This book is about universal love, and how we can get out of our own way so that it can come through us; with compelling personal anecdotes and reflections, an opportunity for self-inquiry at the end of each chapter, and inspiring quotes from luminaries to lead the way.
Yoga and mindfulness teacher Troy Hadeed tells a different kind of love story – one that connects us to our true nature and each other. His quest to understand the human experience and dissolve our sense of separateness provides a roadmap that each of us can follow to overcome the toughest obstacles, love fiercely, and live life wholeheartedly.
Through his storytelling, readers are invited to contemplate:
- their relationship to Spirit/God and their right to redefine it
- the fundamental difference between hope and faith
- the narratives that shape our perspective of the world and how we can rewrite them
- our relationship to gratitude and what it truly means to ‘be present’
- an unconditional love that allows us to see beyond our conditioning
- and so much more
In his approachable, humorous, and welcoming tone, Troy invites us to journey alongside him as he meets the Kit Kat Kid on the streets of Calcutta, goes on a brutal 30-day trek in the unforgiving jungle of Central America, almost loses it on a random spiritual teacher at a gas station, gets his heart broken, encounters a six-time paraplegic surfing world champion, sits in silent meditation for 10 days, and spends time with some surprising guests. All roads lead to one place: Love.
This is not a book that will tell you what to do or provide feel-good platitudes. It is a gentle and inspirational guide to introspection, self-awareness, and realizing our role in this epic human journey as we do our best to make the world a better place.
Only when we get out of our own way, can we discover there is only one answer: Love.
Once you strip yourself of your identity, you’re able to live authentically and introspectively. In his first book, Troy offers snippets of his life — moments that have taught him humility, joy, and divinity — for each of us to look inward. If you’re feeling lost, looking for purpose, trying to understand the meaning of life, or striving to be a better person, this book was meant for you.
It’s unlike any self help book I’ve ever read, which tend to be redundant. There are no gimmicky affirmations or straight solved solutions for living a better life. Here, Troy is your friend, gently and lovingly talking to you as the whisper on your shoulder, asking you to look within and question who you are and what you’re here for. You must do the work, ultimately — this is just a tool to help you along the way.
Troy’s greatest teaching is that we are all love. Love exists in EVERYONE and EVERYTHING. Be willing to open your eyes to see love and embody love.
2023 has been a rough year for me. It started off fighting off Covid in cramped temporary lodgings as we we refurbished our home.
What little living space we had was being used as a landing/makeshift studio. I found it difficult to get into my daily rituals of meditation, journaling, and exercise and let them fall by the wayside completely.
I'm a portrait artist, and was overbooked with clients projects. I put all Mt effort into meeting my deadlines while navigating these less than ideal living and working arrangements.
The poorly-lit three-storey apartment with its tiny windows, and dark oak paneling felt like it was sucking the life out of my soul.
As the months progressed, I started having health issues resulting in two blood transfusions, and culminating in December with surgery, complications, more complications, being rushed to the emergency room and more surgery.
At year end, I felt like I was nearly drowning in a sea of paranoia, self-pity, and negativity.
This book has been like the transfusion of vital source energy I so desperately needed. It has reminded me of everything I already knew: that my heart is open, and that I am made of LOVE.
Books based on human experience for me serve as a personal insight into life and I love such kind of stories because I can always relate to a thing or two and the tone with which the author shares his stories and lessons learned. Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.
This is one of the best books I have ever read. Troy shared so many perspectives that helped me shift my approach in certain areas of my life. These shifts I believe will make me a better person. It brought me closer to myself and to people in my life that I care about. I had so many realizations while reading that it actually brought me to tears a couple times. I am extremely grateful to Troy for writing this book and I truly believe it’s something everyone should read.
Powerful insights. His reflections were interwoven with his experiences, which made for easy reading. I recommend this book to everyone. The world would be greatly improved if we take his message to heart.
This book had a lot of universal truths, personal anecdotes, and lots of great discussion points. I think it would be fascinating to sit down and have a discussion with the author. This book is great for book clubs or personal reflections because the questions are at the end of each chapter.
Troy Hadeed’s compelling work, “My Name is Love: We’re Not All That Different,” is a transformative guide for those seeking to deepen their spiritual journey and connect more profoundly with themselves and others. Living on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago, Hadeed draws upon his experiences as a yoga practitioner to share with us the special relationship that we can have between spirituality and daily life. He helps us reshape our understanding of hope and faith while we redefine our relationship with God.
“My Name is Love,” challenges us to look at our modern preoccupation with identity and individuality. We live in a world that often emphasizes separation. He encourages readers to engage in introspection and see how societal conditioning shapes our perceptions. Through thoughtful reflections, he guides us towards recognizing our patterns and flaws and shows us how we can genuinely grow by taking accountability and becoming more self-aware. This introspective journey will help us gain unconditional love and move beyond the limitations that have been imposed on us by our past conditioning.
I felt that his encouragement for us to face painful truths is a powerful reminder that true healing comes when we confront our fears and embrace our vulnerability. When we avoid doing this, we get stuck. We also must learn to look at things through the perspectives of others. We tend to view things from our own perspective, which does not help us to truly connect with others. Each chapter focuses on a topic that helps us to move forward with unlocking our true potential. Readers will find themselves savoring the insights that are presented. The inclusion of thought-provoking questions and inspiring quotes at the end of each chapter enhances the reader’s experience by prompting deeper contemplation and self-reflection.
“My Name is Love” is not a quick read; rather, it is a profound exploration that requires time and reflection. As I read, I found myself reminiscing about pivotal moments in my life. Some involved people, places and even animals, that helped shape my understanding of love and connection. This aspect of the book transforms it into a personal journey. I found that these reflections helped me gain a greater understanding of the lessons.
We live in a world where we crave genuine connection and understanding. “My Name is Love” is a must-read for all souls who are interested in better navigating these universal school of life. By improving oneself and becoming closer to God, we can contribute to making the world a better place by seeing things through the lens of universal love. Love is a transformative force in our lives. I am grateful that I had the opportunity to read this amazing guide, and I know that I will be reading it again and again. If you only read one book this year, it should be this one.
My Name Is Love: We're Not All That Different by Troy Hadeed could be best described as part self-help guide, part author memoir. Hadeed, who in the opening pages confesses to self identifying as the emotion of love more than he does his own birth name, is a practising yoga instructor of over fifteen years, living on the north coast of Trinidad and Tobago.
Each of the sixteen chapters in Hadeed's book covers a different topic of self-development, but general themes can be grouped into those which are focused on spiritual and faith-based development, and those which look at the physical and the bodily. What this book is certainly not presenting is cold, hard facts, or a series of quick-win solutions to complex problems. Instead, Hadeed's guide could be better understood as a slow and gentle reader/author journey which both must fully engage with to reap the benefits in the long term.
As touched on before, My Name Is Love... is written in a highly informal manner, with Hadeed's frequent use of "you" and "your" presenting an author voice that proactively draws readers into the book, as opposed to preaching at them. This couples nicely with the cover illustration dominated by a portrait photograph of Hadeed, which screams a level of directness, yet informality displayed by a confidant and experienced author.
The book is nicely formatted, with select quotes indented within chapters, which themselves are broken into sub-chapters. A summary checklist is provided at the end of each chapter. There are instances where the some of the discussion points can feel a little lost and drift for a page or two longer than needed, but where this does happen it is easy to jump ahead to the end bullets for more direct summary on the content of the preceding chapter.
As a devotee of yoga and its benefits, it is perhaps no surprise that Hadeed writes in such a highly informal and transparent style, presenting a story of personal growth from the opening lines, to the closing statements. It is what makes My Name Is Love... such a laid back and relaxed read, much like the author himself.
He shared how his name come from an Irish-bred and English thoroughbred racehorse name, Troy. He explained how the cover photo of the book come to be and how it embraced love. This book is a collection of stories and personal reflections all centered around the scope of love. He begins the book by redefining who God is and he strongly believes in God. He isn’t referring to a religion God can be different ideas to others. Although this isn’t a religious book, he does discuss a little about his love of Christ and how it has influenced him. He opened up about yoga and how he learned the importance of being still and listening. In the book, he explored the mind and how it is our ride or die. We can’t avoid our minds but he has realized in his yoga training how many of us are afraid to be alone in our thoughts. He explained how critical this to have an intimacy and connection with our minds. The beginning of our foundation is in our minds and this leads to a good relationship with ourselves and others. He went on to describe what meditation is an act of being. He revealed the significance of breath and how to breath properly. He enclosed a short breathing exercise.
I would recommend this awesome book about love to anyone who is ready to love ourselves and to love others. There were countless principles teaching others how to accept one another for who they are to love. I liked how he included a little about Christ and how this helped to influence him to love others. I also liked how he explored gratitude and how to be present to connect with the stillness and our minds. I immensely liked the yoga aspect in included to convey the message of the book and how this practice can also provide us with peace. I also liked in the book how he included personal stories throughout it like how he six-time surfing champion, took a journey throughout Central American in the jungle, and spend ten days meditating. The book was very interesting to read and a wonderful one about love and how we can grow in our relationship with ourselves.
My Name is Love by Troy Hadeed - this book was so meaningful to me. Here are my thoughts...
In 2020, I started sitting with myself for long periods of time so that I may really get to know who I was at the core. I discovered the answers that I so desperately needed in the depths of my heart and soul. To reach them, I had to quiet my mind and really listen to what was going on within. My heart and soul held it all, my healing, my truth, my words, my gifts, my way. They also held, a deep and profound love for me. A love that I didn’t feel, until I sat and really got to know myself. This connection that I wanted and made time for, fell in love with and is now a top priority changed my world and my life. I’ve always said, from that first day when I felt my heart’s words, that it was God. I’ve never wavered in that feeling. Anytime I want to talk to Him, I still my mind and go within.
This book, ‘My Name is Love’ invited many moments of stillness and communication. When I found myself closing the book midway through the first chapter so that I may converse with my heart, I knew that this would be a very special book. Indeed, it was (or rather, is). This book examines different aspects of ourselves, our lives, the world around us and asks us to really consider our role, our stance, our place, our contributions (or lack of) and how it may hold us back from fully embodying, love.
Personally, I wish I had this book in 2020 when I first started my journey of connecting with my heart and soul, because this is what this book is for me - a journey to the heart, through it, with it and becoming one.
Dear Troy, thank you for giving us this gift. Love, you too.💛
"The My Name Is Love" by Troy Hadeed is a delightful journey through the whimsical world of romance and self-discovery. Hadeed weaves a captivating tale that follows the endearing character, Love, on a quest to find true love and understand the essence of his own name. The narrative is sprinkled with humor, heartwarming moments, and a touch of magical realism that adds a unique flavor to the story.
What makes this book stand out is Hadeed's knack for crafting relatable characters and infusing them with genuine emotions. Love's adventures are not only entertaining but also thought-provoking, prompting readers to reflect on their own experiences with love and relationships. The author's writing style is engaging and easygoing, making it a perfect read for those who enjoy a blend of romance and introspection.
"The My Name Is Love" is a feel-good novel that leaves you with a warm and fuzzy feeling, reminding us all that love, in its many forms, is a universal and timeless theme. Troy Hadeed has created a charming narrative that is bound to resonate with readers seeking a heartwarming escape into the world of love and self-discovery.
Troy Hadeed’s My Name Is Love is more than a book it’s a spiritual mirror and an invitation to return to who we truly are. With poetic humility and courage, Troy walks us through his raw personal experiences, each one serving as a doorway into universal truths that transcend religion, race, or creed. From jungles to meditation halls, every story pulses with vulnerability and wisdom.
This is not self-help fluff. This is a radical redefinition of love as a force we don’t chase but surrender to. Hadeed invites us to strip away our layers of ego and conditioning so that Love not sentimentality, but raw, present, powerful Love can emerge through us. For anyone ready to reconnect with purpose, with Spirit, and with humanity, this book is a must-read.
When I travel around Trinidad I see this book all over.
Trinbagonians are not generally known for reading books. Unless it’s schoolbooks.
So this was surprising. Asa Wright, Adam’s Bagels, I’d pop into places and it would be there. Of course makes sense given the author’s family.
The book is hard to follow as it’s about fairly abstract concepts - cosmos, purpose, truth and so on. The best aspects, and why I bought the book, were about Troy’s life. That’s where the book shone and it was easier to visualise what he’s saying. Parts are like church sermons, you know the priest is trying to say something good and get you to be better, but sometimes it doesn’t reach.
I’m really glad Troy self published this book and hope many people find joy and possibly improvement as a result.
When life is challenging, pushing hard, and you're searching for something, anything, to get you through that portal of darkness... to where you can stand in the sunshine again!! This book came to me at such a time and stopped the tumbling. I held it, and it held me. It was as though Troy Hadeed knew how bound my soul was and wrote to untie it! He wrote this book for me! Read it and experience exactly what I mean! 🩶🌟
I thoroughly enjoyed reading every quote, story, thought and feeling shared. It was vulnerable, knowledgeable and insightful from beginning to end. It felt personal but also unbiased. Highly recommend!
I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to explore the human journey with the hope of understanding themselves better so they can make a difference in this hurting world. This book gave me hope to continue fighting for a better world when I felt like it was in short supply.
So many parts of this book spoke to my heart and soul.
Certain instances I read words and sentences I’ve thought myself for most of my life and haven’t really seen it being said before by other people and it just made me feel affirmed in the way I see love and fear.
This book really dives deep into us really evaluating the layers of ourselves and our perceptions of ourselves and the world around us.
This is a must read for everyone. I see myself reading this over and over, countless times tbh, for years to come. It’s one of those books that you should re-read because these are words you need to read several times for it to resonate with you in ways that you need at those points in time and to truly grasp the profound words that were written.
Troy also shares personal stories of his life and his interactions with other beautiful souls, and each story is a joy to read and truly leaves an impact on you after you’ve read it.
Not many books have had the immense impact on me like this book has had. I needed to read this at the exact time that I did and I know in the future when I read it, I’ll feel the same way.