This little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine
This little light of mine I'm Gonna let it shine
Gonna let it shine...
Perhaps you've been here -- you're in a yoga class during which the teacher adjusts you, resulting in pain, but you say nothing. Or perhaps you're sitting with a group of yogis who are discussing yoga philosophy and the pitfalls of Raga and Dvesha and because you're embarassed by the fact that you don't know what they're talking about you stay silent while nodding and acting like you understand. Or maybe you respond with an unconscious "it's fine" to the yoga student who, after slipping into class late, leaves his/her phone on vibrate and continues to respond to text messages throughout class and tosses it off with an "I hope you don't mind."
And these are just some yoga-related examples. There are plenty of ways in which we don't speak up in daily life as well. Why, oh why, is it so hard to tell the truth? The fact is, I'm one of those nice people who sometimes has trouble telling the truth (or I'll tell the truth but dilute it/pretty it up quite a bit to lessen the sting) for fear that it will hurt the other person. Yes, truth sometimes skates over the fine line between what's true for you and what hurts others. I suppose this is why I tend to remind myself of this little fact -- just because I don't want to hear it doesn't make it any less true.
I've been telling the truth a lot lately and, frankly, it's gotten me into quite a bit of trouble with some folks. These days, this nice girl doesn't give a hoot that people aren't appreciating my telling the truth. I'm not saying it to be hurtful (and, yes, I attempt to say it in the nicest way possible) nor am I being harsh under the guise of "I'm just being honest" -- I'm merely saying what's true for me (note I said what's true for ME not some sort of black and white global truth) so that the person I'm dealing with clearly understands where I'm coming from. Again, I have to remember the first part of the little fact that I mentioned above -- some folks don't want to hear it.
Granted, telling the truth may feel good for the person doing it, but that person must remember that the truth-telling may not be received all that well...or at all. I had a personal experience with this that truly blew me away. After years of telling a friend of mine how I was feeling about the state of our relationship, nothing changed. I learned that hearing doesn't always equal listening. Needless to say, I ended that relationship (after saying the same thing in a myriad of ways over a period of years).
Maybe it's not even about telling the truth. Maybe instead it comes down to this -- do you want to live in integrity or do you want to perpetually fear stepping on someone else's toes? Here's a wonderful blog post that explores this topic a bit more.
And here's what might just happen when you veer off the path of integrity (Sorry Deepak, but you might have gone a bit too far here).
Are you letting your light shine?
Namaste!
