I used to say "Truth is highly overrated " because speaking the "truth" usually meant revealing unknown thoughts, attitudes, personal judgement of another, actions, and past events that may or may not be desirable to share. I have always been concerned about how people saw me and what image I was endeavoring to create or maintain. I also judged others who did not filter their words and took the license of revealing their "truth" at the expense of another's feelings. Whether that need to reveal their important "truth" was a fleeting reaction or a longstanding opinion, the consequences of their revelations remained inconsequential to their uncontrollable need to be heard. Part of me held resentment and part of me had admiration for the ability to be without concern for others feelings and be able to stick to "thine own self be true" paradigm.
My endeavor is to find the balance between what I need to say and what I don't; what I need to do and what I don't. Words can be just as devastating, if not more, than a blow to the body. Rather than deliver a blow I am trying to temper my expressions of self towards another with a pause, a thought and an awareness of what is necessary to establish boundaries in relationships without destroying or maiming an oblivious person. It might be easy to hurt someone in their vulnerable chink of their emotional armor but it becomes a shallow Pyrrhic victory if you can only stand alone in your right-ness.
Today I choose to act when necessary and with a conscious choice of what is absolutely necessary for balance and clarity. We cannot assume others know who we are or what we need. I'd rather give the benefit of the doubt that no one is trying to take advantage or wishes harm to me. I pray for grace in making right decisions and being a part of awakening and elevating the humanity who comes along my path rather than be a warrior and destroyer leaving a wake of destruction and emptiness. It's not my job to fix everyone; just me.
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