Have you ever found yourself stuck in a manipulative relationship—you know deep down it’s toxic, yet each time you try to leave you’re pulled back in? My guest this week is Renee Linnell, who had exactly that experience during her time in a religious cult. She offers an intimate look at that period in her life in her recent book, The Burn Zone: A Memoir, which I explored with her on this week’s episode.

Topics we discussed included:

• Experiencing the original mind state of pure love
• The danger in deifying spiritual teachers
• The author’s experiences of Buddhism
• How people end up in abusive and manipulative relationships
• Life experiences that can make us vulnerable to being manipulated by others
• Relationships between narcissists and people who are co-dependent
• Lessons we can learn from everything “bad” that happens to us
• How denying our intuition can lead us to stay in toxic relationships
• Gaslighting in manipulative relationships (with shoutout to previous guest Dr. Stephanie Sarkis)
• Ways that social isolation facilitates mind control
• Intermittent reinforcement in manipulative relationships
• A realistic vision of enlightenment as accepting life just as it is
• Finding happiness by being ourselves
• The connection between pain and wisdom
• The freedom that comes from taking our focus off ourselves
• The powerful effect of taking small actions to be of service to others
• What it means to be a warrior
• Practical ways to show ourselves love

Here are the links to Renee’s highly engaging book (a percentage of each purchase made through these affiliate links will be used to support the podcast, at no additional cost to you):

The Burn Zone: A Memoir

Click here for the Audible Audiobook edition.

Renee Linnell completed her Executive MBA at the NYU Stern School of Business. A serial entrepreneur, she has founded and cofounded five companies.

She is currently working on starting a publishing company to give people from diverse walks of life an opportunity to tell their stories. Renee divides her time between Colorado and Southern California.

Find Renee online at her website and connect with her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.