Responsibility

A healed heart is a kind heart; a healed heart is a compassionate heart, a healed heart is the doorway to leading an authentic life. Where in your life do you feel that you could be living more authentically? What truths are you hiding from yourself and from others? What in your past has yet to be brought into the open so that it can be healed and released?

To live authentically is to live healthy and happy lives. Removing the masks, the layers of protection, the lies, and the tales we tell about ourselves is to take responsibility for our lives. It is time to get honest with ourselves and those we love about who we are, who we want to be, and where we need to heal.

Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.—Eckhart Tolle

What does it mean to “speak and live your truth”? Sure, we have all heard the phrase at one time or another, but what does it mean?

I have come to learn over the last several years that it means being honest with yourself and others about who you are: your likes and dislikes, your passions, your dreams, your needs, your boundaries, your strengths and weaknesses, your values, your fears, what inspires you, what makes you cry, what makes you laugh, what makes you happy, and ultimately your story that makes you uniquely you.

It means the freedom to live your life as you choose, from a place of self-love and loving kindness towards others. So what stops us from this level of honesty being an integral part of our being? For me it was fear. I was so afraid of what others would think of me. I was afraid of being ashamed, of judgment, of hurting someone else’s feelings, of being found out, of ridicule, of someone else’s reaction, of rejection, of not being loved.

So what did I do? I pretended, I lied, I faked, I covered up, I hid and lived a life desperately looking for something outside of myself to fill a void that only the truth could fill. When I started to get honest with myself and others about my truth, a whole new world of possibilities opened up for me. The key was to do it with loving kindness, free of blame, shame, resentment, guilt, or anger.