Big Stone House

We snapped pics of Doc Naismith’s statue (a local boy done good), the glorious cupcakes right before they were wolfed down, the landscape around Almonte and a coffee cup from the morning after the event…but no pics of The Courage Experiment proper. Too busy being in it, it seems. So you’ll just have to picture it yourself: the sighs and laughs, the stories that bubbled up and all the times people said, “Good God, I needed this.” We’re doing it again in Almonte this October…stay tuned for that info. For now, though? We’re still basking in the glow if the weekend, paying all that good stuff forward. And it really was good…

Ready to go.

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The Enneagram and the Courage to Look “Is it possible you could live your whole life and die without ever having met the person that lived your life?” - Thomas Merton

Three more weeks: part class, part practice, part exploration, all good. Read more about The Courage Experiment on the Big Stone House website. ❤️.

It’s The Time of the E here right now: Easter, endings, everything, experience, encourage, and e. e. cu***ng have been jump offs for the Sitting on Sundays crowd to explore and experiment with ways to be and bring a bit more human into the day to day. Next month we’re keeping the e’s coming: engaging folks in the new-old teachings of the enneagram as a way to grow good and cultivate connection wherever they are however they can—two things that are oh-so-needed these days, eh? Exciting stuff.

Maybe you’ve taken an Enneagram assessment. Or read a book. Or listened to a podcast on this new-old system, trying to figure out your number. Or maybe you thought about doing those things, thinking (hoping?) it would help you better understand why, what, and how you react to stress, deal with conflict, communicate with and care for and click with people (or not).

Those are all great reasons to explore your number, study the system…but the Enneagram is so much more than a test, a number, a label, y’all. It’s a reminder of how we are wired for relationship—real, live, up-close-and-personal relationship. And it’s a great resource for growing more “we” in the world: Community. Connection. Belonging. With people who see the world the same way we do. And with people who don’t.

Like so many traditions with religious and spiritual roots, the Enneagram started out as an invitation to slow down, listen close, pay attention and grow good. It wasn’t a checklist of details or a promise for a quick fix. The Enneagram was a prompt to wonder and ponder what it means to be human—a way to see our less-than-life-giving habits with grace and get a glimpse of our true-blue gifts, too…and grow more good in the process.

Angie Arendt and Peter McGaugh have been teaching the Enneagram in this old(er)-school, good-growing, relationship building, “we”-tending kind of way for thirty years, providing all kinds people in all kinds of settings the space and support to wonder and ponder with others to not only find their number (which is a great start, BTW!) but to plant seeds for grace and gratitude and belonging to grow in all kinds of ways, too.

Curious to know more? You can read more on the Big Stone House website (link in comments). And in a few days you can read more about our new project there, too. “The Courage Experiment” is part Enneagram, part practical practice—a way of making these numbers mean something in the day-to-day. We’re rolling out this project this June in Almonte, Ontario…hope you can join us there!

Sitting on a Sunday. This Sunday. In person. (Yup—in person). Near Ottawa, Ontario (closer to Almonte, but not far from Ottawa). It’s a retreat of sorts. A time for reconnection, remembering what it is to be human, reconsidering how to do so on any given day. Growing good, we are. Growing good is a good thing, you know. ❤️.

Yup. An experiment in courage. The wholehearted kind of courage, that is. The kind that makes for good community, connection, care. There will be stories. Some studying, too. Some pauses to get still every now and then, too. Maybe some singing? For sure we’ll find ways to grow good. And there will be pie. The Courage Experiment kicks off June 19-21, 2026 in and around Ottawa, Ontario. You might want to be there. It’s going to be oh so good. More info coming to the website soon.

Zoom has been a great gift these past few years. During the pandemic, we taught the Enneagram online, led The School for the Soul across the screen, and brought people together for Sitting on Sundays. We pushed paused on our classes and courses and conversations when we relocated to Arizona last year but brought them back online this past Fall--folks across four time zones and two countries have been Zooming in for Sitting on Sundays each week since early November and a session of (not another) Book Group wrapped up last week. A God-send, this space is.

However.

There's something about being together in person that just can't be beat, eh? Sitting in the same space, seeing the same views, chit-chatting before we begin and on the way to the parking lot after...those things are good for the soul, too.

So we are hitting the road this Spring, bringing folks back together again. Live. In person.

First up? A few hours of Sitting on a Sunday--a mashup of our Sitting on Sunday practice with a bit of The School for the Soul mixed in for good measure. This one is especially for folks who have been a part of Big Stone House over the years--a re-entry, reconnection, renewal and reunion of sorts. Click below to read more.

Sitting on a Sunday — Big Stone House Join Angie in person on March 17 just outside of Ottawa, Ontario for a few hours of reconnection, renewal and reunion-of-a-sort. Details below.