Freedom Comes From Being Real

By Suzanne Holman • July 4th, 2010

Whoopie! It's the 4th of July!

For most dogs, the 4th of July is one of the most unfavorite days of the year!

The loud crackles and booms of fireworks is hard on their delicate ears and scares the begeebies out of them.

Shaiming, my six-year old ShihTzu I rescued from the Humane Society in April wasn’t terribly excited about modeling his cool hat. I had to get him this hat. I had one in a larger size for my Australian Shepherd years ago. Found the hats at a craft fair, sold by people who lived in Northern Arizona. I had to see if I could get one for Shaiming. Hats are made for AZ shade and you can even wet the terry lining to cool down the dog! You can check out the hats at their website:
http://www.k9koolhats.com/ They mail the hats for a very low shipping charge.

Today, Richard Maraj, lead minister of Unity of Phoenix Church, talked about Radical Honesty, based on the book by Brad Blanton.

It was a perfect topic for today because true honesty with others and with ourselves is the ultimate freedom!

Honesty was a perfect topic for the 4th of July, the day we Americans celebrate our freedom.

Think about it for a minute… Have you ever told a lie?
Then, you were bound to what you said and had to work hard to make everything else you said be in congruence with the untruth you told. EXHAUSTING!

But maybe you’ve never told a lie…
Did you ever hear yourself saying something like…

Oh, it was just a “little white lie…”
“I bent the truth a bit…”
“It was mostly the truth…”
I just fibbed a little…”

Although honesty is the wisest, it’s not the easiest.

So what should we do?

1. Reveal the facts – how are we deceiving ourselves? When we release the energy we use to deceive ourselves, we release that energy that attracts good to us.

2. Make a list of things withheld from others. Acknowledge to yourself and perhaps to others
involved that you want to make things right.

3. Express your current feelings and thoughts. Radical honesty gets us to the root of who we are.
It gets to love, to our essence, and to Spirit.

As I think back to the 4th of July, 2010, I’ll remember “honesty” – “being real” – “living full out as me”

Where in your life can you feel more freedom by being more honest?
If you are involved in the responsibility of the care of others, whether Alzheimer’s Disease or some other ailment, there are probably times that you could be more honest in expressing your need for support from others.

And I don’t just mean to others… Honesty with ourselves can be the toughest of all.
Take time to listen to yourself. Are you being true to you? Are you allowing guilt to rule your life and are not listening to your own heart?

No legacy is so rich as honesty” [William Shakespeare All's Well That Ends Well]

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