I admire people who speak their truth.

What they are saying doesn’t have to be right, make sense or even have the potential to save the world. It’s an authentic, real, raw expression that inspires me (and others) to share the truth that I appreciate.

I recently went for a walk with a friend, more like a soul sister, and we told the truth. We shared things that don’t make easy conversation over cheese and crackers at a cocktail party or polite, digestible sound bites over afternoon tea and scones.

The type of talk we did on our walk is the life changing, eye opening, soul-gazing talk that I am oddly more comfortable with than mild-mannered chit-chat.

This type of talk is audacious and bold. This type of talk is the talk that will keep us from drinking alone in the dark or punishing ourselves through starvation, over-indulgence or fear of committing—all the things that attempt to keep the truth concealed.

Because what if?

What if they, that big scary blob of a world found out that we didn’t have it all together? That we had fears and made mistakes and lied and perhaps even cheated and borrowed from a lifetime of happiness and contentment by settling on a quick fix or a cheap thrill.

What if…we are were merely human and started telling the truth one-by-one and we realized that we are not alone?

The world isn’t one big, scary blob of censuring, judging, dissimilar people. The world is made up of you and me and our insecurities our failures and joys and problems and…they don’t define us, anyway.

Once we start telling the truth and moving forward, purging and allowing our junk to go away, we don’t have to identify with it anymore.

That was then, this is now.

Are you willing to drop the story line and the self-bashing?

We have the opportunity in the face of every new dawning day to redefine who we are! We are not our past. We tell the truth about who we are because it sets us free and ultimately connects us to others who have struggled.

When we release the weights of our lives, we rise to the top, to the surface where we can breathe.

Imagine that!

What will you let go of today to rise to the top?

Will you release the anchor that has been holding you down and keeping you back?

Are you willing to release yourself by telling the truth (first to yourself) and rise above it?

Your past does not define you.

Every day we get the chance to choose the path we desire.

I tell my clients on the first day I meet them, there is nothing you can do or say that will shock me, surprise me, make me embarrassed or make me not like you, so go for it.

Tell the truth.

Set yourself free from (shame, guilt, disappointment, hurt, expectations, __________).

Be willing to connect with others from a place of truth. You will transform not only your relationships, but your entire life.

Be in touch.

I am here for you.

In loving-kindness,

Jill Wheeler

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Apprentice Editor: Alicia Wozniak/Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: Duncan Hall/Flickr