Why Being Open And Honest With Yourself And Others Will Change Your Life

Its a small step, for a big reward I had other plans for today’s post. I sat down this morning to read another chapter of The Power of Focus, I read something I just had to share. “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our own presence automatically liberates others.” This is from Return to Love by Marianne Williams as quoted by Nelson Mandela in his inaugural speech in 1995. I thought about how true this is. Some of us, spend our lives making ourselves smaller, scared to be judged by others. Smothering our wants and needs to make others more comfortable and sometimes causing suffering to ourselves. What does anyone truly gain from this? Whilst you may think you are making someone more comfortable, in doing this they may feel they don’t have to address their own issues and we in turn aren’t as happy as we could be, as we deserve to be. It was only this year, at the age of 41, that I finally felt brave enough to stop worrying about what others thought and set about doing what makes me happy. When I was finally open and honest with not only other people but with myself, about what I wanted in life and what I expected from others, I was surprised to find that the reaction wasn’t negative at all. The people that truly care about you, will walk alongside you and want the best for you. The people that don’t, may just not be your people. I have found that the more I accepted myself as I am and not how I thought I should be, the happier I have become. It takes practice and it takes time but the feeling is better than anything money can buy. So say no to the things that don’t fill you with joy and say yes to the things that do. What do you have to lose?❤️