Things we hide…let the truth soothe.

Being honest with yourself is a power no one can break. An energy that only creates.

Growing up, we all had times in our lives in which we had to hide and lie about aspects of ourselves.

It may have been at home to avoid conflict, rejection, or judgment. It may have been the way we thought we should behave to keep the peace and put our parents at ease.

It may have been in school and with our peers when fitting in meant keeping some parts out.

It was the more manageable and safest way to protect our hearts, keep the connections we longed for intact, and our sense of dignity and freedom protected.

So, it meant that some of us grew up with the habit of hiding our wishes and desires. Some had to lie about their emotions and needs. Some had to reduce, hide or mistrust our talents, abilities, and difficulties.

We carry these survival and protection tactics into our adulthood. They work for us until we notice the price they demand. At times, we might not even connect the crisis, illness, and discomfort we face to them, as they become so blended in our way of viewing life and ourselves.

These little lies, woven into our way of choosing, communicating, loving, expressing, arguing, asking, and even moving, create distortions in different parts of our lives.

Fear holds every lie (something we hide and repress); there is some pain at the core of the lie. We defend and protect those habits without knowing how to manage those hurts and fears.

We use these little lies unconsciously, and sometimes we may do so to hide our addictions and parts of ourselves that we are ashamed of.

We cannot try to live with those lies. We cannot live in health, abundance, love, creativity, and fulfillment while keeping those lies. Our truths want to live. To be felt, seen, and revealed. Our truths allow us to breathe deep, to move with ease and grace, to fight for what is right when needed, and to follow what is healthy for us and our surroundings.

It is the uncovering that demands our courage. It requires us to stay in and move through moments of fear, pain, shame, and everything around and between.

Uncovering is to realize that we all fear being discovered but are yarning to be seen (acknowledged and loved).

Let’s not wait until someone will “discover us” or when life will pull that truth out of us.

Let’s bring ease to our interactions. Let’s recover the trust we can have in our intimate relationships, even when we face a conflict. Let’s free our hearts from being held hostage behind walls of anxiety and depression and recover our capacity for joy and excitement.

Being honest with yourself is a power no one can break. An energy that only creates.

When did you feel you had to lie, hide, suppress, or reduce what you felt, needed, did, and (not)wanted?

Why did you have to do that?

What did you want to avoid? And what were you hoping to achieve?

Whom did you protect by doing that? Who else benefited from your “lie”? (What was that person hiding or suppressing within themselves?

What hurts, pains, or fears were not soothed, met, or seen that you then protected with that “lie”?

Which choices, actions, and other expressions can you identify in your life today which are still related to that need to “lie”?

When do you need to “protect,” hide, or lie about what you feel, think, see, or (not)want…?

How do you see the people around you out of that place? And which scenarios are you busy with?

Pay attention to what you tend to focus on within yourself, the situation, and what parts/aspects of the people you engage with.

Please take a moment to move your attention toward the experience of this habit.

What pops up in your awareness: which discomfort, effort, heaviness, tightness, etc., do you recognize in your body?

What possible pain/hurt are you trying to avoid or control? Why?

Stay with this experience without changing it. Take the time to learn how you were holding it in your body.

While learning the habitual structure of this effort, be aware of the memories that pop up. The convictions and beliefs you formed during those times.

Feel that this stuck unresolved experience has the “voice” of a younger person in fear, lacking a way out, acceptance, or relief.

It is a frozen moment in time. A rigid (frozen in the past) part of yourself. A fixed view of reality.

NOW is the time to melt that frozenness, to meet those fears/pains/shame/anger/needs/etc. Just this time, with the presence of who you are today. By connecting it to the rest of your body. To the power, presence, and heart that you needed to disconnect from.

To let it reach all of yourself and even flow into the space around you.

You do that by breathing into or around the area you focus on. Whatever you sense there, come and meet it. Make sure you are not impatient and want to get rid of it. It is a part of you that you were suffocating/lying about. It wants to be felt, be seen, and revealed. The more you trust yourself to manage, breathe, move, and dare to let the experience expand, the more it can transform into presence and power.

You should find the patience to continue through unpleasant sensations. Ones that you are habitually fighting and running away from.

Choose to do that out of connecting to a state of being within you of carrying, loving, unwavering, and unbending presence.

For a moment, shift your awareness to the person/people with whom you tend/ed to hide parts of yourself and see where they are afraid and hurt. Where do they hide?

Choose to be the one that leads; By being honest within yourself. By daring to meet that old frozen fear, hurt, shame, or anger. Breathing into it. Letting all be there and expand.

You will be amazed by the power and relief they will gift you as you stop lying about them to yourself.

Put your hands on the area of your body that was the focus of your attention. And in your mind or out loud, say, “I will not ignore or hide you anymore.” “There is no need to fear. You can come out of your hiding.”

Try now to focus on a different part of the person/people you were busy with:

Stretch one arm forward with an open palm as if pushing something away.

Please think of the aspect of those people that you tend to fear, move around, compromise in front of, or maybe need to become defensive to put them down.

Please take a few deep breaths and feel the possibility of holding that aspect of them away, not letting it get near you.

With your eyes still closed, move your head toward that aspect- of that part of the person. The other hand is still on that area of your body.

Stay with this 3-4 deep breaths feeling the power you have. Then move your head a little away to look at the vulnerable, or accepting, part of that person. Feel then what happens.

How can you be with that part of yourself while interacting with that person/ people?

Breathe for a while, ensuring your joints are not locked; you let movement and flow move through your spine and back.

Then let go of your hands and arms, and go back to the promise towards yourself of not hiding while sensing that softness, strength, and fullness of your body expanding into the space around you.

Are you ready to free yourself as well as the people around you?

Are you ready to be true to your heart?

See what happens if you take one “lie,” the tendency to reduce or hide aspects of yourself for a week, and train not to do that.

Let the truth surprise you and gift you!

Yours,

Anna

Photo by Caleb Woods on Unsplash