How do you know something is true for you? Do you feel it? Just know it? Experience tingles along your skin or a spring in your step? How about a pang in your gut that’s ooey gooey and eases through your body seamlessly?
Sensations can sometimes be more obvious when you are standing at a crossroads or making big life decisions, but you can also feel them fleetingly when something synchronistic happens in your life and reflects your personal truth. But have you ever examined where your truths come from? Are they from family values, religious beliefs or your personal experiences? From books you’ve read or people you’ve met who inspire you? How about situations where you were burned or wronged? Maybe even things you saw happen to someone else and thought, “I’m never going to let THAT happen to me!”
There are also situations where you feel very intense emotions that can be perceived as negative — dread, anger, worry, stress, irritation — something not so ooey gooey. And those can also be true, but show something very different; areas where you still have pain and need to do some healing and personal growth. Your feelings may even be a warning that a person or situation is not for your best interests.
Gut Reactions and the “Truth”
The first thing people often do is assume that feelings they are experiencing are happening to them from a source outside of themselves, and look for someone or something to blame. It’s also when the excuses start flowing, especially if others challenge your beliefs and truths and you are unable to find a common connection point of understanding.
But real truth is how we perceive it, not in the delivery. No matter how bad, callous and horrible, or loving, fulfilling and fantastic something may be, your personal truth is at the root of how you perceive everything.
So, for example, if you keep hearing sweet nothings from a guy or gal you aren’t really “gaga” over, you may not be able to hear the real truth, “they’re reflecting back to you how awesome you are.” Your truth could be “ummm, this feels a bit uncomfortable because I’m not sure how I feel, and therefore I’m unable to receive your compliments. See, that’s where personal truths can distort the message and eliminate the chance for you to take in your own beauty, no strings attached.
The same can be said for when you read an email or note and begin to infer what you THINK someone is saying through your own filters, rather than hearing the truthful intention of the other parties involved. They have personal truths too an it’s important to find the middle ground.
Forming and Changing Personal Truths
Your personal truths can be formed from some or all of the elements I’ve mentioned plus countless other influences. They become the cornerstones for not only how you act, but the tapes that play in your head when you aren’t even paying attention. It’s these base beliefs that determine so much about what we not only see in our lives but what we are able to connect to and change in order to grow and evolve into a newer dimension of our ever-evolving truth.
So have you ever taken the time to think about the truth of your core beliefs? Questioned the source of your fears, expectations or passions? Examined why certain situations or people may cause you to react in the same way over and over again?
I invite you to invest a little quiet time to take a look at your personal truths and really connect with them. Understand how they shape you and your outlook on life, but most importantly, where you might be fully invested in something you see as your truth, but maybe isn’t accurate at all. I would love to hear what you find!
Photo by Vincepal