This morning I gave the "sermon" at the Center for Divine Love in St. Louis, Missouri, and my talk was titled, "Speak Peace and Change Your World." The topic would more aptly have been described as, "Adventures in Honesty," which is the name of the presentation I will be giving in a couple of weeks at a free Nonviolent Communication (NVC) conference in Santa Barbara, CA.
I spoke about how expressing my truth to others generates energy that enables me to respond with a lot more empathy toward them than if I had not expressed myself.
Let me say more about this...
When I withhold my honesty from other people, it creates a constriction or contraction inside of me. In addition to building resentment, I experience a decrease in my life energy because some of it is tied up by attending to this unexpressed honesty that is wanting to come out.
So when I withhold, I have LESS energy available to be empathic (compassionate understanding) toward others.
On the other hand, when I am willing to be authentic and share my truth, I experience an INCREASE in my life energy which enables me to have a lot more compassion toward others... and this comes in handy, of course, immediately after I express myself to others, because when I express my pain to others, often they are triggered into some form of discomfort.
I spoke about the likely consequences of withholding my truth from others: resentment, anger, depression and hopelessness. And the likely consequences of sharing my truth with others: temporary discomfort, long-term intimacy, trust and integrity.
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