Episodes
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This week we’re looking at the thought, “I have to survive.” To the mind, this is a concept that would be unthinkable to question. Of course we have to survive! But we’re meeting that seeming certainty with an “Is it true?” As Katie says, everything is questionable. Even things that feel so obvious, like needing to stay alive. How do you react? What happens when you believe that?
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In this short but sweet part II from last week’s episode, the “our true nature is not beautiful” inquiry is expanding to hold, “I am not beautiful.” In a world obsessed with physical beauty, this thought is so painful for those of us who believe it. Enjoy this precious, brave exploration of that concept, and find out if it’s really true.
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Missing episodes?
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This week’s episode is an inquiry into the nature of humans. Is it true that who we are, deep down, is not beautiful? Even ugly? Do you notice a part of you that has that sneaking suspicion? Join us as we look at people, in all their ways of being, and see for yourself the true nature of humanity.
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This week’s episode is a hilariously relatable vignette of how we can sometimes be in such a great place, letting go off all sorts of large-scale problems in the world, feeling very accomplished in our practice of meditation or inquiry or whatever peace-creating habit is our favorite…and then it all comes crashing down because of one tiny thing that isn’t how we want it to be. A chip in a chair that’s not supposed to be there, for example. How do you react when you believe the thought, “I have to hold on to how wrong this is”? Whatever the ‘this’ may be. Listen in on the inquiry and follow along with your own version of the chipped chair for some pretty amazing insights.
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Can anyone relate to being afraid of being selfish? Accidentally hurting someone because you dared to explore what genuinely feels good to you? In this week’s episode, we look at the world of the concept, “What’s good for me will be bad for someone else,” that comes from a deeper belief in a win-lose world. (As in, if someone’s winning, or experiencing something good for them, someone else must be losing and experiencing something that’s bad for them.) What might happen if we give ourselves full permission to explore what feels good to us? Could it be just as good for the rest of the universe?
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This week’s episode is a continuation of the conversation that started last week about needing other people to show up differently. As Tom points out, when we make something wrong, we automatically go to work on it, whatever it is. When other people show up a certain way that we declare “wrong,” we work on it by arguing with them (even internally). But we also declare things we notice about ourselves wrong. And we work on them too. We even declare our thinking that someone else has wronged us… um, wrong. Could it be that life is not actually about what Tom refers to as one of the “main religions” of the world – right and wrong?
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Is there someone in your life you notice unlovingness towards? This week’s episode is an open-minded conversation and mediation on the experience of withholding love from the people we feel need to be different for the sake of our happiness. What’s it like being dependent on what someone else does or doesn’t do? As Tom puts it, everyone on the planet is fighting a righteous war. Everyone is on the side of right, as in all actions feel justified to the doer in some way. Could this be true? If it is, might the intelligent response be an openness to the world exactly as it is?
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This week’s episode takes a look at the stories we have about stories. Sometimes, in its precious eagerness to ‘get it right’ the mind jumps ahead and asks, “Isn’t the turnaround just another story?” And sometimes we believe that and become obsessed with what Byron Katie calls pretending ourselves beyond our own evolution. We assume that we should be constantly living in the blissed-out, meditative, formless perfection that we so often get to experience in question four of The Work. But in this episode we explore that idea and its accompanying implication, “Life is a race.”
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This week’s episode is an inquiry into the thought, “I need to keep myself alive.” Something that’s easy to believe, and something we react to in small and large ways. From obsessively feeding the body to attempting to protect ourselves from emotions like disappointment or fear (ironically by living in constant pre-emptive fear), we’re unearthing what the life experience is like when we assume keeping ourselves alive is just part of the job description in this life. This entrenched belief can come from a fear of not existing, and cause us to hold on for dear life to a “who I am,” but could it be that it’s enough to just notice ~that~ we are? And where might that experience lead?
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This week we’re exploring the thought, “I could do or be Me wrong.” What happens when we believe this? Does it give rise to self-condemnation, worry, and defence? A sense of having to constantly prove that I’m not doing ‘me’ wrong? It could be that this belief is a major player in a lot of scary stories we tell about ourselves. And what is it like without this thought? What do you notice as you follow along?
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In this week’s episode, we revisit a group inquiry into the thought, “I can waste…[fill in the blank].” It’s a popular belief held by most of us in one way or another. We believe we can waste time, energy, money, food, resources and a litany of other things, but as Tom puts it: what if the nature of the Universe is limitless? Meaning “wasting” could be a non-issue. Sound like a fantasy? Let’s find out.
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This week Tom leads a simple yet powerful exploration: What are some of the stressful stories you tell about yourself? “I’m not good enough.” “I don’t fit in.” “I’m just an anxious person.” “I’m too much, too intense.” And why not open it up to life? “Life is too difficult.” “Life is out to get me.” “Life is short (and therefore I can get it wrong).” How can we believe these stories without experiencing ourselves as limited and defective, and life as cruel and punishing? As Tom puts it, “Notice how perfectly you live whatever you’re believing.” What kind of world might we experience if we’re open to new ways of seeing ourselves and life?
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Have you ever noticed living in a perpetual state of “no”? Pushing against what we don’t want, declaring we never want this, that or the other to happen… Sometimes we hang onto this belief out of fear that if we let go, everything we aren’t interested in experiencing will rush into our lives right away. This week, we’re having a good look at our To-Not-Do lists and seeing if we really need them to run our lives. And because open means open, we also look at the idea of certain desires or goals being “unspiritual” and the idea that we must get to a place of perfect peace about all life circumstances in order to make a change. Could it be that there are no limitations whatsoever in reality?
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In an exploration of what Tom calls “feeling the burn” – the sensation of embarrassment at a memory that disrupts our self-importance – what comes up is a beautiful inquiry into the treasured story “I am a loser.” While there is so much pain and self-condemnation in believing that, there is also a significant payout of never having to compete. Join in from wherever you are on the popcorn-style inquiry that ensues as we free ourselves of the notion that life is a competition.
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How do you react when you believe that you have to hold onto something—anything? Does it bring peace or stress into your life? In this episode, we’re exploring the mind’s tendency to want to hold onto things. We’re looking at what we think we’re holding onto (a happy life, health, harmony, joy) versus what we really hold onto (fear, scarcity, anxiousness) with this belief. We hold onto this holding on in relation to the future, but when does that future actually arrive? When do we stop forgoing peace now in favor of an imaginary peaceful ‘someday’? Might it be that when we allow the letting go, we allow ourselves to open to the flow of a magical, limitless universe? Let’s find out.
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This week we’re looking at not just accepting reality exactly as it is, but welcoming it wholeheartedly. A common argument of the mind against this peaceful way of being is “But if I love everything as it is, I won’t ever be motivated to make a change!” This is especially convincing when looking at the wider scope of the world and all its events. Dive into this meditation on the sense of dependence on anything external (the government, the body, success, relationships, food, approval, etc) for our sense of safety and wellbeing. We have lots of data from experimenting with resistance. What’s welcoming like?
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In the world of gaining and losing, one of the main things we hold tightly to is the health of the physical body. We believe it’s something we can lose if we have it, or something we can strive for if we don’t. Either way, this belief creates an intense experience of fear and not-okayness. One of the sub-questions in The Work is “What physical sensations arise when you believe that thought?” In this week’s exploration of what Tom calls “The Myth of Death,” we’re exploring the possibility that health might have nothing to do with the physical body, and everything to do with what we think.
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Come with us into an exploration of the world of opposites. Tom guides an inquiry on what it’s like believing in the dualities that present themselves as real guiding stars (unacceptable-acceptable, success-failure, fair-unfair, competent-incompetent). These concepts hold hands and skip together through our experience, often without our realizing they are concepts. This week, we’re having a good look at various opposites and seeing who we might be without them.
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This week we’re looking into the taken-for-reality story of separation. It’s a concept most of us have readily accepted as just the way it is, but what might it look like from the perspective of the Don’t-Know Mind? Does the story of separation as we believe it create peace or stress in our experience? Are we even allowed to question something that seems so obviously true? It just might be that we are, and it just might be that without this story we get to experience the love and harmony we’re looking for.
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Last week we explored the illusory past and experimented with being free of identifying with it. In this part II, we’re questioning the fear response that, according to Tom, often shows up when we get close to the truth of who we are. In this episode, fear comes up around needing permission to live the way we’d like to live. Could it be that, in reality, we don’t need anyone’s permission? We notice that with this thought we experience varying shades of misery, limitation and resentment. We notice without it there’s openness and peace. Tom asks, “Could that be enough information?” When we’re our own permission slip, we get to decide for ourselves.
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