The Missing Key to Intimacy: Learning to Be Known with Suzanne Dion (S10-012)
APPLE | SPOTIFY | OVERCAST | SOUNDCLOUD | YOUTUBE
What if the distance you feel in your relationships doesn't begin with the other person?
In this episode of Typology, I sit down with Enneagram teacher and transformational coach Suzanne Dion, co-author with the late Dr. David Daniels of The Enneagram: Relationships and Intimacy. Together, we explore a deceptively simple idea: before we can experience genuine intimacy with another person, we have to learn how to be intimate with ourselves.
Suzanne shares what self-intimacy actually looks like—and why it's especially difficult when our personality structure teaches us to hide, fix, justify, or defend the parts of ourselves we don't want anyone to see. We explore the difference between knowing yourself and allowing yourself to be truly known, and how our defenses can quietly create the very disconnection we long to escape.
Suzanne also walks us through David Daniels' powerful Five A's of the Universal Growth Process: awareness, acceptance, appreciation, right action, and adherence. It's a practical framework for staying present when we're caught in the painful gap between who we are and who we think we're supposed to be.
At the heart of the conversation is a beautiful invitation: instead of running from our fear, shame, mistakes, and vulnerability, what might happen if we learned to stay present with ourselves?
Because the distance we keep from ourselves often becomes the distance we keep from the people we love.
P.S. Follow Typology Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast player to get weekly episodes in your feed.
ABOUT SUZANNE DION
Suzanne Dion is a transformational coach, self-awareness educator, and Enneagram teacher dedicated to personal, relational, and self-recovery work. Certified through The Narrative Enneagram (TNE) since 2008, she’s especially passionate about supporting women and mothers, believing their self-development and well-being is essential to a healthy society. A founding board member and teacher for the Enneagram Prison Project (EPP), she has worked with incarcerated populations and is a certified Neuroscience and Relational Trauma Coach (NCRT), In 2018, Suzanne co-authored "The Enneagram, Relationships and Intimacy with David Daniels, M.D." Suzanne integrates somatic awareness, attachment theory, and neurobiology alongside her Enneagram study to help others understand themselves better and heal more deeply and sustainably. Suzanne is a faculty member and consultant to the Deep Coaching Institute, creative director for the Somatic Enneagram, and co-founder of T.A.P.P.—The Attuned Parent Project.
RESOURCES FROM EPISODE
Website
Instagram
The Enneagram, Relationships, and Intimacy: Understanding One Another Leads to Loving Better and Living More Fully, by David Daniels, MD and Suzanne Dion
Enneagram Collaborative Global - Transforming Relational Dynamics: Conflict into Healing, Defense to Presence (2nd Monday each month at 7pm ET)
MORE FROM IAN
Ian’s Website
Social Media: Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Enneagram Assessment: Find Your Type
Enneagram Resources: Typology Institute
Books: The Road Back to You | The Story of You | Jesus My Father the CIA and Me | Chasing Francis | The Fix