Today we’d like to introduce you to Calley Welborn.
Hi Calley, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Sometimes, it all starts when life takes away the things we thought made us who we are – and leaves us standing in the middle of our own lives wondering, “Who am I and how did I get here?”
I know that question intimately, and being lost in that question is how I got to where I am today!
The seed was planted for me to discover the answer on an unexpected Saturday in 2010, when I was introduced to the Enneagram. Though I entered the room with some reluctance, as soon as the teaching began, something in me connected to the deep truth that was shared that day. I was captivated. I couldn’t get enough! I read books, attended workshops, talked about the Enneagram with anyone who was willing. The more I learned, the more I wanted to know.
Then, three years later, I experienced the most significant tragedy of my life – my big brother died when he was only 39 years old.
The grief was unlike anything I had ever experienced. It was all-consuming. Soul-crushing. And I was completely unprepared for how to navigate it. I didn’t know how to feel that kind of pain, much less endure it, so I did what so many of us do when life becomes unbearable: I doubled down on what I already knew – on what was familiar – on what had seemed to help me survive and given me purpose in the past.
For me, that was work. So, I worked…and worked…and worked! Sometimes 90 hours a week. If I stayed busy enough, accomplished enough, and kept moving fast enough, maybe I could keep from being still enough for long enough to allow any of my real thoughts or feelings to creep in.
You can imagine how that went…I ran myself into the ground and completely burned out. I left a thriving corporate career, wandered somewhat aimlessly for a while, and ultimately moved to another country for very different work. Though I couldn’t see it at the time, it’s now clear these were all attempts to resist the same unwanted, inescapable reality. It’s also exactly what was preparing me for all that was to come.
Alone, and very far away from everything I had ever known, something unexpected happened: I began to see differently.
Learning another language gave familiar words new meaning that deepened my understanding. Experiencing different food, traditions, and daily rhythms challenged assumptions built by my own limited worldview, which I had never thought to question. Being immersed in another culture forced me to take a more honest, objective look at my own.
This expanded perspective was both exhilarating and unsettling.
Because when I was removed from all the things I had always used to define myself – my family, my culture, my friendships, my career, my accomplishments – I was left with a question I could no longer avoid: WHO AM I?
It came in countless forms:
§ “If I’m not my brother’s sister anymore, WHO AM I?”
§ “If I’m not the corporate achiever I’ve been the last 12 years, WHO AM I?”
§ “If I’m not busy with work to do, places to go, and people to see, WHO AM I?”
Maybe you’ve found yourself asking some version of that question, too? When a relationship ended. Or you changed careers. You became an empty nester. You retired. You experienced a loss, a move, a divorce, an illness, even great success – or you’ve simply reached a point where the life that once fit no longer does and you feel like a stranger to yourself.
Whatever the circumstance, there can be a moment when the familiar disappears and you don’t quite know where you are anymore or how you fit into all of it.
That’s where I found myself.
I finally realized I could change my job, my location, what I was doing and who I was doing it with, but I’d ultimately end up in the same place. There was nowhere else to run. I was either going to keep demolishing myself or I’d have to sit with my questions and be still enough to listen for whatever came next. And that was terrifying…
I had spent most of my life staying so busy MAKING things happen (out of fear and illusion that they wouldn’t happen otherwise), that I never learned how to simply be.
I didn’t know how to practice stillness.
Or intentional noticing.
Or deep listening.
Or receiving without resistance.
Or – gasp! – letting go.
Or acknowledging and loving all of myself – including the messy shadow parts I had spent a lifetime trying to hide, fix, or outrun.
The truth is, I had no idea how to be present to what was already in motion or how to allow myself to freely flow with it. And, honestly, when I first began trying, I didn’t think I was going to survive it…
Thank goodness the Enneagram had already found me all those years before!
In those darkest, lowest moments, what had once been fascinating information became something entirely different: lifesaving wisdom that provided clear direction and practical action that lovingly guided me home to my Self.
The Enneagram helped me see the subconscious patterns, fears, beliefs, and survival strategies that had shaped so much of my life – not so I could judge or fix them, but so I could finally become consciously aware of them. When I could see them with clarity and explore them with compassionate curiosity, I no longer had to be controlled by them.
I was free to choose!
I began to understand that my personality wasn’t my identity. It was an intelligent collection of strategies I had developed to survive (as all Enneagram type ego structures are!). But this very same protective armor was also what was blocking me from being fully present. It’s what was making me resistant to (and scared of) the stillness, quiet, receptivity, surrender, and complete love of my entire being. And, in that moment, it’s what was keeping me from fully grieving so I could start healing.
This awareness set me on a different path that has become the most extraordinary journey I’ve ever been on – and, thankfully, always will be: the journey Home to who I’ve always been.
What began as curiosity in 2010 became a daily practice that has ultimately transformed my life so profoundly, there is no way I could only keep it to myself. That is how Undercurrent Enneagram Consulting came to be.
Today, I bring together over 15 years of Enneagram wisdom and practice, personal lived experience, and decades of corporate and nonprofit professional leadership to guide individuals, teams, and organizations on their own journeys of awareness, integration, and transformation.
As your Enneagram Guide, my role isn’t to tell you who you are as a person or an organization. It’s to journey alongside you and help you notice, interpret, question, practice, and ultimately trust what you discover for yourself.
The patterns that have been quietly navigating your life have brought you here. If you’re wondering what becomes possible when you choose to move with greater awareness, integration, and ease, I’d love to help you discover your path forward – which is also your path Home. Because when you know where Home is, you’re free to go anywhere – and trust you’ll be able to navigate your way wherever you find yourself along the journey.
As you know, we’re big fans of Undercurrent Enneagram Consulting. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
When individuals and organizations know they can’t keep doing things the same way, but simply don’t know how to do life differently, Undercurrent Enneagram Consulting helps them discover a new path forward.
The Enneagram is an ancient system of awareness and integration that frees us to emerge beyond the surface of solely surviving so we can thrive with more freedom, connection, ease, and authenticity – as a person, partner, parent, and professional. Think of it as a trail map for the journey home to your Truest Self.
For many people, their introduction to the Enneagram has been completing a quick assessment that assigns them a number. But friends, the Enneagram is NOT a test and you are so much MORE than just a number!
Yes, identifying your core Enneagram type is very important – it’s just not the final destination. Your core type is like your own personal trailhead to begin a lifelong journey of self-discovery, freedom, and transformation.
Imagine being dropped at a trailhead in the wilderness and only being given a number – with no understanding of your surroundings, no supplies to sustain you, and no compass to navigate your way. How would that prepare you to get where you’re trying to go?
This is how Undercurrent Enneagram is different. We empower you to discover your own starting point and compassionately equip you for your unique journey – with expansive insight, deep understanding, practical provisions, and personalized support all along the way so you become free to confidently choose how to move forward.
Through my signature Full Circle Discovery Method, we begin somewhere very different than the traditional (and ineffective) “find your flaws and fix yourself” approach. We begin with the recognition that beneath all of your fears, conditioning, coping mechanisms, and habitual patterns is your essential wholeness that has never actually been missing.
Our personality is like the expensive, protective gear we’ve bought into and layered on along the way – a collection of intelligent strategies meant to help us survive and navigate the unexpected twists and turns of life. The problem is, these protective layers that may have, once, helped us survive is now keeping us from thriving.
The Enneagram gives us a way to notice our protective armor with curiosity rather than judgment. As we become aware of our particular fears, limiting beliefs, habitual patterns, and survival strategies – 1. that they even exist, and 2. how they motivate the way we navigate our lives – we gain something incredibly valuable: THE FREEDOM TO CHOOSE.
We begin to recognize when we’re letting autopilot direct us and that, at any time, we can switch to “intentional presence mode” and freely choose our own route – including the path home to the oneness and wholeness we have always been.
As we come to see that our path is only one way of experiencing life, we become compassionately curious about other perspectives and what they have to teach us. As we discover, embrace, and integrate the valuable insight, energy, wisdom, and gifts from the full Diversity of Perspective, we expand our ability to effectively navigate relationships, challenges, leadership, and life itself. Far from a labelmaker or stagnant behavior justifier, the Enneagram is your personal map to journey through life with more balance, harmony, and ease – no matter where you’re starting from!
This is the journey I facilitate.
Whether the journey begins through our foundational Full Circle Masterclass, a customized team exploration, or personalized Integration Evolutions, Undercurrent Enneagram Consulting helps individuals and organizations expand their awareness, and translate that awareness into relevant practice. Because when you practice integration, you experience transformation.
Your trailhead awaits, dear friend. I’m so excited for us to journey together on the adventure of discovering where you can go from there!
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
I have Texas roots – born in Houston, raised in Dallas/Ft. Worth, and grew into adulthood in Austin (yes, that was as fun as it sounds!). I also had the joy of multiple detours along the way – briefly living in Ireland, NYC, Jackson Hole, Lake Tahoe, and Egypt where I celebrated my first two birthdays. Of course I was too young to (consciously) remember living with my family in Cairo, but experiencing a different culture so early in life feels like a fitting beginning for someone who would eventually become so fascinated by diverse perspectives, ancient wisdom, and various ways of experiencing life.
My childhood was filled with close family, abundant laughter, really good food, consistent routine and adventurous exploration (which could be as simple as my Dad pulling over so we could see what was inside an abandoned train car on the side of the road!). Some of my happiest memories are being at my grandparents’ homes – out on the lake at my Maw Maw and Paw Paw’s or gathered around my Nana’s kitchen table eating her famous tacos and playing with my cousins. I’ve always been a bit goofy, laughed a lot (and loudly – especially with my brother), loved my friends, invited challenges, gotten energized by being part of a team, and I still stand by my high school yearbook quote that: “I want to go everywhere, meet everyone, and do everything!”
Even though I didn’t see it at the time, I was a natural connector, information-sharer, leader, and encourager long before I had any idea those qualities might become part of my life’s work. I used to line up my stuffed animals in my bedroom to teach them what I learned in school that day. In third grade, I organized a surprise birthday party for my teacher…and got in trouble for sneaking inside during recess to decorate the classroom. Apparently, even then, I had a pretty strong combination of determined initiative, contagious enthusiasm, and a willingness to bend a rule when I thought there was a good reason – P.S. I still believe celebrating the each others’ lives is ALWAYS good reason (your welcome, Mrs. Alcorn)!
I remember a very distinct moment in the hallway in fourth grade when I finally stood up for myself after being continually mistreated by a “friend”. I was a kid who never wanted to disappoint anybody and, somehow, that had morphed into repeatedly giving my power away. I wish I could say this moment is where all that ended (that would come later), but this one moment was so significant because it was the first time I became aware that I had a deep – though unexpected – inner strength. That – on some level deep down – I could trust that I wouldn’t allow myself to deny my own dignity and worthiness. It was my initial awakening to something many of us spend our whole lives trying to learn: how to listen to ourselves, trust ourselves, honor ourselves, and truly love ourselves.
As I grew older, I was thankful to have meaningful friendships in a wide range of different groups that seem to solidify so strongly in high school. Others would see “them” (whoever was in the other clique) as so different, but I usually tended to notice how alike we all were – no matter what we wore, what music we listened to, or what neighborhood we lived in. My classmates voted me “Most Outgoing”, “Most Humorous”, and “Most Likely to Join the Peace Corps” – which I only share because, honestly, it was a pretty accurate snapshot.
I always loved deeply connecting with people and learning about their lives, sharing joy, and opportunities to explore what was beyond the bubble of my own little world (and still do!). I’ve also always had a pretty strong instinct to jump in, figure things out, and make something happen. What I didn’t yet understand, though, was the difference between being really good at being the person I thought I was supposed to be and fully being my true self.
That distinction would become one of the most important discoveries of my life – and ultimately the heart of the work I do today.
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