“One of the greatest moments in anybody’s developing experience is when she no longer tries to hide from herself but determines to get acquainted with herself as she really is.” — Norman Vincent Peale
Raise your hand if you’ve bitten your tongue, decided not to think about something unpleasant, or otherwise kept your true thoughts from entering your consciousness or exiting your brain in the last 24 hours.
Oy. Will you please stop doing that? Let’s take a vow together right now: No more half-truths or tight lips. You up for it?
I know it’s hard to open your mouth and say what you really think. I know you were probably raised to be nice. You probably even learned some very powerful lessons when you were a kid about how saying what was on your mind was not cool, or even unsafe. I get it. Really. (I got the same message.)
I want you to consider your getting and reading this newsletter your permission slip to start speaking the truth. Why? Because the old adage, “The truth will set you free,” is absolutely true.
When you are in touch with what’s true for you, and sharing that with people, you’re being authentic. And when you’re being authentic, you’re naturally drawing just the right people and situations to you, and naturally repelling people and opportunities that will only wear you slap out.
When you are doing things and hanging out with people who don’t jibe with what you know to be true down deep at your core, it gets exhausting. Keeping your thoughts stuffed way down takes constant effort. Worse yet, when you aren’t sharing what’s true for you with yourself or with other people, you can start to forget what truly matters to you. And that’s when you find yourself stuck – unhappy, but unsure what to do about it.
Now if you’re on this list, being true to yourself is important to you. You want to live a life that reflects who you are at your core – not one that’s dictated by what society says is acceptable, or one that’s nice and tidy on the outside yet feels like a wreck on this inside. And what you need to get you there is an ability to see, accept, and own your truth.
These three things are vital ingredients to being able to do that:
- Courage. The “cour” in courage means heart in Latin. You have to love yourself and open your heart enough to let the truth sink in. Because sometimes your truth might be uncomfortable.
- Stillness. Your intuition is your hotline to universal truth. The problem is, intuition speaks in whispers, and you simply can’t hear it when you’re running around like a crazy person, chasing an impossible to-do list.
- Objectivity. Getting your thoughts out of your head and either on to a page or in to the ears of a supportive friend helps you see them clearly so you can either reject, transform, or embrace them.
Truth is a topic that’s been coming up for me again and again in my own life and with my clients, and so I’m going to be devoting the next few newsletters to talking about how the truth shall set you free, yo. Hope you enjoy the theme!
Until next week, I challenge you to pretend there’s a little bit of truth serum in your morning coffee or tea and see what comes out. I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below.
