21 min read

Beyond Toxicity: Navigating the Dark Masculine

Beyond Toxicity: Navigating the Dark Masculine

Most men are conditioned to believe that any "dark" part of their personality is inherently toxic and must be suppressed to remain a "nice guy". However, this suppression often leads to a "gray man" existence where a man's natural boisterousness and drive are quashed, making him feel incomplete and unintegrated. In this episode, Tim Matthews, Lawrence, and Stephen discuss why "darkness" is not the same as evil, but rather represents mystery, depth, and a source of life force that most men have exiled.

The conversation highlights that when a man denies these parts of himself, his energy inevitably leaks out in unhealthy ways such as manipulation, addiction, aggression, or emotional shutdown. This occurs because it takes immense energy to pretend a side of yourself doesn't exist, which ultimately robs you of your ability to be fully present in your marriage and your life. By contrast, the integrated dark masculine is grounded in love and clarity rather than ego or fear.

A man who has integrated his "full stack" is able to set unbreakable boundaries, protect what he loves, and lead with a steady, sovereign presence. This transition involves moving through the five virtues of presence, peace, power, passion, and purpose to replace the "agonies" of greed, anger, and shame . Ultimately, the goal is to stop dimming your light and start living authentically, ensuring you don't end up with the common regret of wishing you had the courage to live a life true to yourself.

If you are ready to stop guessing what is broken in your relationship and want a step-by-step methodology to get back the love and respect you used to have, head over to the link below to access our free training:

https://fixmarriage.thepowerfulman.com/scales

 

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Transcription

 

Tim Matthews 0:00
What do you guys know about the dark masculine? I've been a people pleaser for years. Our relationship with the dark masculine is so uneducated. It can seem uncomfortable talking about this.

Stephen 0:12
It's important for me to also show her maybe some of the darker things as well.

Tim Matthews 0:16
And it comes out sideways, right? It leaks out in these unhealthy ways.

Lawrence 0:20
The integrated dark masculine is something to be embraced—not just by us—but our women actually want that from us. I don't like the term “toxic masculinity” anyway.

Tim Matthews 0:42
Hey guys, welcome to another episode of the TPM show. My name is Tim Matthews. I'm your host, and I am joined with Wildcard and the King of Cheese. So what do you guys know about the dark masculine?

Lawrence 0:59
Okay, well, you mentioned my tattoos on a previous episode, but I've got an axis mundi just here, and this reminds me of the dark side and the light side, and how to integrate, or remember to integrate, those things.

So for me, the dark masculine is that side of masculinity, of me as a person, which is not always user-friendly, not always pleasant, but is an essential part of who I am and who I've had to become to accept that I'm not always nice.

Tim Matthews 1:46
Why do you say it isn't pleasant?

Lawrence 1:49
I think it can come across—I’ve been a people pleaser for years—and it’s been difficult for me to embrace the fact that sometimes some people might not like me because I'm making decisions. I'm actually putting myself out there in the world.

And I think that can come across as being selfish. And again, maybe that's just my view of how it comes across. But it’s felt uncomfortable to learn about the dark masculine, to embody that and to embrace it as part of myself.

Because I always want to be nice. I want to be the nice guy, the funny guy in the room, the guy that's accepted, part of the group, part of the in-crowd. And I've had to learn that I don’t need that to be me.

And sometimes the darkness in me—whether that's in an intimate relationship or with friends—it’s not necessarily negative. But I think for me it’s been a process of accepting it, accepting that I'm not always on the top of my game, or I'm not always the life and soul of the party. Sometimes I can be quiet, dark. I seem uncomfortable talking about this.

Tim Matthews 3:15
There is something inside—

Lawrence 3:18
It does. Okay, I'll tell you why that makes me feel uncomfortable. I did the erotic blueprint a while back and came out as sort of energetic 50% and kinky 50%. And the kinky side wasn't something I thought much about in myself. I suppressed that, pushed that down for years and years.

And it was a revelation for me to take a woman, to ravish a woman, to be fully myself and present in the bedroom. And that was deeply dark masculine. You know, don’t get me wrong, I'm not into dungeons.

Tim Matthews 4:04
It’s okay. We can get into definitions. It’s just even talking about it, right? The feeling. And this is what guys do. Our relationship with the dark masculine is so uneducated that even the idea of talking about it—and this is my assessment of your body language right now—even the way in which we want to talk about it, we want to make sure that it comes across the right way. That it doesn't sound too offensive or too out there, or intimidating or controlling or dominant or oppressive, or whatever it may be.

And I just think this is such an important piece of us. And the reality is, it's the suppression of this side of us that results in it leaking out in unhealthy ways.

When I say dark masculine, I'm not talking about darkness in the sense of violence. In my opinion, while some of these things may exist in the darker recesses of our being, our energy, our psyche—whatever it may be—I can imagine listeners might think, “Okay, the men that commit violence, that's an act of dark masculine.” No, no, no. That’s not what we're saying here.

The men that go and commit violence—be it against women, be it against the public, be it against whatever—that’s weakness, not strength. Typically, that's because there’s a large part of themselves that they haven’t learned to be with yet, process, or deal with. And as a result, they’ve tried to push it down, and it comes out sideways. It leaks out in these unhealthy ways.

However, there is a very healthy component to the dark masculine that is absolutely necessary and required in order for a man to have a healthy, integrated embodiment of his masculinity. Without it, he is never going to be integrated. He’s never going to be fully embodied because there’s a part of him that is absolutely necessary and needed that he has exiled.

When you talk about it being unpleasant, I asked why. And all I heard from you was that it’s unpleasant for you, right? It’s not because of any other stories. Ultimately, everything you told me were the stories you were telling yourself.

You never put yourself in a dangerous situation. You never put anyone in harm—physical harm, emotional harm, or anything like that. Yet your level of discomfort with it was palpable. I can see it with Stephen as well. It’s a great conversation. I think it’s a very necessary conversation. And we obviously will dive more into this episode.

Personally, for me, it was one of the favorite masterclasses that I’ve put on for the guys—the embodied wolf and grounded masculinity. There’s so much overlap between those three. But I think those ones were really valuable.

Stephen 7:49
It feels for me like, I mean, when I think about the subject, it's a lot. A lot for me, my journey has been not suppressing myself. And part of the things that you then start to unsuppress, I guess, are the cleaner, lighter, easier things. But by just revealing those, I'm still not giving a very complete signal, a complete picture out to others.

I've been told by my wife at times that I'm a brick wall. She can't read me. She can't tell what's going on. And while it's easier to open up the light, bright things, it's important for me to also show her maybe some of the darker things as well. The anger, the fear that might be there too, rather than just saying, “Oh no, everything's great. It's all sunshine and kittens and rainbows.” That’s bullshit as well. No one's got that. Everyone has that darkness.

If I just suppress the darker things, that's not me being true to me either. And as you say, that energy does leak out in damaging ways rather than in a constructive way.

Tim Matthews 9:06
I love this topic. I really do. It gets me fired up, as you can probably tell.

Lawrence 9:13
I think when I initially watched the masterclass on it, my mind went immediately to the toxic traits of masculinity. I think people very quickly go to that instead. It's massively misunderstood. The integrated dark masculine is something to be embraced, not just by us, but our women actually want that from us. It's truly necessary. Absolutely necessary.

But as soon as you hear somebody say the words “dark masculine,” you immediately, well, I do anyway, sometimes go straight to those negative, toxic traits. And I think no one wants to be lumped in with, you know, I don't like the term toxic masculinity anyway, but those unhealthy, unintegrated aspects of it.

I don’t feel those things in me, and I don't want people to feel that I'm like that. But then I think, why should I care what people think?

Tim Matthews 10:15
Well, I think it's how it's been portrayed through society, right? This whole idea of the patriarchy and toxic masculinity and all the rest of it, to your point. And since the Industrial Age, when fathers left the home, that was back in the 50s, a lot of boys started to get raised by women. Most of the teachers in school were women. Fathers were out working. So mothers were raising them, and the boisterousness that is a very natural part of a man's development was very much quashed, suppressed.

Don't be too much. Don't be too boisterous. Don't be too rough. Don't be too intimidating. Don't be too this. Don't be too that. And then obviously, as we grow up, we're told to sit down, be a good boy, be quiet, which suppresses a huge part of ourselves that is necessary as we grow up.

Then we hear all these negative connotations around masculinity. Power, for example. The word powerful is so misunderstood, in my opinion. I know the name of what we do, The Powerful Man, is controversial. But that's because the idea of power is misunderstood.

These people that have been perceived to be powerful aren't actually powerful in the way we talk about it. It's weak. It comes from ego. It comes from control. It comes from manipulation. That’s not power. That’s weakness. So as men, we grow up suppressed. Not on purpose. No one's intentionally trying to suppress boys. It was just the way the world was. Everyone did the best they could. But we receive mixed messages through things like patriarchy narratives and toxic masculinity conversations.

It lends itself to wanting to be the nice guy. Not be too much. Not rock the boat. Not stand out. Don’t create waves. Don’t be awkward. Just go along with things. Be the gray man. Although we call it the dark masculine and say it exists in the dark, it's just a shadow side of us. If you deny that shadow, it maintains control over you. It remains unconscious and does the controlling. That’s when it comes out sideways, through manipulation, sedation, aggression, whatever it may be. Because you haven't learned to turn toward that side.

Yet the darkness holds a hell of a lot of light. When you're able to transmute that darkness, turn toward it, integrate it, and accept it, you realize it holds truth. It holds power. That’s where your boundaries come from. That’s where your loyalty comes from. That’s where some of your drive comes from. Your creativity comes from it. It’s life force.

If you suppress that side of you, let’s use anger as an example. Anger is probably one of the more common things associated with the dark masculine. Anger exists on a spectrum. Anger, aggression, excitement, inspiration, encouragement. Energetically, there’s overlap between all those things. It isn’t the presence of them that’s unhealthy. It’s where they’re coming from. Is there conscious intent in how you channel them, or is there unconscious leaking of them?

The aggression piece often leaks because you haven’t learned to turn toward it. But there is power inside that darkness that most men will never reclaim because they exile that part of themselves. Until they learn to integrate it, they’ll never be fully embodied. When I launched the Academy masterclass last week, I introduced the guys to the idea of the half-stack versus the full-stack powerful man. Until they integrate that side, they won’t be a full-stack guy.

Stephen 15:35
We're not complete. Are you complete to the world?

Some of these traits, these dark traits like anger, if you don't show them, there’s a lack of attractiveness to that as well. The man who's trustworthy, the man who never gets angry. It's like, where's your backbone? Where’s your backbone?

It’s like you're not bothered. But someone who gets angry in the right kind of ways, there’s drive there, motivation, principles, morality.

Tim Matthews 16:05
All of that. I'm going to read you some stuff out here, and I'll come to you, Lawrence, and you're going to say something. I'm just going to blast through a couple of points here because these are important.

So the dark masculine protects what you love, sets unbreakable boundaries, penetrates life with presence. That is a big element of the presence that you bring to life when you integrate this side of you.

While you're exiling this part of you, which takes energy to exile it, by the way. It's not like it doesn't use energy. It does. Trying to pretend like this side doesn’t exist. You are nowhere near as present as you can be because you're too concerned with managing how you’re showing up. You're too concerned with performing, pretending to be someone or be a certain way to get a certain outcome. It's manipulation. You're wanting to look a certain way so people like you, or whatever it may be.

Whereas when you drop that and integrate this piece of you, along with just being authentic, to me, this is authentic. That’s where you have full presence. So the dark masculine protects what you love, sets unbreakable boundaries, penetrates life with presence, walks into the fire, takes risks for truth, love, and purpose. When denied, it leaks into manipulation, aggression, shame, and withdrawal. This is from the masterclass.

So the idea here is what you suppress controls you. What you embrace liberates you.

In keeping with this, common faulty assumptions around it: the dark masculine is dangerous. It's only dangerous when it's disowned. That's the truth. Dark equals evil. Well, darkness is mystery, depth, and sacred initiation. There’s an initiation that happens to a man when he learns to integrate this part of himself. Nice equals good. No, no, no. Nice avoids truth and suppresses power. Anger must be avoided. I love this piece.

Doug Holt 18:06
Hey guys, I just want to share something with you. I'm sure we can both agree that in order to fix something, you need to know what's broken. And not only need to know what's broken, but a step-by-step methodology on how you can fix it. That's the easiest way to do it, right? Otherwise, you're going to be toiling with things.

That's why I created a free training. A training that not only shows you how you got to where you are, where your relationship is missing that love, respect, admiration, and even intimacy that it used to have, but also how you get it back. How do you retain that where your wife's looking at you the same way she used to look at you when she said, “I do”?

You know, I don't know about you, but for me, when my wife looks at me like I'm her man, that feels like I can conquer the world, and I want that for you. Simply go over to https://fixmarriage.thepowerfulman.com/scales. That's https://fixmarriage.thepowerfulman.com/scales, and I have a free video training for you. You can just click play and see if this resonates for you. Now, back to the podcast.

Tim Matthews 19:09
Anger is a divine sword for justice, clarity, and boundaries. If I'm fierce, I'll lose love. True fierceness deepens trust and devotion. Without integrating the dark masculine, fierceness is neutered, and love becomes conditional. The dark masculine serves love, not ego.

Lawrence 19:35
It's a shame that Mike's on a stand. Otherwise, you could just drop it.

Tim Matthews 19:42
A lot of truth in there. It's huge. I mean, look, suppression causes energy to fester. It leaks out as anger, addiction, manipulation, emotional shutdown. You guys think back to before you started this journey, right? I know for me, anger, addiction, manipulation, emotional shutdown. They're all, not all, but there's forms of sedation in there, right? When you deny this side of yourself, there's a sedation that typically will occur in your life because you'll be trying to push down a piece of you that is natural, that wants to rise up.

Now the key is obviously how you use it, right? It's keeping it within voluntary control. So you’ve got to integrate it. You've got to learn to be with it. In the Ascension Blueprint, you guys are familiar with No Man’s Land and the five agonies. So the five agonies in No Man’s Land came about from watching the pattern of thousands of men.

So the first agony is greed. It's a feeling that no matter what you have, it's never enough. The second agony is anger. That's where you start to get angry because you can't fill this void that's inside of you. You don't know why, but you just feel irritated. You just feel angry.

That then leads to the third agony of shame because the anger comes out sideways. A sharp word to the kids, a sharp word to the wife, treating your employees badly, whatever it may be. That then leads to the fourth agony of loneliness. Well, maybe it's easier if I'm not around. So guys will work longer, or whatever it may be. Which then leads to the fifth agony of uncertainty. You can't keep this up. So which domino is going to fall first? Is it going to be health from all the stress and the late nights? Is it going to be your marriage from ignoring what's really going on? Is it going to be the business?

That’s No Man’s Land. Now just like that was created from watching thousands of men go through that predictably, the opposite of that is the five virtues. I've seen this play out with thousands of men as well.

The first virtue is presence. That's becoming present with your experience. If you're not present with your experience, nothing else is possible. You've first got to become present with what's really going on inside, which speaks to not sedating anymore. Sedation can look like alcohol, work, social media, porn, food, all sorts.

When you learn to be with what's actually going on inside of you and harness it, that then leads to the second virtue of peace. You start to arrive at a foundation of peace. From a foundation of peace, you can then have true power start to rise and thrive in your life. That true power is you exerting your authority and autonomy in the world, and it coming from a healthy place grounded in peace and presence, not ego.

Which then leads to the fourth virtue of passion. Passion starts to get reignited in your life again because you are doing what you love. Which then leads to the fifth virtue of purpose. You start to find purpose again.

There’s no way you can harness the power of the dark masculine without the five virtues. Without presence. Without it being on a foundation of peace. The dark masculine resides in the power. And when fully embraced, in my opinion, it can become your greatest asset.

I've been rambling a lot. I told you I get fired up by this. I love this topic.

Lawrence 23:41
Presence is everything. Presence is everything, especially in today's society where we're pulled from pillar to post with lots of different tech and business and all of these kinds of things that pull our attention. And presence isn't just attention. It's being in your body, in the place where you are, and having that presence, that sense of you.

You can't get that if you're spending, like you said, expending that energy on trying to put on a front or trying to suppress, keep something down.

I heard an Alan Watts podcast yesterday, and it said, try explaining to somebody about light without mentioning darkness.

Tim Matthews 24:25
Interesting. That's a really good point.

Lawrence 24:30
They have to coexist.

Tim Matthews 24:31
They do. Of course they do. Yin and yang, right? They do. There’s just a negative connotation to it that people want to avoid it and pretend like it doesn't exist. It's needed. It's necessary. It's how you harness it.

Lawrence 24:43
It's the energetic, isn't it? It's the energy that it comes with. It's how you bring that and bring it out, what vibration you're vibrating with. If you're vibrating on a very low vibration, it's going to come out ugly. If you're there with your vibration, you're present in where you are, and your thoughts and your intentions and gratitude, that can raise that into an abundance vibration. Then when it comes out, it's all of those powerful things though. That penetration, that presence.

Tim Matthews 25:09
So I've got to imagine, for you, accepting that kink side of you, you must have reclaimed a hell of a lot of energy in the process of doing that.

Lawrence 25:20
Prior to doing that, I was tired. I was 180 pounds. I would say nearly 20 stone. I'm not sure if that translates to an international audience. But I was big, and I'd used food as a way of kind of, you know, I was a very emotional eater. I was completely holding everything down, pushing I didn't know what. I didn't know what it was. I didn't know it was some kind of kinky side of me that wanted to unleash itself. But I was very, very suppressed myself. Not by others outside necessarily, although society and relationships didn't help, but certainly by myself.

Coming out of that and just being that, that's part of the freedom of expression, because you get to penetrate the world.

Tim Matthews 26:15
The reality is you can't ravish a woman if you're not going to be present. Exactly. Your presence is a gateway for the ravishment. Ravishing the woman, the world, whatever it may be. So I'll read you a couple more bits, and then we'll wrap up, because I know you've got to go, Stephen.

Destructive versus integrated dark masculine. The destructive dark masculine. The source of it is ego, fear, unprocessed trauma. So think of it when you're pushing it down, pretending like it's not there. The source of it, ego, fear, unprocessed trauma.

The energy of it, chaotic and reactive. The motivation is to control or dominate. And the presence is intimidating or absent. The integrated dark masculine. The source of it is love, clarity, and inner wholeness. The energy of it is grounded and intentional. The motivation of it is truth, protection, and devotion. I love that. The presence of it is steady, sovereign, and deeply felt.

The psychological frame. The destructive dark masculine is a result of repressed wounds, unacknowledged rage, and childhood trauma. It wears a mask of strength, but he's driven by insecurity and a fear of powerlessness. And he behaves chaotically, unconsciously controlled by unresolved emotions.

The integrated dark masculine arises from shadow work, where a man has earned his pain and impulses, channels intensity toward service, not control, and embraces his power without fear, using it with purpose and clarity.

I love that. To me, that's power. Especially that piece of the motivation: truth, protection, and devotion. It could be devotion to your work, devotion to your partner, devotion to your family, devotion to your mission. I love that. Truth, protection, taking a stand for yourself, for your family. It's so true.

Lawrence 28:41
That leans into that integrated wolf thing that we were talking about in the recent masterclass. The idea that rather than being fierce out of ego, or being aggressive or angry, you're fiercely defending your family or you're fiercely defending something because it's from the right reason.

Stephen 29:08
That's awesome. For me, part of it is about realizing that it's okay to show as dark, to show that you're angry, to show that you're… that's part of that protection.

Tim Matthews 29:22
Has anyone ever told you in your adult life, in the past 10 to 15 years, that it's not okay to express it when you've brought it out? Didn't think so. Didn't think so. No. So this is internal. You both had some hesitation, right? But it's also stirring something up in you both. You can see it. Yet no one's told you not to bring it.

Stuff in childhood, right? And this society and what society says. For you guys, it's burn clean, because you just come from such a good place with it. It comes from love. Let me bring that other piece back up. The source: love, clarity, inner wholeness. That's you two. It comes from that place.

Energy: grounded, intentional. That's you two. Motivation: truth, protection, devotion. Presence: steady, sovereign, deeply felt. So what if you just actually… it goes back to the first piece. Don't dim your light. There's overlap with these two.

Stephen 30:47
It's that fear of what happens if you actually say what's on your mind, the difficult conversation. It's never as difficult as it is in your mind before you have it.

Tim Matthews 30:56
I love this, right? Getting the guys safe on a call with a guy. So, right, complete this sentence. Okay, I said you can't think. Just say what comes to mind. If I didn't give a fuck, I'd... And then when the whatever, that's the truth right there, whether it's something he wants to say, he wants to do, he wants to start, he wants to stop, he wants to whatever. But the answer to that question is always surprising but also liberating, which kind of goes to you saying anything you don't want to say. Oh, you don't want to say what you don't think you should say. You don't think it's the acceptable thing to say.

Stephen 31:47
For me, it's been over the past year or so. In particular, it's been about what happens if I just ask for what I want to say, what I want. Because when I do that, it happens. I get what I ask for.

Lawrence 32:03
It's risk, isn't it? You're taking a risk either saying it, but you're also taking a risk not saying it. The risk is staying where you are. The risk is no progress. The risk is living unfulfilled, inauthentically. You know, you...

Tim Matthews 32:19
You guys familiar with The Five Regrets of the Dying? No? Okay, I'm going to tell you The Five Regrets of the Dying. So basically, this is actually a book, and it was put together by a lady who was a palliative care nurse. So I have heard bits of this, but okay. So the first regret: I wish I'd had the courage to live a life that was true to myself, not the life others expected of me. I wish I hadn't worked so hard. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends. I wish that I had let myself be happier. And that's from people on the deathbed. So in everything we're talking about, essentially, we're talking about authenticity. We're talking about wholeness, integration.

You guys, just the listeners, just being more of who you want to be, taking the brakes off the thing, of course, because everything you're talking about falls in line with, you know, if you choose to hold back, if you choose to sit here and not do anything with this, then you know where it leads, right? There's a book there, The Five Regrets of the Dying, which feels very much hand in hand with what you say. And I wish I'd expressed my emotions. I wish I'd let myself be happier. I wish I had the courage to live a life that was true to me. There's three of the five, right?

Lawrence 34:02
You know, we're in a very privileged position in that we've got the movement, and that's helped to get to a place where, you know, that's a reality. We can step into that very easily there. You know, there's a lot of guys out there that I speak to on a day-to-day basis who are nowhere near that because they haven't. You know, it's not like you've got to build up to it. I don't think you've got to build up to it, but I think you've got to find a path to embracing that.

Tim Matthews 34:29
I agree. I mean, you kind of brought me back to reality a little bit. I'm just getting so sucked into speaking to you two. But you're right. There are some guys that are listening to this. It'll be like, hopefully it sounds appealing, hopefully ignites something in them, and they want that. How they get it, obviously, is going to be important. Obviously, I'm biased. I'd love them to join TPM or even see if TPM is a fit. It might not be a fit, but obviously I know what we do. I know it works, right? So the last thing I want is the guys that are feeling this call to go and not be served. But at the same time, do something. To your point, find a path. It's not going to happen overnight. But this is such, in my opinion, such a worthwhile pursuit if you want to become the man, the father, the leader, the husband, the lover that you know you're capable of being. In my opinion, this piece, this integration, is 100% the pathway, and it's a result. It's what guys experience through what we do. And I'm sat here, kind of your energy. You guys credit. You've also integrated a lot of this over the past while. I've seen you guys bring this out. There's always more layers and levels, right?

Stephen 35:58
There's always more. The journey is...

Lawrence 36:00
100%. I mean, just the thought of stepping up that next level and just letting go and just being truly, truly present and authentic as me in every situation. Because I can do it. I can do it a good percent of the time now, without effort. And I think that's part of the academy that you're talking about, in terms of the academy not learning new stuff here, there, and everywhere, but actually just embodying some of the stuff. And I think I'm getting there, and there's more to do.

Tim Matthews 36:35
Oh man, like I said, you guys have come a hell of a long way.

Stephen 36:38
But the presence thing is huge. I mean, just yesterday, Jane, my wife, and me, we sat down for a couple of hours and we were just updating our joint vision for the coming year. And so much of it is around presence and communication. And even that is something where, you know, the fact we're doing that a year or so ago, I would never have, I wouldn't have dared ask. But I have asked, and we do it, and she's on board with it and contributing. But the presence thing, and like you said, it's so easy not to be present these days with all the technology distractions.

Tim Matthews 37:14
Here's a challenge for you. Love a challenge? Another one? Or you love one? I love another challenge. No. How do you get to become fiercely present? Like, what would that look like for you? You don't have to answer it right now. But that's one. Just play in that for you in particular. I think the energy of that question and what it would mean for you and what it would look like, I think you could lean into really well.

Stephen 37:45
It's a good question. There are one or two things that jump out instantly at that, but I can see there's a lot more to go into. Some of it is around calling out that position as a family when I see that I'm, you know, I expect others to call me out, but when I see someone else in my family not being present, it's kind of the “put your phone down” type thing, protecting the fact that we've agreed we're going to be more present.

Lawrence 38:09
Oh, what you just did there struck a chord with me, because you talked about being fiercely present, but what you just did then was you just lowered your voice and you just went, “Put your phone away.”

Tim Matthews 38:23
Protecting what we agreed as a family, protecting because you want to enforce, but not with anger or some tyrannical rule.

Lawrence 38:30
Exactly, just a quiet, confident presence. This is a reminder, or this is a boundary, or whatever it is. That's true. Fierceness is grounded.

Tim Matthews 38:43
It's not aggression. It's not domination. I love it. Well, we could go on and on, but I've kept you long enough.

Stephen 38:55
It's always good when the conversations just keep going.

Tim Matthews 39:00
Anyway, guys, if you're listening to this and you want to learn more about what we do, the Ascension Blueprint, then click the link. Speak to an advisor. See if it's for you. If it is, great. If it's not, no worries. But just do something. If this has resonated with you, just don't stay on the fence. Just do something. Like Doug always likes to say, at the moment of insight, take massive action. We'll see you next time on the TPM show.