Bartholomew opened by teaching the profound principle that painful events from the past exist only as recreated fragments in the present moment rather than actual stored realities. When someone impacts you emotionally - as powerfully as being hit by a car - most people try to "tough it out" instead of treating the emotional impact seriously. He advocated sitting immediately after such experiences to fully feel the physical and mental responses, allowing the entire defensive reaction to play out without trying to change or judge it. Through this process of complete experiencing, something remarkable occurs: you begin to lose interest in the pain as its emptiness becomes apparent.

The revolutionary teaching emerged that there is no such thing as "the past" - only fragments and opinions recreated in the present moment. If the past were real, Bartholomew challenged, you should be able to bring it fully into the present, but instead you can only reconstruct approximations based on memory patterns. This includes emotional pain from loss or heartbreak, which people recreate repeatedly rather than finding it stored somewhere in the body. The painful ache of missing someone represents a choice to maintain connection through suffering rather than love.

Central to this session was the transformative practice of replacing pain with gratitude and love. When grief or loss arises, instead of recreating the familiar contraction, students learn to say with intensity: "I love you, thank you, I love you, thank you." This shifts the experience from painful separation to present-moment connection, as one participant discovers that saying "I love you" immediately brings the person into her heart. Parents grieving lost children find this particularly challenging since they fear losing connection through releasing grief, yet the practice reveals that love provides infinitely more powerful connection than suffering ever could.

This principle extends beyond relationships to building genuine personal power. Rather than operating from secondary power sources - emotional manipulation, mental strategizing, or physical action - students learned to develop primary power through embracing difficult experiences with love and gratitude. Even with challenging figures like Saddam Hussein, the practice involves feeling whatever anger arises fully while simultaneously working to transform it through "I love you, thank you." This builds authentic power that operates from compassion rather than control, creating trustworthy strength that cannot manipulate or deceive others.

Bartholomew addressed fears about earth changes and stock market fluctuations by applying the same principles. Rather than trying to eliminate uncertainty, he encouraged embracing the adventure of change while taking practical action based on inner guidance. If you feel urgency to move or change investments, follow that impulse; if not, remain present with whatever unfolds. The key insight involves recognizing that humans have already survived countless "deaths" - loss of health, relationships, dreams, and security - demonstrating their capacity to handle whatever comes with grace and growth.

The session then explored the challenge of male power dynamics, using a participant's experience of freezing when rejected by two women. Bartholomew revealed that what appears as male dominance actually masks deep fear of powerlessness, causing people to strike first defensively. The "frozen" response occurs when the mind shuts down to avoid hearing its own reactive thoughts. The solution involves listening to internal dialogue with the same detached interest one brings to television news - hearing without believing or acting on every mental commentary.

Profound guidance emerged about developing relationship with the divine feminine or goddess energy. Rather than abstract concepts, this involves directly experiencing the power of nature through courting relationship with sky, earth, storms, and natural forces. Many people feel safer in confined spaces than facing the vast power of open landscapes, yet gradually developing intimate connection with natural forces transforms both inner feminine/masculine balance and external relationships. This practice requires moving toward rather than away from what feels overwhelming.

The teaching concluded with practical healing guidance, emphasizing that physical wellness occurs in the present moment rather than through accumulating external knowledge or remedies. While studying healing modalities like herbology, students must simultaneously give their cells consistent messages of perfect health NOW, using laser-like visualization repeated every half hour. The same principle applies to manifesting anything - rather than focusing on lack, one visualizes being completely filled with the desired experience, whether healing, love, or other goals.

Throughout the session, Bartholomew emphasized that bliss remains ever-present in every sound, sight, breath, and movement. Rather than seeking something absent, students practice recognizing the familiar radiance they constantly experience but have misnamed. The practice involves staying fully present with minimal interpretation, allowing the natural brilliance and compassionate heart to emerge through the simplicity of just being exactly as one is in each moment.