Love is the power podcast

One beautiful aspect of working in a group setting like the Love Is The Power meditation calls is that one person’s brave and vulnerable share can create a whole ripple effect of profound awareness for everyone. That’s exactly what happens in this week’s episode when one inquirer’s childhood comes up to the surface and exposes the universal experience of wanting to be wanted. Whether by a parent, sibling, lover, boss, teacher, or anyone else the mind can come up with, that desire to be wanted is one that most of us can really struggle with. We all know that one specific way we imagine being wanted–how it would look and feel. In this episode Tom asks: Could you want yourself in exactly that way? If that feels hard to imagine, the invitation is to listen to this episode and follow along. Even if it feels easy to picture, this episode is rich with deep awareness for anyone wanting to step into a lighter experience of themselves.

This week’s episode is a deep dive into the world of body odour–actually, better said: it’s a deep dive into the world of doubting our goodness. You may be asking yourself, What does that have to do with B.O.? Well, have you ever sat next to someone with what you might have experienced as an unpleasant smell? Some people in the Love Is The Power inquiry group have, and many experienced the awkwardness of either telling the person and having them be hurt or offended, or suffering silently in fear of offending. And as the meditation gets deeper, what surfaces is the fear that who and what we are (as in humanity) is not truly good, and how it can make us so afraid of ‘causing’ someone else’s hurt. So, the question remains: what do you do if you’re experiencing someone’s behaviour (or odour) unpleasant? Follow along with the group inquiry to find out for yourself.

When we find ourselves in a process of self-inquiry, the way that our perspective shifts is truly miraculous. We see things differently. The people in our lives, the situations we’re in, the resources we have, and most of all, ourselves. In this experience of seeing life differently, one of the fears that the mind will often bring up is the fear of going ‘crazy’ or losing our minds. (It’s actually quite a literal fear: the ego-mind is afraid to not exist, thus the terrifying images of what it must look like to “lose” it.) This week’s group inquiry centers on this fear while also looking at the sidebar fear of being proclaimed “unacceptable.” Who would we be without even these stories? As Katie says, there is nothing so dark that we cannot put it on paper, question it, and set ourselves free.

In this week’s episode, Tom begins with an invitation to notice what comes up internally with the sentence, “I’m ready to be honest about my yeses and nos.” As in, I’m ready to notice what my genuine responses are and live them. Often when we hold onto giving a dishonest yes, it comes from the idea that by doing that, we’re making ourselves show up as kind, caring people. But what does it actually create when we really look? Does it help us show up in a genuinely kind way? Or does it create a breeding ground for resentment and miscommunication? What might it be like to live from a place of real integrity? And could it be that an experience of real integrity could come from self-inquiry? Join in and follow along to find out!

This week’s inquiry is on the thought, “I should be different.” As Tom puts it, none of us, as children, receive unconditional love, and right away we make that mean something about ourselves. Thus begins the steady march of this belief in our minds. “I should be different…” But rarely do we slow down to question a thought like this and notice what it truly gives us. We think it gives us the change we’re looking for – the showing up differently. But how do you actually react? What really happens when you believe this thought? It could be that it’s nothing more than an obstruction of vision, causing us to miss the amazing experience of being human. Find out for yourself by joining in with your own work – and your own ‘I should…”