Honesty

Keeping secrets is a foolish attempt to stay safe from the truth.

We tell ourselves we are sparing another person or protecting ourselves, but all too often the secrets that we keep actually keep us.

What one another need from each other in order to make sense of each other is the truth.

When we withhold that truth, we withhold ourselves. We create distance that no one can cross because the way across the divide is the way of honesty.

We cannot make something better by lying, and we cannot be fully understood if we won't give the benefit of the truth.

We can live our lives in webs of lies without ever uttering a falsehood. The web of lies is composed of not just what we say, but the vast amount of honesty that we withhold.

There is a difference between considerate honesty and aggressive frankness. Honesty recognizes the personhood of both people and is an act of trust; whereas agressive frankness borders on mean.

We can choose to see honesty as an act of trust.

The weakness of a soul is proportionate to the number of truths that must be kept from it. ~ Eric Hoffer

Taking vs. Receiving

There is a vast difference between taking and receiving.

There is a way of receiving that is also giving.

When we can receive, we act as willing containers for another person's gift. We validate the giver's act of giving and acknowledge his or her generosity.

This benefits both the giver and the receiver in equal measure, both are enriched and neither overly depleted.

When we take, we do not acknowledge the gift - rather, we put in the purse of our beings that which we want, then snap it shut and go off to take again, hoping that no one notices.

This leaves both parties wanting - the giver feels he/she has been manipulated into giving whether wanting to or not; and the taker - because without receiving a person never really fills up - just continues to feel empty.

We can acknowledge a gift; we can receive.

Developing the muscles of the soul demands no competitive spirit, no killer instinct, although it may erect pain barriers that the spiritual athlete must crash through. ~ Germaine Greer

God in Nature

There are some who have the serene ability to tune into and appreciate nature. They see God behind the illusion of reality.

Though this world may feel as if it is still and concrete, the truth is that it is always in motion.

The world is in a constant state of birth and death, manifestation and destruction.

Just for today; walk through your day and look at the world through soft eyes, eyes that see not only at, but through.

As an exercise in raising our consciousness, remind ourselves throughout the day to tune into a world in motion.

Attempt to see the hand of creation behind all that surrounds us.

When we look at the world, take a deep breath, quiet our minds and know that we are looking at the many manifestations of soul.

The perfumed flowers are our sisters... the juices of the meadows, the body heat of the pony, and man - all belong to the same family. ~ Chief Seattle

Loving Another

When we love someone or when someone loves us, we become a part of one another.

To the extent to which that love carries commitment along with it, we are partners in each other's destiny.

What we do affects the other, a piece of us lives in the heart and mind of that other person.

What piece of us do we want to live on in the mind of another? When they turn inward to find us, who will they find? What will we have left behind us as a legacy of that relationship?

We may have made mistakes or hurt someone without understanding what we were doing, but today be mindful; be honest and try not to harm.

We cannot control how another person acts or feels, but we can be aware of what we put into our relationships.

We can have conscious interactions.

Love is the extra effort we make in our dealings with those whom we do not like and once you understand that, you understand all. This idea that love overtakes you is nonsense. This is but a polite manifestation of sex. To love another you have to undertake some fragment of their destiny. ~ Quentin Crisp

Genuine Health

Do not see a life free of problems as a healthy life. Wanting our lives to look and to be problem-free goes against what is natural and mobilizes our vanity in the struggle to hide anything that we consider "unpleasant."

Problems that we hide don't go away. It is facing adversity and pain in the light of day, sharing it with others - breaking isolation and connecting with those around us - that promotes growth.

When we want our days to be struggle-free, we stop the wheels of life from functioning.

Problems are a part of living well and being alive.

The point that health is not so much the absence of disease as it is the presence of an optimal healing process is crucial for understanding our lives. It is crucial because the principle applies not only to our physical health but also to our mental health and to the health of our organizations and institutions. A healthy organization - whether a marriage, a family, or a business corporation - is not one with an absence of problems, but one that is actively and effectively addressing or healing its problems. ~ M. Scott Peck, M.D.