest therapies is sunlight. In fact, a lot of people— the way that vitamin D is created in your body is you sort of absorb it through your skin via cholesterol, and then it goes to your liver that activates it. But then it's your kidneys as well that's sort of responsible for part of vitamin D utilization. And so your kidneys, to Dr. Chris's point, is a really important organ to support there. But I would say for 5s, you need to balance going deep, but then getting outside, moving, doing things, being active. To your point, I think it's a really, really important combination there. And keeping just flow and movement continuing to happen, because when you go really deep or you're indoors a lot, that can create a level of stagnation. We got to keep moving things.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's true. When you get so caught up in your thoughts and say, you're inside and you're investigating and you don't move, you're not producing those certain types of proteins that your body and your muscles need to create with movement. And that feeds your brain.

Josh

The—

Dr. Chris Motley

those brain-derived neurotropin factors are really encouraged and strengthened by sort of myokines, those little, like, those little muscle proteins and molecules that go up to your brain. And you need to have movement. One of the biggest things too is individuals who overwork their brain, they'll always have like a stiff back because kidneys always have to do with the hip flexors. You need to stretch your adductors. You need to make sure that that your quads are stretched, and you need to make sure that you get a really good strong core if you're going to do something like that.

Josh

Yeah, I would say a prescription here, and this is something I know Dr. Cole does— we talked about him being a 5— is he's that person doing deep research. But I've noticed when he's doing a lot of his calls now, he has a treadmill.

Dr. Chris Motley

Does he?

Josh

And so he's actually even— yeah, so he'll do all of his calls and keep moving. But it's really wise on his part. So if you have— if you're a 5 and you're that deep researcher digging deep all the time, you're indoors, you're a lab tech, you're whatever, or you want to be able to 3 times a day get outside, take a 20-minute walk. Yes. Something like that where you're breaking up the research, the reading, those sort of things. And you just need to create boundaries. Yes. Because like you're going to go deep, but you're going to— and they also tend to sometimes dive into more conspiracy theories. And not to say sometimes conspiracy theories are absolutely right and sometimes they're not, but it's less about that. It's more about, okay, there is a level of where you got to take breaks from that. Yes. All right. Yes.

Dr. Chris Motley

Let's dive in. So again, we talked about this.

Josh

Just sunshine, sunshine, sunshine. Get outdoors more often. Care for the kidneys. Yes.

Dr. Chris Motley

Number 6s. Number 6s.

Josh

I don't know a lot of 6s either, but I know one. We talked about Andrew East earlier. Sean Johnson East.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yep.

Josh

His wife, uh, Sean is definitely a 6. I can remember Chelsea and I sitting in a room with Sean, and she's looking around, and we're like, what is she looking at? Like, 6s are ultra loyal.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yep.

Josh

But But they're also like, I'm trying to think the best way to put this. She was like planning, like if something went really wrong, they're the warriors. Like, like, like they're like the something could go wrong. She was like planning the escape if like something would, you know, like, like, like happen or go wrong. And I'm like, anyways, it's just not the way I think. But it was so, it's so great. So 6s are, they're loyal. They're loyal.

Dr. Chris Motley

I always looked at them as the, the individual in school when they were younger that always looked out for the underdog. They're always right. They're loyal to a, fault. They will— if somebody's getting treated bad, I'm going to be loyal to that person, I'm gonna be compassionate. And as they're, as they're rooting for that underdog, they will get worried for that person, and they will find a way to make sure they're protected. And you'll find a lot of individuals, they're always, um, as a 6, um, wanting protection for others. So you'll see them like looking for an escape route, people that has the go bags, people that says, I have I don't have enough, you know, things to help protect my family. And when they get to that point, I always say, you're worried, but you have fear. So you have to be careful if you're a loyalist, that you're not in a fear mode for other people's lives. Like you're not afraid that something bad's gonna happen to them. So I always try to encourage, what's the fear? Is kidney and bladder. So I always say that it may sound unusual, but when you are driven by fear, they always say your kidney chi and your adrenals are really, really drained. So we always talk about adaptogens to help your adrenals. And when you say go outside, the other thing too I love about kidneys is if you're fearful, one of the biggest things is like, make sure you spend time in water. I don't know what it is. Yeah. You need to ground out and get in water. If you love the ocean, you probably are a 6, get out there and get some water in there and get some activity.

Josh

Yeah, yeah, I think that's great. You know, when I think about more of those kind of motherly instincts, I think that, you know, 6s embody a lot of those. I mean, I think 2s as well, we talked about. I think there's elements of 9, but I do think 6s are part of that as well. And so I, but there's also, to your point, I think there's this level of, oftentimes there can be a level of, and when we use the word fear, fear does not necessarily mean like you are really like frightened or scared. Fear could be fear of disappointing others, fear of never having your dreams come true, fear of something bad's gonna happen to your kids. That's a really, really common one there. But fear of others. Or again, like, like, I'll give you, you know, we had this ice storm in Nashville here. Oh yeah, a few months back. And it's like Sixes are, I mean, they were the first ones that wiped out the bread and milk out of the grocery store. They were the first ones that, you know, uh, you know, just were like, they, they were on it.

Dr. Chris Motley

They were on it.

Josh

They were on it. Okay, so, so it is important as well. And so, and part of that is, you know, I think from, I think about like meditating on the Bible, Matthew 5 and 6, the Psalms. Like, God is for you, he's not against. Like, like, like, he, he is your right hand, he's your helper, he's your fortress, he's your protector. So I think, you know, meditating on the Bible and knowing, yeah, hey, you can only control things in your control, then don't worry. It doesn't add, you know, anything to your life, you know. So, um, I think that there's that element to your point as well. Yeah. Also those adaptogenic herbs, and I think I think some of those adaptogenic herbs are going to be more of the— you know, we talked about the adaptogens earlier for the 3s.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yep.

Josh

I tend to think of those as being more of those, maybe like the ashwagandha and the rhodiola, more of those yang chi boosters that can be more energizing. A lot of times for 6s, to kind of calm your mind down a little bit, it might be more beneficial to do things like the reishi mushrooms. So those sort of that are a little bit more adaptogenic but calming, supporting sleep. Yes, calming the mind could be good there too. Love it. I want to dive into 7s here. Yep. And there's quite a few, so I know quite a few 7s. Yeah, 7s are the party people. Let's, you know, let's have some fun. Let's make fun of this. So, so let's, uh, let's talk about, talk about 7s.

Dr. Chris Motley

They are the, the— I think they're all fire. I think that they are the people who want the life of the party. Life would be very, very boring if you didn't have a 7 in your life, so things would not be fun. They're the individuals like If you're a person who's a 5, like it's always internal, your 7 friend's gonna be the person that goes, "Come on, we need to go out and have a great time and come out with me and let's have a get-together." So 7s always wanna get together. They always wanna bring people together. They're compassionate. They really, really strive and work themselves overboard to make sure everybody is together and that they have a good community. That's where some mothers, some individuals, they wanna have their family reunion. They wanna have all the people together. Every Christmas. Christmas, everything's good. Oh yeah. And if they— the other problem is if you overwork yourself being the 7, you'll start to get a little resentful and upset because you're doing so much to bring everybody together. So I'm saying as much as you want everybody to come together, you need time for yourself. That's what I believe.

Josh

Yeah, yeah. You know what I'm thinking about? So actually, I just realized, I think Steph Meek is a 7, by the way. I think she's a 7/8, actually. I'm almost certain of it. Um, well, we'll have to tell her to listen to this episode. Uh, so, so, but, but 7s are, again, they are, let's have fun. Like, let's, like, like, this is really, it's, it's really important to them that they are having joy and fun and having a great experience.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

And, um, and they tend to be more extroverted. Yes. Oftentimes. Yes. A lot of times we see that with 7s. And so, but, but 7s are, you know, it just, it's like anything, it's just about creating a balance. That's your gift. Lean into that. You should be having fun. That's it. That's really important today. But then there's also this importance of discipline. I think 7s have the hardest time with what 1s have the easiest time with. Yes. And that's creating structure in their life.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

Okay. That sort of really hard structure and discipline. And you know, like 7s tend to be great at doing things and moving and putting on events and doing those things. But if it's done without structure, it's not scalable. Like there's, there's growth doesn't happen. I think about it like this. That's very important, bro. If you try to do a garden, like certain plants, yes. In order for them to grow, grow. Like, we, we did a garden, um, last year. And so, like, for our tomato and cucumber plants, we did towers, right, to kind of allow them to really grow up and thrive. And green beans. And that's what sevens are like. Sevens, you're natural. Listen, you're gonna grow. Yes. Okay, you're gonna grow. You're gonna be around people. You're the life of the party. All that's happening.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah.

Josh

But if you want to thrive in life, your greatest weakness that— if, or at least if you If you don't make sure you're able to do this, you'll get stagnant or rot or things won't happen the way they should if there's not structure there.

Dr. Chris Motley

That is totally true. And I love it when you say they need structure 'cause it's really important if you're the life of the party to allow somebody that has structure, that somebody that can help feed you to help your growth. Because what I find is when they get burned out and when they're always going at it, there can be a level of, not say perfectionism, I just find that they're gonna get everybody together. They want everything to be kind of in its right place.

Josh

Yeah, yeah. To make sure that it's all ready to go.

Dr. Chris Motley

And they almost think that I'm gonna do this the right way, so let me do it and I'll put it all on my shoulders.

Josh

Yeah, I mean, I think about it like this. Okay, let's say for instance you're going on a family vacation. Yep. Okay, and let's just use, you know, the woman's the 7 and let's say, you know, the husband's the 1. Yeah. Okay, somewhere there. Okay, the 7 is like, all right, like, and they've got kids, we're gonna do this and this, like we're gonna go swimming in the ocean and then we're gonna go dinner at this place, we're gonna meet this couple for dinner, we're gonna do all of this. And the one is also has to say, okay, honey, we also need to, you know, what we gotta consider a budget. Yep. Right? So there's a budget for this. This is the amount of days. Yeah. We also do need to, you know, eat, you know, or something like, we also do need to, you know, like have the, like, but just, we also need to have the structure. So, and this is what great relationships are. There's this level of, especially a husband and wife, there's this element of, of give and take, but knowing each other's gifts and allows you to build and grow to the highest level when that happens. But again, as we're talking about 7s, you need that structure. And so really, I would just say for 7s, from a dietary standpoint, you just being consistent with your meals, eating breakfast, lunch, and dinner, trying to go to bed at similar times or almost the same time. And a similar conversation earlier, insulin. Make sure you're getting protein, make sure you're getting fiber, make sure you're getting stable blood sugar. Uh, but, but those are those. And the other thing I noticed too, 7s have a harder time with consistent workout unless they've got a group they're doing it with. Yeah. And they tend to have higher adaptability if they have a workout partner or it's group fitness or a trainer or someone like that. Yeah. Their ability to be more consistent goes up because again, that's their partner in consistency they're gonna move, they can get into it, right? That's right, that's right. That's important for them.

Dr. Chris Motley

That is, I think that if you have a fire, you're the life of the party, you gotta, you know, big street, you just need to make sure that you don't burn yourself out, like the fire just gets burned out. You gotta have a nice direction to where you can put that energy into. If you have a great group of people, you can have your passion, you can have a fun time, but I always tell individuals, if you are passionate and you have somebody to help funnel that passion Remember, as you said, find a good group, but also know your day, your cortisol levels, your insulin levels. Most people who are a life of the party, I always find this, they always usually will burn out. And I say this lovingly, it's not towards the afternoon or evening, they will get stuff rolling and usually around that 4 or 5 o'clock because that's when you need to start rebuilding your cortisol and start rebuilding all these hormones. So I'd say calm down towards the afternoon.

Josh

Well, yeah, exactly. It's this habit of, hey, once dinner hits too, especially early, that's time for calmness, relaxation, more, you know, kind of dialing that back. All right, let's dive into 8s. I'm a very— I'm like, you gotta go. I'm very 8. Yeah, I'm very 8. And, uh, well, let me— all of you talk about 8s first, and then I'll, and then I'll jump in.

Dr. Chris Motley

I— the 8s are— I, I mean, my first thing is the individual who is, I say, the justice seeker, the individual who is, I don't say confrontational. An 8 knows who they are, in my opinion. Like, you're an 8 and you know what you want. You know how things work. And I say confrontational or the justice seeker is like they're always going to right the wrong. And it's not just about like law and order, but it's always saying that I'm going to make sure that I will produce things and be very, very good at producing things. But it's also to protect others in the sense that I'm going to put good things out there and it's going to help everybody. And I always say that if you're an 8 usually have a lot of metal quality with you. You usually are very, very structured about where you're at. And when I say that people are really good judges, they're really good people who are judges of character that are 8s, in my opinion. What do you think?

Josh

Well, yeah, the way that I think about 8s, I agree with all of that. I think also oftentimes they're noted as the challenger, but like, they wanna see, okay, like, here's the thing, like, here's the way I think about things. I wanna build something, but I also want it to last. And so like, if I have someone on my team I'm working with, or even like, by the By the way, this can cause some things like with Chelsea and I, like if she's going to buy something, a lot of times I'm like, well, I want her to buy something, but I will— the best way I can think of is poke holes in it or I'll press around just to make sure. Like, because I want to— if we're buying something, I want it to last 10 years. I want it to be the best thing. I want to make sure we— like, so it's like I have this thing too. I'm not as bad as a 5 would be. Again, Will Cole would spend 3 years studying something before. But for me, I will spend 3— like if I'm going to buy a car, car, I'll spend 3 months or a few, like, studying, researching what's the best. Because actually, it really bothers me emotionally. Like, if I would go buy something, yeah, and it wasn't the right thing, yeah, and I couldn't return it, like, it would actually bother me. So, like, I'm very much into— but all that being said, like, I think about this where I am the challenge things, poke holes at it, making sure it holds up. That's right. And then if it holds up and it's built well, awesome, great. Like, I get really excited about it in that way. So So yeah, so 8s in Chinese medicine, they tend to be either more metal or more wood. Mm-hmm. And they tend to be more, again, a lot of times it's leadership. It's like having a vision for the future. Yep. Having like, this is the way something should be built and I'm gonna kind of poke holes and figure out to make sure it's built the way I want it to, the way it should be going forward. Mm-hmm. Where 8s have a weakness, the way, what the, I see, and I think this for myself is sometimes I get co— so caught up in the work. And doing things and the structure and all of those things that it just, I spend too much time on that. Not much time having fun, living in the present moment too.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

'Cause I think a lot of times like I'm looking at the thing or into the future. Yes. So much that sometimes I forget to enjoy the present.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. And I think that when you challenge something and you give, let's say, good information and you're researching it, I find that those individuals have a bit more of, not a burden, but I do believe that the 8s feel a weight. Oh yeah. You know, because you're— when you go to an 8, like, I feel responsible not only for myself.

Josh

Yes. Every person in my life, I feel responsible for them.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's why I was like, you're protector, because people go to 8s and know that the information you're putting out there is you've researched it. You are going to put out information that's going to protect people. And so people naturally will come to you as they feel protected by you. So you're gonna get individuals around you going, Josh, he's gonna, he's researched it and I feel safe with him. So the weight on your shoulders or the weight on an 8, I'm always saying it's good to have that responsibility, but go out and do things that get you out of that realm.

Josh

Yeah, there has to be this sort of barrier of like fun and play and rest and work hard. Because for me, because I tend to be like, I'm gonna take responsibility responsibility. By the way, I feel responsibility for you. I feel responsible for my mom. I feel responsible for my kids, my wife, my patient. Like, I feel responsible for so many people that— anyways, it is— if I let it, it will get very, very heavy on me. And that's why, again, I would just say rest and fun. Yeah. Like, that's the thing. Like, if I go and take regular vacations— and the other thing for me, and I've talked about this before— if I work, I need to cut it off at dinner. Yeah. If I do that, I can actually put in a lot of hours. I can work hard. It's good. But if I keep working or answering calls or texts or jumping on the phone or working on something after dinner and then not taking weekends off— yeah, it just becomes— I just, I get, I get burned out.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. Whenever, um, when we talk, I, I think that I can feel your natural protection for me, and I love it because you ask me questions that challenges me to ask, what is this, a path you need to take, Chris? Like, is this— because I know it's for protection. And the, the biggest thing I love when you say with metal and, and wood— metals, they need a little heat, they need a little fun to soften them up.

Josh

Yeah.

Dr. Chris Motley

And the wood quality about you making things grow, because you naturally make everything grow. Like, it's just like you make trees grow around, around you. But you would need— like, I love how Chelsea's so introspective and deep. She's that water, like that introspective. She feeds you and you go, okay, So to me, I say, if you're gonna be that kind of personality, you're right. Cut it off at a certain point, work hard at a certain time, and then take the rest of the time off.

Josh

And the organ of work in the body tends to be the liver. Yeah. And so for me, like, if I get burdened, it's definitely liver issues. So there are supplements that just supporting liver bile movement, you know, those sort of things like N-acetylcysteine. So the glutathione precursors are really big. This is why bone broth is great. Glycine is really great. Things that kind of, especially in the evening, theanine, glycine, Oh yes. Phosphatidylserine, the kind of mind-calming sort of things are really good, getting more in that vagal state. So that'll help eights a lot along with, listen, you can't take responsibility for things that should be God's responsibility, right? That's right. I can do everything to support the people around me. And the other thing, and I'll tell you, I had a hard time when I first got into practice, really student clinic, because I met with my pastor because I would give people advice and sometimes they would take it and thrive and see results. Yeah. But that person that wouldn't see the result because maybe they wouldn't follow the plan, I took it as like that was my responsibility that they weren't changing. Yes. And I felt literally like a boulder. Like, I felt like this such heaviness, like that was my responsibility. My pastor really kind of took it off my shoulders and was so helpful saying, that's not your responsibility. You can love the person, encourage them, create the plan. None of the rest of that's your responsibility. And so it was very helpful for eights knowing, listen, the weight's not on your shoulders, it's on God's shoulders. Jesus says this. Us. You know, my yoke is easy, my burden's light. So meditating on that and living that is really important. Let's talk about 9s. Oh, one of my favorite 9s in the world, you know, is right here. So, so you're a 9. Let's, let's talk about 9s.

Dr. Chris Motley

Um, uh, 9s are the, like, the peacemakers, the people who are always trying to make sure that everybody else gets along. Yes. And make sure that people are at peace with each other. They actually feel out of sorts when you think your friends are not getting along, and they feel responsible if they will feel that somebody's not getting along or they're not getting along with somebody else. Like, we want peace. We will do everything we can to make sure there's peacefulness at the expense of us, like, wearing ourselves out. And that can lead to quite a bit of worry, and that can make us feel very worried that somebody's mad at them. So if you're a 9, you want everybody to get along, but there is a natural tendency for people in the 9s area to sort of think that, I hope I don't get this person mad at me. I hope Josh is not mad at me. I hope I didn't make somebody upset. Yeah. And when you have that responsibility as a 9, as a peacemaker, these individuals are the best negotiators. These are people in a company that, like, get people to come together and make sure that this person's okay with that.

Josh

Okay, can I say something else I love about 9s? 9s, you don't typically have ulterior motives that often. No, I mean, your, your motive really is, I want harmony and peace with everybody.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yeah, yeah.

Josh

Well, like, because sometimes you could have other elements that might be like, you know, trying to do things for their own gain. This happens a lot less with 9s. Again, I think there's a— there, for, for So for me, I tend to be very, very trusting of nines for that reason.

Dr. Chris Motley

I think that we do, personally speaking, we talk about Isaac, when we're going out to eat, I love it that when you ask a nine, they'll say, "Well, wherever you wanna go eat." "Where do you wanna go eat? Where do you wanna do?" "Well, man, whatever." And we really mean it. Like we do not care. And we want peace so much because maybe we've had a youth, or in our youth we had like a tumultuous home or a home where there was a lot of argument or something. Peace. But with the trust factor, I think that we as 9s, we want people to know that they can feel safe with us. And we love that kind of congruency. To the point though, too, if you're always going to be worried as a 9 that people are mad at you, I always try to encourage strength of, again, digestion. Up— stomach is worried, pancreas and spleen is worried. You can have blood sugar issues, you could have ulcers, you could have GERD, you could have ulcerative colitis. You really can. And so you really got to make sure your digestion— you need to eat, be with your friends, and know that people aren't mad at you. Like, stop worrying if people are mad at you if you're the peacemaker.

Josh

Yeah, yeah. And I think there's a, there's an element of people pleasing there that can happen if you get out of balance. I think it is similar to, um, to 4s. It's very different than 4s, where 4s are more empaths. Like, they're feeling what everyone else is feeling, and they're taking the hit emotionally. 9s have an element of that, not in this really deep way, but in this sort of disrupting the digestive system sort of way there as well. So I do think that meal plan, very similar to the soups and the broths and the herbal ginger herbal teas and those sort of things, yes, like soothing. Oh yeah, like, like you want to eat the sort of diet that's soothing to the body, calming to the body there as well. And I will say that weakness that 9s tend to have is that because because they're trying to create so much harmony, that's a main goal. We want harmony. But sometimes in order to grow or do the right thing in life, you have to create disharmony. Like, for instance, a 9 could stay in a bad relationship that's not right for them, right? Because they don't want to upset the other person. They don't want to create disharmony. That's right. Right. So, so, or they could, you know, if it's in the workplace and there's somebody there that, you know, is, is doing something really offensive. Again, there's a lot of examples of this, but I think that where Nines really need to step up— like, like Nines, I think most of the time Nines know that there is a level of, I know this is wrong, or I know that, um, I know that this person isn't doing something that they should be doing. So it takes a lot of effort for a Nine to go and address, be confrontational.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right.

Josh

Okay.

Dr. Chris Motley

Yes.

Josh

But it is important on those those very specific, very important occasions that you push through that and you deal with that. Because what's going to happen is there's going to be this low-level disharmony actually going on until you deal with it. So, so you need to kind of look into— the thing I love about 9s too, 9s are really good at being present-time conscious. Like, I think about this with Isaac. I think Isaac is so— one of the things I love about him is it's like, man, let's bond now, let's connect now, let's experience this now.

Dr. Chris Motley

Exactly. You know, he wants connection. Yeah.

Josh

And it's so, so And you're the same way in terms of having that 9 element of like, do this, but you also need to have elements of thinking about the future. And again, it's not— by the way, when we say, brother, every one of these, every one of these Enneagram types or Myers-Briggs or Big Five, you're capable of this, but it's just not— it doesn't tend to be your tendency. So it's a muscle you need to grow and develop and need to be able to do in order to balance out that thing yourself. Yourself. And that's one of the last things I want to say here is there's so much value in knowing these other types. Like, for me, I think sometimes I'm probably, um, it would be easy to, uh, take my personality the wrong way because I give a lot of constructive criticism. And I feel like I try and walk in a Christlike manner and give people, like, I try and do it with love and kindness and patience. And but, but sometimes Sometimes if I'm in a hurry, I don't soften it as much as I can. And people might think, again, like my mom, like she could take it personally. But really, like, I'm doing it because I love the person. Like, I feel a sense of responsibility. I wanna help them grow to their highest level. But like, they could take that the wrong way. But I think just knowing that, like, for me to know, you want harmony. So for me to think through and know, okay, Chris wants harmony, but also sometimes like he doesn't wanna cause disruption there. And maybe I can be that person to help deal with the disruption or point that out to him and encourage him. And so, like, and so, so, so there's so much value in our own health and supporting the health of others and building great relationships with knowing and understanding kind of this connection between your type and your health.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's right. I, I think that when you, when you say if somebody could take a constructive criticism wrong, the 9s can get indecisive because you're right, we want everything to go around, go right, and then we can become indecisive in our own themselves. So I feel personally, when you're telling me something that's very constructive, it's safety. It's like, because you're trying to give me some guidelines that I would be so indecisive doing. Well, maybe I'll do this. And you'll say, well, have you thought about this, this, and this? 3 options go down to 1. And so as a 9, I'm like, that's very, very good. And I remember we talked with Isaac. He said he's so good at, even with his business, like knowing where people need to be because he knows they are. Yep. But I, I'm not speaking for Isaac, but we don't really want confrontation. We may need somebody else to be able to handle some of the confrontation within a business or something, you know.

Josh

So yeah, this is about, you know, what's the— there's of course one of the most famous sayings, and I can't remember what— I believe maybe a Stoic said it, but like, know thyself. Yeah, right. There's so much value in knowing yourself, but also if you want to have great relationships, knowing others. That's right. Knowing about them. And part of me feels like this is part of what love is, Love is like, it's hard for me to love Chelsea well if I don't know her. That's right. Right? And so getting to know others well. One thing I'd encourage everybody to do is think about what type are you? If you haven't taken an Enneagram, go take one of those tests. It's fun, it's fun to do. By the way, one thing I don't condone is you taking a personality type and saying, "Oh, I'm just this way." Like, I could be like an 8, like, "I'm just confrontational," or I'm just a, or I'm just, no, that's not an excuse. We're all called to be Christlike, we're all called to embody the fruits of the Spirit, operate with high character. So no matter what you are, you are called to operate in these things with the greatest level of love. But we all also, God gave us different strengths. So you wanna operate in those strengths at the same time. So, hey, take a test, write down what you are, write down some of your closest, you know, your spouse or your kids or people close to you and think about how can I support that person in, in, in, in specific ways of what, what they might need in order to, in order to be healthy.

Dr. Chris Motley

That's it. I, I think knowing others and understanding that, uh, that their personality, like, they're not stuck in that personality, but also seeing the strengths and the, and the beauty of that other personality type of the friends in your life or the people in your life and realizing they, they're operating in that arena. We all have our ways can shift and change, and that's great. But that's one thing that I've learned over the years is that having our group, our men's group, and they all have different personalities and they all have strengths and they all feed into my life in a very positive way. So always find out possibly the personality of people around you because you'll realize that they are gonna help you in some way.

Josh

Yeah, I mean, listen, it's really important for your health. I mean, there was a study out of Duke, Duke University, and they found that if you wanna become more healthy and fit, surround yourself with more disciplined people. Wow. Right? So I mean, again, we become who we surround ourselves with. So think about who are the people in your life. Uh, maybe there's some people you need to spend less time with. Maybe some people you wanna spend more time with. This really can have a big impact on your relationships and your health and your flourishing as a person. So, so important. Now, I, I, I have loved this conversation. I hope everybody who's been watching and listening has enjoyed the conversation. I wanna encourage you to subscribe here if you're not subscribed to the podcast. This allows us to have more of these in-depth conversations with people here like Dr. Chris Motley. And just know it's the number one thing you can do to support us and the show is to subscribe and share. You know, I think people are going to find this really fascinating because this is a conversation that I don't think I've ever heard anyone talk about in terms of your personality and how much it actually impacts your health. That's right. It's really, really important there. So just to let you know, if you know anybody, if you've ever taken the, you know, the Enneagram or one of these Hey, share it with a friend on text or on social. We're so grateful for you sharing this and for subscribing here as well. I also want to let you know, I want to encourage you, follow Dr. Chris Motley on Instagram. He's got a great Instagram following. Also, he's got a fantastic podcast, The Ancient Health Podcast, there with Dr. Chris Motley. You can find him there on Apple, uh, there, and, and all, all podcast networks there as well. So he's a great person to follow. Below. And I'm gonna have you on again the next episode. I'm gonna have you on again in a couple months, and we're gonna dive deep into how to detoxify every organ in your body. Do it. So excited for that conversation. So, so much— thanks so much for coming on here, Dr. Chris. Hey everybody, thanks so much for watching and listening, and I'll see you on the next episode.

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