Simply Authentic...Your Soul Voice is Calling. Five Simple Steps to Speaking Your Truth - Part 2

Five Simple Steps to Speaking Your Truth – Part 2 4.) Know what’s yours to voice. There are a lot of injustices in this world. Animal and child abuse. Rape. Female genital mutilation. Genocide. Poverty and hunger. Terrorism. Organized crime and drug lords. I think I’ll stop here because I’m getting depressed, and I can only do so much. We all can only do so much. My fiancé often uses the phrases: what’s on his “side of the street”, or in his “hula hoop.” There are always things that can be done. Letters can be written. Money and time can be donated. MADD started as a handful of mothers with a mission to stop drunk driving and has evolved into one of the most successful grassroots movements in history since its inception in 1980. Yet, none of us have the time in any given day to speak out regarding every single thing in the world which either breaks our heart or infuriates us. And we’d be really boring company if we did. If a particular topic in the news always upsets us, but there’s nothing we can do about it, we might want to just put down the newspaper or turn off the TV. Obsessing about it isn’t going to improve our quality of life. I have never understood why men go to bars and pay money to watch women take their clothes off or why women go to bars and take their clothes off for money. I have noticed there isn’t much of a market for women paying men for the same service; I always thought that would be much “fairer!” At any rate, after having tried to “control” a couple of men I dated in my 20’s who liked to go to strip clubs, I finally realized that is outside of my hula hoop, not on my side of the street. Since then, I haven’t attracted even one man who likes going to strip clubs. Oh, the irony. However, if there is a mission you authentically feel passionate about, or something under your own roof or in a work or social situation that impacts how your authentic self is experiencing the world, it’s probably time to pull out your compassionate communications skills (see last week’s post) and respectfully speak your truth. 5.) Let go of attachment to the outcome. All we can do is all we can do. If we take the first four steps and nothing changes, we may ultimately opt to remove ourselves from the situation or relationship (quit the job, get out of the partnership.) But speaking our authentic truth respectfully and compassionately is often enough to open the doorway to positive growth and change. Please also keep this simple and powerful tool in mind. I learned the Hoʻoponopono prayer years ago from a colleague trained in this traditional Hawaiian/Polynesian healing method. This prayer has been extremely effective for me in dealing with particularly problematic people in my work life, whom I did not care to nurture a personal relationship with outside of the office. In each circumstance, the positive results were remarkable. Simply say silently inside your head – perhaps aloud – every time you think of the person: “I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.” That is literally it. It is so simple. And so effective! I once gave this suggestion to a friend who was having significant conflict with a co-worker, and she was so irritated with him she couldn’t bring herself to think those words, even when I assured her she didn’t have to believe on a human level that she loved him or had anything to be sorry about. All I can say is it works. It’s a loving thing to think towards someone who may not be treating you very lovingly, and somehow creates a shift. Or at least it has for me. And…it certainly can’t hurt, right? Half the misery in the world comes of want of courage to speak and to hear the truth plainly, and in a spirit of love. –Harriet Beecher Stowe The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing in the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. –Lady Dorothy Nevill If you propose to speak, always ask yourself, is it true, is it necessary, is it kind? –Unknown (to my knowledge) Authentically Yours, Laura