Love is the power podcast

Last week we looked at the belief in the seriousness of life, especially related to being a parent. Parenting is one of the big things that we can tend to use as proof of the serious nature of everything. But that inquiry revealed the truth of what the belief was creating in the parent’s life: stress, both for herself and her kids. What about other situations, though, the mind wants to know. Surely some things really are serious? What about when a friend shares news of their cancer diagnosis with you? What if you receive a diagnosis of something yourself? We think we’re protecting ourselves from everything we don’t want to experience when we hold tightly to the story of seriousness, but it might be that what we’re giving ourselves is an existence based purely on survival – not really living. If you’re ready to question this story and live a life without fear, follow along in this group-inquiry episode that asks: Is life actually serious?

If you’ve been listening to Love Is The Power for awhile, you know that one of host Tom Compton’s favourite concepts to bring up for inquiry is “It’s serious.” After all, it’s maybe the most deeply held belief on Planet Earth, this idea that life is serious. This week, Tom facilitates a parent on this story. She experiences stress and anxiety when she believes that being a parent is serious and, through this self-inquiry, notices how it causes her to actually show up with her kids. If there’s an area of life where you notice a sense of seriousness, follow along with this meditation or just listen to a fellow human questioning their own stressful belief. We do get by with a little help from our friends.

This week’s episode begins in a conversation around the idea of pleasure. What the group notices is that the experience of pleasure can be purely joyful, but that when we become attached to good feelings, we (ironically) suffer. Another thing the inquiry group notices is this idea that pleasure is somehow wrong. This leads to a deepening of the contemplation and a popcorn-style inquiry on the deeply-ingrained beliefs we have about the polarities of right and wrong, good and bad, and acceptable and unacceptable. Enjoy this conversation that leaves everything out in the open, or as Tom might put it: coming up into the light to be released.

This week Tom offers this prompt: imagine that you have just arrived in the body you’re in, with exactly the same memories and name attached to it. What is it like imagining that none of the memories, images, or identities associated with this body-mind actually have any relevance to who you are? This little thought experiment leads to a profound group dialogue inquiring into our real nature. According to Tom, our nature is freedom. But it sure doesn’t feel like that sometimes…especially when we live out the conditioning we receive as children that life is serious and you can get it wrong. If you’ve gotten that message and responded by either becoming extremely obedient or rebelling (which isn’t freedom either), and are interested in a truer experience of who you are, this episode is for you!

This week’s episode is a group inquiry on the thought “I need my discontent” and in the exploration of what it’s like living from this belief, what surfaces is the real reason we hold onto it so tightly: feeling like we need justification. Notice: without the idea that you need to justify something (maybe ending a partnership, choosing a career path, making a big move…) do you still need to hold onto discontent? Or is discontent only necessary when it’s being used as proof that we have to do what we simply would like to do? Without the need for justification and discontent, what would be possible? What actions could you take for the simple reason that you want to take them?