podcast 025: joy as resistance - a spiritual practice for real life
In this episode, Deb sits down with HX ally Alycia Sutor and spiritual director Lorilyn Wiering for a conversation that starts with a “bathroom-at-a-conference” origin story and quickly opens into something much deeper: joy as connection, joy as resistance, and joy as an embodied spiritual discipline.
“Joy is potent. A drop of it can save you. A long sip of it can galvanize you. It is our most native weapon against tyranny.”
Together, they reframe joy as more than happiness or pleasure, as something sacred, alive, and even rebellious, and explore how joy can coexist with grief, fear, and real-world constraint. You’ll hear practical ways to build receptivity, savor goodness in small moments, and “love reality” even when you don’t like it plus a jaw-dropping story about a pilot who refused to leave without someone on board.
Key Highlights:
Joy as a well-spring of connection (self, source, creation, others) and how it changes everything
The “11-second savor” practice that can imprint joy at a cellular level
Why spiritual growth isn’t only forged through suffering and what it means to let joy be a teacher
The daily practice of the Examen: “Where did I feel most in the flow of love?”
Receptivity as a muscle and how “saying yes” can undo fear, shame, and scarcity thinking
A story of unmerited favor that challenges the “one-off miracle” narrative
The line that lands like a mic drop: joy as a native weapon against tyranny
About Our Guest:
Alycia Sutor is an HX ally and longtime contributor to the HX Collective’s exploration of human flourishing across work, relationships, and self. In this episode, she shares how spiritual friendship and practice have expanded her lived understanding of joy, hope, and connection.
Lorilyn Wiering is a spiritual director who companions individuals (and groups) in listening for how the divine communicates through more expansive modalities than traditional prayer alone helping people identify obstacles to a freer, more resourced response to love, guidance, and “reality with a capital R.”
About The HX Collective:
The HX Collective is a movement to elevate the human experience—at work, in relationships, and with ourselves. Through honest conversations and strategic insight, we explore how connection, context, and compassion can create a more flourishing world, starting right where we are.
