The Cost of Living — and what it costs us not to
A song, a question, and an open door
I finished a song this morning that has been in the works for a while; something to try and capture insights about the costs of living. (And a note – if you have watched the video with captions – a few edits to note – it’s not ‘bleed with care – but ‘lead with care’. The difference is not so subtle !)
Beginning with the line, the cost of living crisis – a nod to the ever-present and grinding pressure of trying to stay afloat when everything around you keeps rising. It’s real, and it’s in the air.
Then the focus on what has been stirring within me – What does it cost us not to live? Not financially. But in the deeper sense. What does it cost us to keep our longings at arm’s length? To stay safely on the surface? To let the years pass without ever really showing up to them?
“What’s going down — that things are going up all the time around us? Can you riddle me this?”
The relationship may not be exact, but there is something to pay attention to. How responsible are we for the very circumstances we are in?
We’ve gotta live together / in this cost of living crisis —
Think of earth as our economy / our common home / that no-one owns.
This could be a chance to replace greed with kindness / yeah, build something with soul.
Lead with care.
Without diminishing the real impact, I sense the possibility that this financial crisis is an invitation to look more deeply at how this has happened and to take up our agency to create something different. But it will take a different consciousness – one that is borne out of turning toward each other. Toward what genuinely matters. Toward the unlived parts of our own lives.
This is the territory I hope to live and work in. And it’s the territory of a program I’m currently running, which I want to tell you about.
An Invitation: Online Program — Now Open
The Cost of (Not) Living Fully
In the Light of Easter — an honest and intimate exploration into the longings of the human heart.
Format
- 5 live online sessions via Zoom
When
Friday 1 May, 8 May, 15 May, 29 May and June 5 – all sessions from 8.00 – 9.00am AEST
Investment
- Pricing is based on a ‘Pay as you Can’ model.
- You can get tickets for each weekly session or you can get a ticket for all 5!
Capacity:
- 20 participants
Program Overview
Week 1 — Remaining in the Middle Ground
Week 2 — Love & Suffering
Week 3 — Tenderness & Compassion
Week 4 — Risk & Responsibility
Week 5 — Gentleness & Grace
Register Here →
Registration closing soon. Questions? luke@thehealingtide.com.au
Each session follows a contemplative rhythm: we open with intention, I share one of my original songs or poems and what lives inside it, we move through guided reflection together, and we close by naming something to carry with us into the week. The online platform stays open between sessions for further conversation and materials.
This program is for you if you’re drawn to honest, warm inquiry into what it means to live fully — and if you’re ready to sit with the big questions alongside others who are asking them too. You don’t need to have any particular background. You just need to be willing to show up.
The song and the program emerged from the same place in me — a conviction that the cost of staying on the surface is too high, and that we are made for something deeper and more alive than most of us are currently living.
If the song touched something in you, I think this program might too. I’d love to have you with us.
— Luke
Questions or want to know more before registering? Reach me at luke@thehealingtide.com.au or 0427 381 947.
