Doing Our Own Part

[HARDCORE]

9-29-2018

“What in Hades is wrong with us all?” Are we really that gullible as to believe all of that erroneous tripe that is being shoveled at us by these lying politicos –apparently so!!

As a matter of fact, truth is no longer expected, or even adhered to, many within the bureaucratic spectrum these days! Worse yet, the people themselves readily accept political lies and the failure to perform from people who demand absolute honesty from others, but fail to reciprocate in kind – why is that do you suppose?

And also for the record: “What is it about truth and personal honor that many a politician (on all levels of government), now feels to be more a matter of personal choice than necessity?”

And finally, and for those of you who still claim to adhere to “The Original Commandments”, what is it about “Thou Shalt Not Bare False Witness (lie)”, that a few of these politically prominent people now refuse to accept or even to adhere to, these days - and this, all the way up to some of those odiferous and brass-platted vestibules of national political power and might?

“I AM YET TOLD THAT THE TRUTH WILL STILL SET US ALL FREE!”

The only problem is that: “Truth is (unfortunately) often in very short supply these days?”

Hardcore

[Boats]

RE: https://www.quora.com/What-do-they-m...shed-with-you#

#1 The truth sucks, it hurts. It punches you until you puke out all of the vile you had inside.

For the truth is a cleansing ritual. One of the most brutal ones we face. That's why playwright Oscar Wilde once said, that "if you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they'll kill you."

Every day, we're supposedly striding along like Snow White, because the flowers can sing, the animals leap, and everything is fine for there is joy.

Until like Eve, we get curious. Because we see a snake pop up in our perfect little world. And as we bite from the apple of good and evil, we realize that we've been living in a staged heaven that's actually hell.

The whole stage falls apart and we enter into a deep despair. Because up to know, we've been living in lies. The flowers don't sing, the animals don't talk, that was just all an illusion to keep us mindless and easy to deceive.

And now that the stage lights have been blown out, we must seek out in this darkness for our inner light, our inner truth.

But facing the truth is scary. Like Peter Pan, we prefer to remain in a child-like state forever and ever. We've been weakened in believing so many lies, that the truth has now grown into a scary monster.

Yes, the truth may be terrible, but not compared to lies. For its only with truth that we can experience harmony and love. It's only then that can we realize that we don't need anyone to set any stage lights for us because inside ourselves we have our own inner light.

And it's only after we find this inner light, that can we experience moments of bliss. For we are no longer walking blind in a dark world, but we have a found a light that guide us forward to the right path.

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#2 Bible quote:

What is truth? "the truth will set you free" (John 8:32). "Knowing the Truth will set one at liberty free from sin, free from condemnation, and free from the 2nd death" (Romans 6:22; 8:1–2). What is The Truth?

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#3 The Truth Will Set You Free

Source: Source: Sketchport

Every week during a group counseling session I facilitate, people go around and check-in about their current thoughts and feelings. What I’ve been noticing since I started is not something so different from what happens outside of therapy, which is that people will say what they think you want to hear. When going around the group, I will hear people describe their current hardships for several minutes and then finish their check-in with “but, other than that, I’m ok.”

We’ve all been guilty of doing this type of thing. In one sentence, we rationalize, accommodate, and negate all of our previous experiences. We go on for 5 minutes describing all our troubles and then negate it with a simple “but I’m ok.”

The first step is to speak your truth. Are you really ok? What does “ok” even mean? Does “ok” mean that you stuff the feelings associated with all the negative things for just a few minutes to get through it, but in reality, the stress of everything shows up in other ways (e.g. drugs, eating, alcohol, gambling, shopping, anger, etc.)?

Maybe “ok” means that you acknowledge all the difficulties going on in your life, but that you also acknowledge that there are some pretty good things too (e.g. good health, satisfied relationships, a good friend, money, etc.). If this is the case, why not devote some attention to these instead of swiping it under the broad category of “ok.” It’s so easy for our focus to drift towards the negative, but it can be just as valuable to focus on the positive. What are the things that are “ok”? The positives can often be great teachers for the negatives. How you get to the positives in one area of life can teach you how to get to the positives in other areas of your life.

Whatever “ok” means, speak your truth. If something is difficult, sit with the difficulty, acknowledge it by name, and describe it. You don’t have to live in the pain, but you also don’t have to deny it. It’s easy to jump from situation to situation without taking time to realize what is going on. Life happens. We’re betrayed. We’re lied to. A loved one dies. We’re fired. Where we get into trouble is that we ignore all these hardships and say things are “ok,” but then the hardships show up in ways that we didn’t realize. They show up in our relationships, in our anger, in our impatience, how we talk to other people, and more importantly, how we talk to ourselves.

The second step is to speak the truth of your experience for better AND for worse. If you’re having a hard week, nothing can be more satisfying than saying “I’m having a really difficult week because of X, Y, and Z, and I don’t know how to get through it.” It’s ok to not have the answers. Part of what the path of sobriety, and life in general, is about is building tolerance to life’s difficulties and finding ways of dealing with them in healthy, and ideally, productive ways. Research suggests that our lack of tolerance to life’s difficulties may partially account for alcohol and marijuana problems (Buckner et al., 2007).

If you’re having a good day, what is going well? If you’re having a hard day, still what is something that is going well or has been going well? Speak your truth from both the positive and negative perspective. The balance comes in asking ourselves, “How can I effectively navigate and deal with all the stress in my life, while still realizing, appreciating, and savoring all that is going well?

It’s hard to acknowledge the hardships because once we acknowledge what is happening, it’s out in the open. And when it’s out there, we often feel like we have to do something about it. However, it often takes time to realize what to do. There are things that can help though, such as journaling or talking to a trusted friend or therapist. Whatever path you choose, let honesty drive you through it all - honesty in your experience; honesty in your difficulties; honesty in your accomplishments. Don’t be confused by the word “accomplishments.” It doesn’t have to be some grand accomplishment of lifelong sobriety, but it could be being sober for one day.

Whatever your truth is, I’ll leave you with a quote by Iyanla Vanzant who said

“The truth will set you free, but you have to endure the labor pains of birthing it.”

What is the truth that you need to speak? How can you begin to cope with that truth? More importantly, how can you be patient through the process of birthing the truth? What is going right in your life and what could be going more right?

About this writer: Rubin Khoddam is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology at the University of Southern California whose research and clinical work focuses on substance use issues. He founded a website, Psych Connection, with the goal of connecting ideas, people, research, and self-help to better connect you to yourself and those around you. You can follow Rubin on Twitter by clicking here!

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Boats