Love is the power podcast

This week’s episode looks at an old faithful belief: He/she/they took advantage of me. From having cab drivers hold back five bucks from your change to being hoodwinked in a business deal or transaction, we’ve all likely experienced something that caused us to pick up this belief that we can be taken advantage of. In some cases, like one of the brave and vulnerable shares in this episode, that belief is very well backed-up with some horrifying past images and experiences. In these cases, it’s pretty radical to open to the idea that what Byron Katie says might be true – if people could do better, they would. Whether this sounds like spiritual bypassing to you, or something in you is curious about what it might be like to live from this perspective, we invite you to follow along in this profound inquiry with a situation from your own life where you believed you were taken advantage of.

This week’s episode brings you a beautiful and profound group inquiry that begins with considering the possibility that who and what we are is actually good. Tom has brought up this line of inquiry many times before, but in this setting what comes up is one of the main fears that blocks us from experiencing ourselves as good: the fear of getting hurt. It seems logical, right? If we’re loving and open, we could theoretically get hurt more easily. For many of us, the solution we come up with is to close our hearts off from others. Interestingly, this contributes to our sense of ourselves as Not Good people. But what if there’s no need to close our hearts? What if the hurt we’ve experienced actually comes from a lack of openness to something? What if we don’t have to fear getting ‘hurt,’ and can allow ourselves to live our loving nature?

This week’s episode begins with an invitation from Tom to try on the statement “I’m ready to devote my life to serving what serves Love.” Notice what comes up with that sentence. Is there a willingness? Or is there some sticky fear that still takes precedence? In a group setting, this episode is an exploration of what thoughts still hold us back from serving Love in our lives (thoughts that insist we, others and reality should all be doing something better, for example), and what it might be like to let them go.

Welcome back, Love Is The Power listeners! This week’s episode is a lively and profound group inquiry beginning with questioning the thoughts, “It’s serious,” and, “What I do matters.” From there, the line of inquiry brings to consciousness the need to be special, and Tom points out that eventually…the body dies. So with that awareness, he asks, what becomes important now? If your answer falls somewhere in the zone of “I just want to enjoy life now,” you’re going to love this episode. If your mind went somewhere else, feel free to bring it to this inquiry and experience the joy and power of the present moment.

This week we're bringing you another old favourite episode from the vault (November 2021!) as the Love Is The Power retreat last week meant no new recordings. Enjoy! We'll see you next week with a brand new episode.

Have you ever considered that desire, lack, and fear might go together? For example, you believe something’s missing from your life (like a romantic relationship) and then you desire to fill that gap. Or, you desire to be with a partner and simultaneously fear rejection. Many of us have bought into the idea that the formula for bringing something into our experience is to identify lack and to desire what is evidently missing. But if lack and fear bookend desire, wouldn’t you rather choose a more effortless and natural way to live? Rather than playing the desire, fear, and lack game, what if you let people and relationships come and go as they may? Who would you be in this moment if you were completely free of desire?