You Are Here: Love, Restraint, and the State of Your Heart, w/Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott (S10-014)

 
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There are some conversations that make you think, “I wish everyone could’ve been sitting around the table for this.” That’s how I felt talking with Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott.

They’ve been married for decades, know each other’s Enneagram patterns extremely well, and have spent their lives helping people understand what makes relationships work and what gets in the way. So naturally, when you put an Eight and a Two together, there’s plenty to talk about.

What I appreciated most about this conversation is that it wasn’t another lesson about how to have a better marriage or become a better parent. It was the honesty about how easy it is to fall back into our familiar patterns even when those patterns are rooted in things that are genuinely good about us.

We talked about what happens when strength becomes control, when helping becomes over-functioning, and when our desire to protect the people we love keeps us from really listening to them.

Sometimes love looks like having the perfect advice. But sometimes love looks like putting the advice down, getting curious, and making enough room for another person to tell you what’s really going on.

I noticed that nearly every story we shared came back to the same thing. Les has a phrase for it: awareness is curative. He talked about the anxiety he’s carried since he was young, and how simply naming it “is like putting a handle on a hot tea kettle; suddenly you can pick it up.” Leslie spoke with tenderness about the seasons of her life where she has struggled and her long road back.

Their experiences are why they wrote their new book, The One Year Positive Mental Health Devotional (Tyndale, October 6, 2026). With society leaning into the mental health crisis, especially among young people, Les and Leslie felt it in their personal lives and daily work and wanted to provide a companion for all of us holding it together on the outside while something unravels underneath. It’s an invitation to recognize and sit with where you really are.

At the same time, their MyHeartChart quiz grows from the same root. While the Enneagram describes who you are, your traits, your wiring, MyHeartChart tells you where you are right now in the relationship that matters most to you. It’s an opportunity to take the pulse of the state of your relationship, alone…for free.

This is a conversation for all of us, whether you’re married, raising kids, navigating your own mental health, or simply trying to become a little more aware of the ways you show up in your relationships.

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ABOUT DRS. LES AND LESLIE PARROTT

Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott are #1 New York Times bestselling authors and psychologists. Their books include The Love Language That Matters Most; Health Me, Healthy Us; and the award-winning “Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts. Their pioneering assessments have been used by millions and include the free MyHeartChart.com. Their work has been featured in the New York Times and USA Today as well as on CNN, Good Morning American, TODAY, The View, and Oprah. They live in Seattle and can be found online at LesandLeslie.com. 

 
 
 
 
Communication, Mental Health, Relationships, Type 2, Type 8Ian Cronenneagram, self-awareness, Type 8, Type 2Comment