199. When You're Free, You Love: A Journey Through Forgiveness, Power & Embodied Healing
199. When You're Free, You Love: A Journey Through Forgiveness, Power & Embodied Healing
Love Is a Way of Being: Healing Resentment, Judgment & Emotional Eating with David Cunningham
What if your love already mattered—no matter how messy your past, no matter who told you otherwise, and no matter how different your perspective is from the people around you?
In this heart-opening episode of the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast, I sit down with David Cunningham, the 73-year-old radiant and resilient author of Your Love Does Matter. David shares his extraordinary journey—from witnessing a velvet painting of Jesus as a child to surviving a violent home, coming out as a gay man, and eventually becoming a global transformational leader.
We unpack one of the most powerful truths of all: you don’t need to feel love to be loving. Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s a way of being. And that means it’s a choice—your birthright, your superpower, and your most potent contribution to a world in crisis.
David shares:
A deceptively simple practice for releasing resentment
How to forgive without condoning
The energetic difference between love and righteousness
Why your “love footprint” matters more than your carbon footprint
And how visualizing your day as your most loving self can shift your entire life
If you’ve ever struggled with emotional eating, self-blame, or that tight knot of judgment in your chest… this one’s for you.
And if you’re feeling helpless about the state of the world? David is literally sending a copy of his book to every member of Congress—and leading 52 acts of love at the Pennsylvania state capital. This is what embodied activism looks like.
Learn how to make love your legacy.
And if you’re ready for some nervous system regulation through compassion, curiosity, and conscious creation… press play.
Links Mentioned:
Embodied Activation: Visualize Your Day with Love
David’s favorite practice for living a more loving, free, and present life is deceptively simple—and incredibly powerful:
Visualize your day before it happens.
Each morning, before finishing his meditation, David mentally walks through his day—every interaction, meeting, and moment he can anticipate—and imagines himself being the most loving version of himself in each one.
Who will you interact with today?
What projects or spaces will you show up in?
What would it look and feel like to lead those moments with love?
“It doesn’t matter whether I’m managing a store or sitting with my family at dinner. If I’ve already visualized myself being present, respectful, and loving in that space… the day flows differently.”
Try it tomorrow morning:
Close your eyes after meditating or grounding.
Picture the next person you’ll interact with or the next place you’ll go.
See yourself being open-hearted, kind, and curious.
Ask: How good could this get if I showed up fully as love?
This one daily ritual can transform how you move through the world—and expand your love footprint with every step.
Transcript
Kayla: David Cunningham, welcome to the Embodied Writing Warrior Podcast.
David: Thank you, Kayla. Great to be with you and to everybody listening and watching.
Kayla: Yes, I was so excited to get your request because I just be very special place in my heart stories like yours, and I'm excited for you to share with the listeners.
If you feel called, can you share a little bit about where you came from and how it led you to the work you do now?
David: Okay, great. Thank you for the opportunity. Yeah. So, as you know, I recently published my book called Your Love Does Matter, A Journey to New Consciousness and Expanding Your Love Footprint.
And the book was really just the beginning of a platform for something. So from there I started what's called the Love Matters collaboration. Bringing people together to really stand for, love prevailing as the preeminent way of being on the planet. See, I'm 73 years old now, Kayla, and, I've resolved, the next 30 years of my life is dedicated to that, to love prevailing as the preeminent way of being on the planet.
And I'm serious. I intend to accomplish that. That, you know, somewhere down the road in the future, you can count on a world where love is the preeminent way of being on the planet. That's what we're causing. So, and my journey started out, whoa, way back. You know, I think my earliest memory is, kind of a silly of being four years old, believe it or not, and going to, I lived in a small town called Olean, New York.
We went to a really small church and I remember being taken to a candlelight service, if you can imagine, candlelight at night. So the whole church was just lit by candles. It was so amazing for my little 4-year-old brain. And the whole service was Kayla. Did you ever drive down the highway and see paintings on, uh, velvet?
Like they have a Elvis Presley or a tiger painted on a black velvet paint thing? Did you ever see that?
Kayla: I'm sure now that you've mentioned it.
David: Now you'll see it, right? Anyways, if you can imagine, there's, when an artist doesn't use a canvas, actually paints on velvet, right? And this service was a artist being there in this candlelight sanctuary, painting Jesus with children.
You know, blessing the children and loving the children. And in my 4-year-old little eyes, that was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my whole life. But I remember saying to myself, I love like that. I love that much, how Jesus loves those children. That's the way I love that much. And I was so moved by loving and then life happened, right?
And as I grew up, several things happened. My family, really took a major turn. And, my dad turned violent when I was about years eight years old, and my house became a violent household, which was a shock. We moved away from the rest of my family, and that caused a lot of upset.
But my nuclear family moved away from everybody else, and people were upset about that. And then, I came out as a gay man. And so my love was, I was told my love was inappropriate. And, over the years, without even noticing it. I suppressed my love.
I questioned my love. I doubted whether my love really mattered. You know, if it couldn't get my, if my love couldn't get my dad to stop beating my mom, then I guess it couldn't matter for much. Could it? So there I was an adult, and you know, I still, like, I knew I loved, like I love people, but it didn't have the energy or the life that.
I knew it could or ought to have. And that's when I did some transformational programs myself. I did, some of the work of Warner Earhart. It was called the S Training, the Landmark Forum. I did that work, which was really eye-opening work, transformational work, which I then went on to actually become a leader of for 35 years around the world.
I had this blessed career. I started out as a special ed teacher. I was a director of what was called the Connecticut Justice for Children Collaboration, and then the National Committee for Prevention of Child Abuse. And then, as I said, I went on to lead a transformational program, probably the world's most powerful transformation program for 35 years in many countries to hundreds of thousands of people.
And then I met, guru. Her name is, her Holiness Sima. The transformational work opened my eyes again, but then it was when I had the spiritual awakening my heart in my relationship with Sima. She just touched my heart and opened my heart back up. She gave me permission just to love again.
So that was about 20 years ago now. So I've just been on this path since then of just. Openly, fully expressing love and bringing love to the world, and finding a way to have other people free themselves up to love. So that's been my journey and now I'm committed that we we're at a point in our evolution as a humanity where we can really take that step together.
So that's it as a, that's 73 years in a nutshell. Anyway.
Kayla: Thank you so much for sharing And this isn't a video podcast. I do post some reels and for anyone listening, I thought David was like late fifties 'cause he is glowing. He is like radiant. I think being able to love that openly takes like years off your life and that's why you're gonna be 103.
David: Exactly right. My mom's 99 and still going strong.
Kayla: So there's a few things I wanted to touch on there. One is after you experienced the messages from whether it was your church or your family, that your love was inappropriate, your love was wrong because it was the wrong gender, which I've gone through similar things as well, so I have like a very soft spot for that.
I would do. Allow your heart to open across the board, including with those people who hurt you or maybe contributed to your heart closing in the first place. Because I know forgiveness is a huge part of what you teach and how you lead.
David: Yeah, it really is. Kayla. It is so important because I am committed that as human beings, that when we're free, we love.
It's only when we're not free, when we're imprisoned by resentments. When we're imprisoned by judgments, when we're imprisoned by opinions, when we're not free, our love is oppressed. But when we can free ourselves from opinions, resentments, judgments, et cetera, blame. When we're free, we love, there's nothing more natural.
It's become normal for us to resent, to judge, but normal and natural are two different things, aren't they? So just because something's become normal doesn't mean it's natural for us as human beings. So I'm committed that. When we're free, we love, and the one of the main things, to free ourselves from is resentment and opinions and judgments, which brings us to acceptance and forgiveness.
Forgiveness is so powerful. Dr. King talks a lot about forgiveness, actually, right? Forgiveness is very powerful, but most people, Kayla, have a notion of forgiveness that makes it difficult. Most people think that when they forgive something that they're condoning it, like, oh, it's okay, you did that. Or, most people think when they forgive something, that they're somehow letting the other person get away with something, which is just, it is not a powerful notion of forgiveness.
Forgiveness is this. Forgive I give you my love, like I did before anything happened. So it's me. It's not about the person. It's not about what they did at all. It's that I have a choice to make. Am I gonna live the life of someone who resents or am I gonna live the life of someone who loves?
It is my choice for my life. It has nothing to do with them actually, and nothing to do with what they did. So it doesn't condone anything. It doesn't approve anything. It doesn't give people permission to do anything. It's simply what life am I gonna live? When are we the happiest?
When we're loving, when are we the healthiest, when we're loving? So it's a gift One gives oneself. To set aside resentment, to set aside judgment and take on forgiving giving love.
Kayla: Thank you so much for that definition. I agree. That is something I think a lot of people misinterpret about forgiveness as it means letting the people stay in your life or not having strong boundaries.
As you point out, it's very much an energetic and emotional thing on your end, regardless of what they're doing over there. So thank you for that. And
David: you, you just made a really great point, Kayla, that loving and relating are two different things. I can love you and not have you in my life, so that you love, that you give your love to someone, doesn't mean that you have to interact with them.
The relationship is separate from loving, and it's important that people can keep those separate too, so that they can keep their heart open and at the same, like you said, have a boundary about, who do I want in my life and who do I wanna be interacting with?
Kayla: Yes. So say someone wants to forgive and have a more open heart, but they have maybe people not who they feel have really wronged them and they're having a difficult time getting to this place.
What are some of the practices or the news stories you would encourage them to tell to help them break free?
David: Well, yeah, let me say what doesn't work first. What doesn't work is trying to talk yourself out of it, like that person did something wrong to try to, well, it wasn't that bad, or they had a rough time too, so it should be excusable.
That doesn't work. Here's what I find. It's gonna be deceptively simple, but here's what I find works is putting aside resentment. Now, what do I mean by put something aside right now, if you're listening, you can't see, but I have a coffee mug in front of me.
And if you'll notice where the coffee mug is right now, there's not room for anything else. The only thing that can be there is the coffee mug. Alright, so if I just simply put the mug aside, which I can do that, I can set it off to the side. I don't have to convince myself that the mug is a good mug. I don't have to like talk myself out of that.
The mug did something wrong. I just literally can put it aside. I don't have to change my mind about anything. I just put it aside. I can let it be there. I can pick it back up anytime I want, if I want. It's not trying to overcome the resentment, it's literally putting it aside. So that simple act of putting things aside, I think for human beings, and I invite people to practice it.
Like literally pick up a pen and put it aside, pick up a tablet and put it aside. Like, oh, I can do that. I can put things aside. That's a good thing to find out. I can put things aside and in this space where the mug was then, now there's nothing there. I'm free. So it gives, when I put something aside, it creates a space for me to be myself.
So that simple act of putting things aside, sometimes the simple things are the most profound. Maybe.
Kayla: I absolutely agree, especially for anyone who struggles with a lot of overthinking, which I think is big one for many people, and the mind is. Powerful, but it can actually keep us stuck in those kind of situations.
Mm-hmm. And it reminds me very much of a practice from a book called Addicted to Drama, and it talks about people who, you know, tell a lot of stories about the past or the future, haven't even happened oftentimes. Mm-hmm. So he actually has this somatic practice where he gets someone to like, imagine they're taking their stories and putting them aside.
And yes, it sounds simple, but there's something about. The visualization or even the somatic practice of putting something aside, it gets you outta that spiraling brain and into your body, into your heart, which I think is where a lot of change can happen.
David: That's right. Exactly. To get in the, located in the heart versus the brain.
The brain's much more complicated. The heart is quite simple. Actually. Another thing though that's really important, Kayla, is that, you know, if you listen to arguments today, if you listen anywhere from the news to at the dinner table, I don't care. The arguments are about who's right and who's wrong, and you'll notice.
As a society, it seems like we value being right more than we value love. See, if you watch people, they'll argue with people that they care about, people that they love. They'll argue about like, you know, should the, should the vase be here or should the vase be there? Or whose turn is it to feed the dog?
Or, you know, we will argue over things. And you'll notice, we'll get pretty adamant in the argument about We're right and you're wrong. And it seems like that has become more important to us as a society than a loving has. So one of the things for us to get as human beings is we really do have a choice about that.
And that is a choice for us to make. What's gonna be more important to me being right or loving. Being right or having love in my household, which do I want? Righteousness or love? It's a choice we make. Now, a little sidestep from that, and Kayla is important to get, is for people to relate to us. Sometimes people say, well, what do you mean by love?
Like it's important to relate to love as a way of being. So there's things we have, like I, we have sweaters, we have shirts, we have cars, et cetera. There's things we do, like we mow the lawn, we go skiing. Then there's ways we be as human beings, like generous or stingy. Tender or cold. Respectful or disrespectful.
Those are ways of being, it's powerful to relate to love as a way of being versus something you have because people go, but I don't feel love. I don't have the feelings. I don't care if I have to wait to feel love before I be loving. We might be waiting a long time.
Okay. Or you know, so it's important. People get loving as a way of being, and I have a choice. That's the one thing I have total choice about in life. I don't have a choice about what I have. I could have a car, one minute it's gone. The next I could have a job. One minute it's gone. The next, we don't even have a choice about what we do.
If I step off a roof, I'm going down whether I want to or not. The one thing you and I have total say about Kayla is who we be as human beings. Whether I'm generous or sin, that's up to me. And whether I'm loving or resenting, that's up to me and it's good. It's like the one birthright we have. So it's good to claim that birthright.
So if you relate to love as a way of being, then you have the power to go, okay, I'm either gonna choose righteousness being right, or I'm going to choose being loving. And that is up to me at all times, under all circumstances. This whole thing about who's right and who's wrong, I think it's a bit of a myth anyway.
I'm gonna say something radical. I'm gonna say nobody's ever right and nobody's ever wrong, ever. It's never been the case. Everybody has a view of a situation and no two people have the same view. You and I could stand side by side and look out, and we still would have a different view of what's in front of us.
No two people have the same view. So to argue that one view is the right one and one view is the wrong one, that doesn't really make sense, does it? So I actually.
I've got my view. You've got your view, and if we switch it from who's right and who's wrong to, Hey, what's your view? Here's my view. What's your view? We can get interested in how the other person sees life, which by the way, breeds compassion versus argument.
Kayla: Thank you so much for sharing that, because that is something I wholeheartedly believe as well, is that every single person with their lived experiences, their perspectives, the stories they've been telling, they are going to have a very different version of reality, even if circumstances are the same.
Mm-hmm. And yeah, I think that one of the ways that you can be more loving and not focused on being right is. It's not putting yourself at the center of the story and coming at the people you are in relationship with, not coming at, but conversing with them in a way of explaining, this is my viewpoint, based on my lived experiences and my emotions, and then inviting them to share theirs as well, because I think that, as you said, brings understanding and compassion.
And it's almost freeing to not have to be right
David: that's right. It is freeing. The only thing I might do is switch that around. I might invite them to share their view first before I say mine, because when people have the experience of being listened to, then they can listen to us. Right. So, but so I like to listen first, and especially in today's political environment.
That's critical. You know, I got tested just myself. I had a neighbor that on Facebook posted a whole bunch of political views that were just not the same as mine. Right. Vehement in them. Right. And it's a neighbor that I've loved and I just, but it struck me like, ah, that's like, it was like hard to just like, hard, like wow.
That's like difficult to read right on Facebook. Right. So I called him up and I said, I said, can I come over and let's just talk? I just want to hear 'cause because it took me by surprise. Some of the things you said, I'd like to hear how you see things. And so I went over and I said, okay, tell me, I just want to understand how come you said the things you said, how come you see the things you, you you see seeing things the way you see them.
And I probably listened Kayla for two hours. I didn't say peep, just like I listened. I listened, I listened. And some of it, quite frankly, was a little difficult to listen to. 'cause I wanted to argue with it. I was sure it was wrong. I was sure I was right and I was sure he was wrong and I wanted to argue with it.
So it took a little bit to just listen, but I just listened. And at some point I said, anything else? He goes, no, that's everything. And then I did have a new insight into his world and how come he said the things he said, and there wasn't any anger, there wasn't any resentment, there wasn't any argument.
There was just compassion between us. And then he asked me questions about how I saw things, but that wasn't even the point. The point was that what could have a relationship that I valued could have been somehow. Damaged with some kind of argument wasn't by just being interested in his view as a view.
And every view is a valid view. There's no view that's invalid. The question is how do they see it and what does that provide them and what does that offer and how does that allow me to have compassion for. The actions they're taking and the words they're saying.
So it's a big deal actually.
Kayla: It's a very big deal, and that is a powerful skill as a person to have, especially in today's political climate where. It is easier to see people with certain views and not want to associate with them because there is such a polarization right now, and that's another powerful place.
You're working with your book. You have a pretty special goal related to politics and all of that, so would you mind sharing some of that with us?
David: I am so excited. So, I started a project called Love Goes to the Capital and it's got two main, pathways to it. One is next week, I think on October 1st or second.
Kayla, I'm sending a copy of my. To every member of Congress, the president and the vice president. And just earlier today, I autographed the copy for the president, vice president is going in the mail, but to every member of Congress, the book is going on October 1st or second. And I'm very excited about that 'cause one of the things I think for us to resolve as a site is, no, we're not gonna hate, we're just not gonna do it.
No, we're not gonna blame, we're not gonna argue. We're not gonna finger point. We're gonna love now. Why? Because it's a good thing to do. No, because that's what has us be effective.
We can't be effective with people. We're not loving. If I don't have you in my arms, I can't, how can I expect you to work with me? It's like a dance partner. If my dance partner's across the floor, I can't move them with me. If my dance partner's in my arm, I can move them with me. But the same thing, nobody wants to work with us if they don't think we love them.
You know? I know if I've had people in my life try to give me advice when I could tell they didn't respect me. I'm like, I didn't want their advice. But if somebody. Loves us, we can listen to them. And so this message of love, it's like I wanna listen to, but you know, I don't care how smart a person is.
If they're not listened to, it makes no difference. So, no, we're not gonna argue, we're not gonna hate, we're not gonna condemn, we're going to love. That will allow us to be listened to. So I'm sending this message of love to the capitol, and every member of Congress's gonna get the book and we're out to make a big deal about that.
And I personally signed my copy to the president and vice president today to infuse the political system with love. And then there's one other piece can I share, which is we're gonna start in Pennsylvania because that's where I'm from. We're gonna start going to the state capital in Pennsylvania. And I'm committed, we're gonna do every week for a year.
So 50, we're gonna do 52 different projects. I do some volunteer work with guys that have just come outta prison. And so we're gonna take a group of guys up and we're gonna deliver an orchid to every legislator. Then the next week we're gonna take a group of trans teenagers up and we're just gonna open the doors for legislators.
And the next week I'm gonna have a group of moms on food assistance go up and deliver a letter of acknowledgement to every legislator. So we're just gonna go every week for a year and do an act of love at the state capitol in Pennsylvania. And I'm hoping people in other states pick up this idea and run it in their own states.
And I'll be glad to support anybody that wants to do that. So between the book going to Every Member of Congress and an act of love every week at the state capitol in Pennsylvania, I say we can do it. And it is expanding our love footprint. It's, we got a carbon footprint. How about we have a love footprint too?
And we wanna pay attention to our carbon footprint we do for the health of the world, and we also want to pay attention to our love footprint. What are we leaving in this world? Every interaction. Like if I talked to a clerk in a store for 60 seconds and I walk away, what did I leave behind? Resentment, argument, indifference or love.
Or if I have lunch with my brothers and sisters for an hour and a half, then I leave. What did I leave behind? Righteousness, argument, indifference or maybe love. It's called our love footprint. So if we as a society could get committed to having an extraordinary love footprint and just no, we're not arguing and we're not condemning,
we're not gonna hate, we're gonna love, that's the future for our society. I think we're ready to take it together.
Kayla: Thank you so much for sharing. That was something I found very inspiring because I think we do live in a. World where there's a lot of battling and fighting, especially when there are very different opinions and especially in certain climates today.
So for you to say, I'm gonna do the opposite and I'm going to love what, to many people I imagine feels like the unlovable is very inspiring and very powerful, and I would love to hear it. Did you have any. Barriers to this project or any challenges before you were able to decide this is what we're doing?
David: Nope, not really. It was just like if I looked at what if I really am committed to love prevail in the world, what are, what do we need to do? One of the things we need to do is infuse the political system with love. It's just if we don't do that, we're never gonna have love prevail in the whole world.
Right. And you know, the great thing is I think a lot of people today are kind of upset or about what's going on, but don't they go, well, yeah, but what can I do about it? Oh, this was just a demonstration of, oh, maybe we can do something about it. I'll just send a book to Congress. Right? So, and by the way, people, if people wanna contribute, like Kayla, can I say that?
If they go to my website, your love does matter.com, your love does matter.com, and then they go to the, on the website, they'll see. The project Love goes to the capitol that we still, we have 537 books we're sending, that's every member of Congress and the president and vice president. And so far we've had about 350 of them sponsored at $20 each.
So people can sponsor a book, for $20, be one of the sponsors to send one of the books to Congress. So anybody that would like to, you know, in the next week or two to go ahead and say, you know. I'll sponsor a book going to Congress. You can still do that at Love Goes to Capital on Your Love does matter.com.
Okay. Thank
Kayla: you so, so much for sharing and I'll have all the links in the episode description as well.
David: Okay, good.
Kayla: So as we're writing podcast, can you share a bit about what it was like to write this book?
David: Hmm. I went through at, at first it was, like, I know I wanted to write it. I, I knew there was a communication I wanted to get like a, but it started out a little bit teaching and I'm a teacher so I forgave myself, but you know, I was trained as a teacher, but it started out a little bit, teacher and I, so I couldn't quite find, it wasn't satisfying 'cause here's what I didn't want.
You know, you can read a book on being effective and read the whole book and not end up effective. You can read a book on leadership and read the whole book. And not end up a leader. You can read a book on eating well and read the whole book and not end up eating well. So I was committed that if this was not gonna be one of those books, if they were, if somebody was gonna sit down and read this book on Loving, they were gonna end up loving that.
There was no way it was gonna be about love. It was gonna be the doorway to love. So that's how I, I had to make sure that was part of the process of writing the book was crossing that barrier. And then the other part was, that the book had to be the demonstration of it itself. So at first I was just writing to who knows who.
I was just writing. And then I realized, no, I'm writing to people. It's like my love has to get expressed to the people that are reading this, so that's why I pulled from the poet Rumi. If you're familiar with the poet, Rumi. Rumi's writings are just pure love letters. I mean, it's what they are, right? And so I got, oh, I got it.
I'm writing this book is actually a love letter to people. So I actually said in the introduction, I say to the readers, I'm gonna call you my beloveds 'cause that's who you are for me. And then I literally wrote, writing became such a joy. 'cause I was. I was literally like writing a love letter. It was just, it became so much fun and so fulfilling to do so.
I trust that the book and the feedback I'm getting is that yeah, it is, it does make that difference for people and, the love, the love comes through the pages, so to speak.
Kayla: You touched on two absolutely beautiful things there, and one is that many books are a how to, but they don't give you that embodiment.
And then also the intention in the writing process really is where you can infuse a lot of magic. And I know that's one thing that has changed for me in this podcast. Before it was. You know, what am I gonna create? 'cause I've gotta create something this week.
But when I started to do like heart lock-ins and imagine who's listening and imagine how it's going to help them, there's so much more. Energy behind that content versus, I'm just gonna write this thing because, so for anyone out there who is a writer wants to write, and you know your words have power, this can be a powerful way just to get more of you into the pages or onto the whatever medium you're using.
David: Kayla, I'm so happy that you were the podcast that way. 'cause yeah, you can have a smart thing to say and do a podcast, but when you are, wait who's listening to this and what do I want them to get? That's what moves you. That's when it becomes like an, expression of yourself.
Capital S is when you're, you're. You can create for yourself. What is it that I want to have happen for people when they listen to this podcast and when that's what's guiding you? It's golden. It's powerful. By the way, can I say one thing about your podcast, right. I've listened, you know, I just, one of the things I do when I go to the gym is I listen to the news is kind of, I do do the gym and the news at the same time, and I was just struck again this morning, Kayla.
I just, it is one of those gyms that has like 10 TV sets up, set up across, and you can watch any station you want. Like just, there's 10 different sets going with, and each, each set has a different station on it. And I kinda like scanned them all and every bit of it was opinion, every bit of it was judgment, a lot of argument.
And I realized, wait a minute, the airwaves are filled with that. Right? We gotta fill the airwaves with the love. So this podcast itself, Kayla, I just really thank you for it 'cause it's, you're putting out there in the airwaves, you're putting out a message of humanity, of love, of, of people fulfilling themselves, of people knowing themselves as great human being.
So I just really acknowledge you for this podcast and it's like we're gonna fill the airwaves with this message.
Kayla: So your book, it's written to the reader with a lot of love. They get to the end of this beautiful book. What are three things you want them to feel, experience, or be after reading it?
David: One, I want them to actually, be completely inside of like, and see their pathway forward to expanding their love footprint that they can actually be aware of, oh, what did I leave behind in that interaction? And they can actually, make that choice. I'm gonna leave love behind. So I want people to leave consciously choosing to expand their love footprint.
That's one. Two, I want them to actually be pretty good at, by the time they're done reading the book, they're pretty good at being able to free themselves from resentments opinions so that they're free to love again. What we talked about earlier, I'm committed that when people are free, they love, so I want them by the end of the book to actually see, oh, I can actually free myself from opinions, resentments, regrets.
I can free myself. And when I do, I love. And then the third thing is I want them to actually be kind of knocked back by the quality of life when they love, you know, just that we have one quality of life when we resent. We have one quality of life when we blame, we have a one quality of life when we judge and we have a different quality of life, emotionally, spiritually, mentally and physically.
It's a different life when we love, so I want them to be knocked back by. The quality of life they have when they love and their capacity to live that life. To choose that life and live it powerfully.
Kayla: That sounds like an amazing reader's journey, and for everyone listening, I wanna tie this back to one of the things we talk about often, which is fringe freedom.
This is a huge challenge for a lot of women and men, and I think one of the places where we do start the emotional eating, the binge eating is from a lot of built up resentment and judging and opinions because it's all. And it's contracted and it feels very uncomfortable. And sometimes we want to just make those emotions go away, and food is a way to do that temporarily.
So this is a powerful book for anyone who wants to deepen into that journey in a very expansive way.
David: And a lot of times in binge eating, I think you would support this, is that the, judgements are about self. Yes. So it's not just freeing oneself up from judging others. At most fundamental level, it's being able to free ourselves from our judgments of self as well,
Kayla: Absolutely.
Thank you for that point. Well, 'cause that is a very important one. So, David, I have so enjoyed having you on the podcast. Just two more questions. I'll just get each guest to leave the listener with some kind of an embodied activation, so this is something they can go out and do. After listening to this podcast, you've already given us a few things we could start to work on, but what would be the one thing that you'd recommend?
Listeners go out and do after this.
David: One of the things I do, I meditate every morning and, I lead guided meditations. By the way, for your listeners, if they go to my website, www your love does matter.com/gift. Okay, your love does matter.com/gift. I have there, a set of seven meditations I've led that, the recordings of them that your listeners are welcome to go and download those recordings and have those, and I think they're just really beautiful calming, centering meditations.
Okay, so that's a gift I'd wanna give all your listeners. But to answer your question. When I am ready to finish my meditation every day before I step away from it, I start envisioning my day, who am I going to interact with next? What situation am I walking into next? And I start envisioning my day.
And then I visualize myself there as this loving human being. Create it and walk through what can happen. Like what miracle could how, like how, how great could it be if I walk into that loving listening. Respecting. If I walk into that situation with that person, that way, what can happen?
I visualize it, I create a vivid picture of it for myself before I even get up. So it's one really, useful practice is to visualize your day before it happens. Who are you gonna be with? What situations, what projects? Like if I, okay. I've gotta get my crew to, restock the store.
Okay. Let me picture myself being there managing that project. As somebody who's loving. How could that go? What might happen? So to visualize their day? If I had to recommend one practice, I think that's the most basic one. That's amazingly valuable. 'cause then you go into the day and it's already, you've already imagined yourself being there, you've already pictured it and it begins to flow that way.
Kayla: Yes. Thank you so much. That is a powerful one, and you've already mentioned a few places people can find you, your love does matter.com and then your love does matter.com/gift for those meditations is there any people can go to connect with you and learn more?
David: Um, that's really the best place. I am doing a course, as well, I've invented a program, I'm calling it The Awakening, and Kayla the Awakening is a three.
I'm offering it, for the first time actually, in Philadelphia, on October 23rd, and in Los Angeles on November 6th. It'll be a three program. And, it's in that program. Kayla, I really think I've been able to bring together. The best of our transformational discoveries about who we are as human beings with the spirit, great spiritual experiences, meditations, et cetera.
And there's a place where those two worlds come together. The new thinking plus the spiritual awakening. And when those two worlds come together. So I'm saying that the course is called The Awakening, but I'm saying that it's not just a course, it's an anointment of self as source. So that's what I maintain the program. So if they wanna check that out, they could go to the website and look for the program called The Awakening. I'd love to have people join me for that program.
Okay.
Kayla: Okay, perfect. Now we'll include that for all the listeners in the episode description as well. So thank you again so much for being here, David.
David: Boy, so just so enlivening to talk to you. Thank you so much for this opportunity and thank you for all you're doing.
Kayla: You are very welcome.
