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On this episode of Living With Tolle, we share ways to access your intuition at a deeper level, ways to boldly act on inspiration, and how to start living life as an odyssey of service.

First, an announcement. Thanks to your support Living With Tolle has skyrocketed up the charts! As of today, we are one of the top five podcasts in the iTunes Self-Help Category.

We’d like to thank our listeners all across the world who continue to subscribe to our podcast, write comments, and write reviews at the iTunes store. We are also grateful to all of you who continue to donate to support our project. Finally, many thanks to those of you who continue to spread the word about our growing community. Thank You.

Key Insights From Our Conversation

We begin the conversation by re-visiting a key question from Episode #11 on Intuition. Are the thoughts you are thinking expansive, positive, resonant, or are they contracting, negative, out of alignment with what you intuitively know you can be.

We continue explaining how intuition can serve up inspiring thoughts or “callings” that beckon us to explore our life’s odyssey. How can you experience your life as an odyssey?

The teachings of Eckhart Tolle allow us to cultivate a deeper state of presence, and that presence allows for a greater sense of openness and receptiveness. It is from this space of being open and receptive that inspiration is able to flow into your life.

Are you inspired towards a major change in your life? Is life calling you to experience a new odyssey?

From a state of presence, you will be able to answer this for yourself and take the steps necessary to break out of the mental and physical structures that hold you back.

Leo shares the story behind the creation of Living With Tolle and how inspiration and intuition served as guides on the journey from idea to manifested reality. He also talks about the journey he and Greg took to the peak of Mt San Jacinto in Southern California. The 12 mile hike served as an odyssey that broke them out of the mental and physical structures of their daily life and enabled them to take action on the inspiration that flowed.

Sometimes, an adventurous event that takes us out of the daily structures can be tremendously inspiring and can give us the presence of mind to take bold action.

What structures are in place in our lives that keep us from following our intuition and inspiration?

We reflects on Eckhart’s teachings about the ego and the egoic structure that keep us in a state of fear and keep us “blocked in.” These mental structures, some built upon the physical structures of our lives (homes, cars, jobs), actually serve the ego by maintaining a sense of control and safety. The ego will keep us in the safe structures, even though those structures may thwart our growth and our ability to serve life fully from intuitive inspiration. These structures can keep us from living our life’s odyssey and keep up from experiencing deep fulfillment.

How is your home apart of your identity? How strong is your identity wrapped up in your job? How do those structures serve you or hold you back?

Sometimes our inspired calling may require that we move out of our current structures and embrace change and growth. How can breaking out of your mental and physical structures allow for a deeper appreciation and the enjoyment of the structures we experience in life?

If the inspiration is calling us to make radical changes, what do we do in the time of transition between the inspired thought and actual life-change?

(@ 20 mins)

Reach out for support. As you move into taking steps on your odyssey, who do you need to reach out for support so your dream is nourished?

The ego will limit your ability to reach out and embrace change – even though sticking it our may be detrimental to you. This is because the ego tries to protect itself, to go it alone and work it all out in the head. The prison of the mind is a structure that the ego is comfortable with and would rather stay stuck than be free.

Even when facing a change in career that may be brought on by changes in our economy, the question is who do I need to reach out for support, how can I get re-training, how can I adapt to new demands of new industries?

Reaching out for support will not only allow you to nurture your dream or vision, but it will shift your perception so you can more easily identify the many ways that you are being supported by the universe. So what person or organization do you need to reach out to in order to create support for how you are being called to serve?

To emphasize the power of asking for help, Leo share again the journey to Mt. San Jacinto and the many ways he and Greg were open to receiving help and support in their journey. asking for help and the many different stages of the journey enable the magic of the trip to be harnessed and experienced. The goal is journey and not the destination, and deep fulfillment is experienced in the process and the flow. Being receptive allows for trust in the universe and people. People are good and helpful, and in asking for help you allow them to serve!

How do we know if the inspiration or intuition is coming from a calling or from our ego?

To answer this, we go back to Eckhart’s teachings on Awakened Doing and enthusiasm. Do not create goals that create a enlarged vision of yourself, like having a mansion by the sea, or a successful company, or $10 million dollars in the back. These are static and don’t empower you.

In A New Earth, Eckhart encourages us to “Instead, make sure your goals are dynamic, that is to say, point toward an activity that you are engaged in and through which you are connected to other human beings and to the whole. Instead of seeing yourself as a famous actor or writer or so on, see yourself inspiring countless people with your work and enriching their lives.” (A New Earth, p. 304)

Is your inspiration guiding you to serve your ego? Or is your inspiration guiding you to be in service to all? Will you use your skills through your odyssey to be in service to all?

How can you be of service to life? How can you be in service right now with your job, your relationship, your kids?

Please continue the conversation. You can contribute your stories, ask questions, add your comments, and share this podcast with friends.