I was talking to my youngest daughter, this morning, and mentioned a quote from my dad that he used during my youth. My dad had a way of making us face ourselves and our fears. I've, briefly, mentioned his philosophy, "only the truth hurts," on a couple of blogs before, so I thought I'd elaborate on it.
There are a lot of "truths" in the world but we have more control over how we react to them then we realize. We tend to react to another's anger with more anger. His belief was to teach us not to overreact to words; to think first. When someone said something to us, we felt was offensive or hurtful, we would tell him about it. He would ask us if what they said was true? Of course, we would deny it. He would then ask, "if it's not true, why are you angry? Only the truth hurts."
Hmmm ... only the truth hurts? Why was I angry? Why do people get angry if it's not true? In fact, why get angry if it is true? Calling me a name is their problem. Me accepting it and getting angry is my problem. It was a good lesson to learn as a child and helped me as I grew up. It taught me not to wear my heart on my sleeve and to deal with adversities. Why? Because it wasn't my truth. I could laugh or ignore it because, in my heart, I knew this.
I'm glad he shared this wisdom, even though I appreciated it more when I was older and was able to share it with my children to help them understand. In fact, can you imagine the anger and hate we could stop in the world if everyone understood this? Today, I call it shielding. Call me what you want, I don't have to give it power over me. I don't have to allow you power over me. It's my choice.
Sadly, some things never seem to change. From what I see going on around the world, as it has been throughout history, it looks like earth is still wrestling with the devil (in a manner of speaking), dues are being demanded, and we're blindly giving it.
Only the truth hurts?
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