Posts Tagged ‘authenticity’

19
Apr
2016

Speak Truthfully

categories: Art, Music & Literature, Authentic Living, Speaking Truthfully
This post is an excerpt from The 5 Principles of Authentic Living. Here, I discuss the fourth principle: Speak Truthfully.

5poal-frontcover-large

Be Present, Pay Attention, Listen Deeply. With these principles, we become intimate with what is beneath the thoughtstream in order to uncover and discover our authenticity. These three principles illuminate us from the inside, through the clarity of awareness and power of silence. But this is not enough for an authentic life, because we have to bring this clarity and power from the inside to the outside, to the world in which we live and work and play, to where we see and feel the ripples of our authenticity in the reflections of our words and actions and relationships. (more…)

19
Feb
2016

Do You Have an Orchestra in Your Head?

categories: Authentic Living, Society & Culture, Speaking Truthfully, Spirituality & Religion

(September 24, 2015)

Last week, I experienced two seemingly unrelated events: I facilitated a two-day Speaking Truthfully masterclass and I watched the Oscars on television.

The masterclass focused on authenticity in self-expression — which includes speaking but really is about how you show up in and play the game of life. Basically, we looked at overcoming all manner of known, suspected, and unknown forms of self-suppression preventing us from flying our freak flag of glorious uniqueness. How? By supplanting prior decisions and choices with new ones. Sometimes that’s easier said than done, because the practice of obeying embodied decisions and choices may be very strong indeed. It can be challenging, even daunting, to declare our freedom from tyranny. These habitual patterns of self-suppression actually become the institutionalized taboos against being and expressing your authenticity, your truth, your creative surges and eruptions of universe-disturbing, big bang-like cosmic roaring.

(more…)

25
May
2015

Learning to Speak Truthfully from Our Hearts

categories: Authentic Living, Education, Speaking Truthfully

“We fell morally ill because we became used to saying something different from what we thought.” ~ Václav Havel

It is not uncommon to read about some scandal of corruption, fraud or deception – by government officials, corporate executives, spiritual leaders, celebrities or sport figures.

Even the Catholic Church is not immune, paying out billions of dollars in penalties for not speaking authentically about decades of child sexual abuse.

I want to set things straight. We are not victims in this. The light is always on. What people do is always visible. Maybe someone is not speaking truthfully, but maybe we are not listening for the truth. (more…)

15
Feb
2015

My Message to Fifth Graders

categories: Education, General Interest, Speaking Truthfully
I was asked to offer some “words of wisdom” to a group of fifth graders at a Los Angeles-area elementary school, which I was delighted to do. Here is what I offered them, saying that these seven ideas are what I would share with my own kids, if I had any. 

1. Live your own life. Be authentic. Trust yourself and your creative desires and pursuits. It would be a shame to get to the end of your life only to discover in the last moment that you did not live your life, but the life that someone else wanted you to live. It takes a lot of strength and courage to live your own life, because so many people want you to live their idea of what your life should be. But they are not you, and their values and goals and dreams are theirs, not yours. Only you are you, so find out who you are and how you want to live and what you want to do. Take as much time as you need to do this. Don’t be afraid of changing your mind or of making mistakes, because these are part of the journey of living your own life. Explore different paths, keep learning and growing, and don’t be afraid of wandering off into the unknown, because that wilderness is where great people are born. (more…)

1 2