Say what you need to say . . . very good advice indeed, but don’t make it contingent on anyone paying attention to you if you know they have decided in advance that what you want to say isn’t worth listening to. A certain type of courage comes from revealing the heart of your feelings when you know the recipient may be temporarily clouded with doubt and uncertainty. When you choose to stand by the decision to share your innermost thoughts with another, you must always be fully prepared. Everything you say may be coloured by the quality of the mood they find themselves in at the moment they take in your words.
Let wisdom speak truth for its own sake with no expectations, and let it be spoken with kindness and respect. You will learn eventually that the truth will speak for itself. Have faith knowing you will be heard, if not now, then in some future moment when the seeds you have planted find fertile ground and can finally be understood.
Take heed, though. If it is only the pretense of a courageous heart that comes forward from within you and your aim harbours manipulation and a secret desire hidden at the core wanting to elicit a predetermined response from another, then you should be willingly prepared to accept that some tears may be shed. Recognize also with humility that the voice resonating inside you wanting desperately to press forward may sometimes be driven by your own fears and insecurities, indicating clearly that you speak a relative truth and not necessarily the absolute truth in that situation.
Make no mistake—there is a real difference between the two, and if you value truth as your touchstone, you will be able to feel the difference however subtle it may be. A single viewpoint is never the only one to be taken with veracity, and the hallmark of true courage is the unfailing ability to weigh every situation with fierce honesty and the knowledge that we can cut out any biased perspective we may unwittingly hold.
If you find yourself blessed with the companionship of another soul who possesses the same honest quality of expression and communication as you, you will discover together the magnificent potential and unexplored depths of which human relationships are capable. Careless or unrecognized misunderstandings would come to light with a clarity and dazzling swiftness you have never previously experienced, capable of sweeping the ground clear of unhealed emotional debris that would otherwise gather and envelop what was once beautiful and pure.
To shine light into the shadows and speak from the heart; to make mistakes and yet find forgiveness at every turn; to take bold and passionate chances and always find a hand to lift you up when your steps become faltering and unsure. To find joy in the simple laughter of another and unmitigated beauty from the warmth of a comforting touch. Is this just a half-remembered dream woven out of discarded fairy tales from some other place and time that echoes in our memory, or can it be a tangible reality here and now?
In a world so filled with cynicism and mistrust, I believe it has become more than just a dream but an essential and living possibility just waiting to burst forth from the depths of our spirits, yearning for something more meaningful and real.
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Michele Marguerite Parker is a freelance writer and lover of all things green, winged and dressed in fur. She lives on 5 acres in Manitoba, Canada with her husband, 2 dogs, and a sprawling “work in progress” garden surrounded by natural woodland. She lives and breathes by the motto – “‘Grow a garden and feed your Soul.”
