Monday, August 31, 2009

The Truth - Live It!

The Truth is easier to know than feel, and easier to feel than live. - David Deida in Blue Truth

Pain can wake you up from sleep. Sometimes you are just walking through your life having a good time and something happens that causes a lot of pain and is completely unavoidable. Sure, there was a lot that led up to the painful event, but really you slept through the warnings. The knock down was completely necessary. We have all had experiences like this and often we feel shame and regret. The pain can be pretty intense. Sleep walking through life is pretty common. I know I have done it for years on end. Perhaps I knew the truth, but i didn't want to see it. I now know that regardless of what I want, I will see the truth one way or another. God will show you the truth eventually. It is better to just see it as soon as is possible. So, how does one do this?

1. Small changes
I can not stress the importance of small changes enough. Small corrections make all the difference. If you are a drunk, then take one small step and go to AA. If you over eat, same thing. If you are running from a breakup of a relationship or a divorce then stop running and face your fears by taking one step towards your partner and the truth that lies between you. Read a book. Talk to a friend. Just do one small thing towards fixing it or studying it. Fixing it might mean ending the relationship, but don't think about that. Don't worry about the big changes. Instead just make small corrections today. If you do this then it will work out even if it is a "death" that you must face.

2. Deal with the truth. Wake up to it!
David Deida's quote is amazing. First, you will know the truth. You may not know it all the time. But, you will know the truth some of the time. You will say the truth outloud in your head or in a journal. You will say it to your friends. Your friends will say it to you. Do you hear what you are saying? Do you hear what your friends are saying? Do they all say the same thing over and over to you? If you do not respect your friends then get new friends. If you do respect your friends then ask them what the truth is and listen! Knowing the truth means listening to yourself. It means seeing your reflection in your friends loving teasing. Knowing the truth is the first step.

Feeling the truth is next. Once you start to feel it, then this is good. An example of feeling the truth could be that bad feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you walk into a job you hate. You get that feeling and it is because you hate your job and your work is not in line with your true passion in life. You aren't following your dream and you are too scared to face the changes. This is feeling the truth. Feeling the truth is another tool for getting at the truth!

The final step is to live the truth. This is where your actions are in line with your truth. You know it. You feel it. You are living it in actions. This is very difficult and it requires full consciousness. It requires being in the present moment.

Energy is needed to apply the truth. Energy is typically received from proper sleep, food, exercise, love, and meditation. If you aren't taking care of yourself then you can know the truth and feel the truth but you will not have the energy to act on the truth.

Go Live your truth! Be daring. You have nothing to loose except those painful karmic punches. If you live the truth then the truth won't hit you when you aren't looking. It won't need too. This is the point to Buddhism in my mind.

Knowing the truth is fairly useless; feeling it is profound; living it makes all the difference - David Deida in Blue Truth

2 comments:

Marta Smith said...

Alex, i love this blog and it's so...true. However, I think sometimes we all fall into the trap of calling the most convenient thing the "truth". Sometimes there isn't a clear line between the truth and the lie. I was wrong making that judgment call many times before. I found the most important thing to give such decisions careful consideration.

Alex McFerron said...

i agree on that one for sure. Even if we think we know the truth we sometimes find, when we're most adamant that we "know"... we find we didn't know...