To Choose Oneself is to Speak Truth

“Telling a true story about personal experience
is not just a matter of being oneself, or even of
finding oneself. It is also a matter of choosing
oneself..”
-- Harriet Goldhor Lerner (author of The Dance of Anger)

Tempering or modifying the words we speak so they are acceptable to others is second nature to most of us. Is this a form of 'self ' denial? And what is the impact of modifying how we feel, what we think, who we are, just to be more acceptable, less visible, less threatening?  Certainly it impacts our self-esteem. It is, in some way, a form of lying because we hide the truth of our being under what we deem to be acceptable or safe. It also prevents others from knowing the the real us.

After years of speaking this way it is easy to mistake one's low self-esteem as the 'real thing'. How can we come to know wonder of who we each are?  We are unique, have purpose and are necessary to the flow of creation. We do matter, who we REALLY are matters. It can take some time to re-learn choosing ourselves. It can take time to discover who it is that we must choose, to know the difference between the image we carry of our self and who we really are. But it IS worth it.  It is always worth it. Trust.  Speak Truth.

Self Reflection:  It takes time to learn to choose myself, to matter to myself. Do I matter to myself?

June Waxing Moon: Speaking Truth, Telling Our Story

To start off the cycle of Speak Truth, Carolyn Shares three quotes from three women who have influenced her love of story as a guiding force in life--and given her courage to keep speaking, even when she didn't think she could.

“Telling a true story about personal experience
is not just a matter of being oneself, or even of
finding oneself. It is also a matter of choosing
oneself..”
-- Harriet Goldhor Lerner (author of The Dance of Anger)

“When the Storyteller tells the truth, she reminds us
that human beings are more alike than unalike....A
story is what it’s like to be a human being—to be
knocked down and to miraculously arise. Each one of
us has arisen, awakened.
We do rise.”
--Maya Angelou (remembering her with immense gratefulness for how she shared so abundantly her gifts with all humankind)

"Storyteller, Clan Mother of the Sixth Moon Cycle, reminds us that if we are willing to expand, growing beyond our former zone of comfort in a healthy way, we must pay attention to all of the events in our lives.  There is a story connected to every living thing and every person in our world. How that story influences out personal Earthwalks is determined by our willingness to see another's experience as a way to learn about ourselves...Storyteller asks us to see the similarities in ourselves and others, finding ways to learn from the stories we all share in common."

--Jamie Sams (Author and inspirer of our circle)

Self Reflection: Whoa are the women in my life who Speak the Truth?