Category Archives: Truth

Did You Do It?

Lighthouses don’t fire cannons to call attention to their shining—they just shine.          ~Dwight L. Moody

Pursuant to last week’s letter, did you engage in the . . . I almost called it an 3MegaCamexercise—(just what you need, right? another exercise)—but here, we are addressing being, not doing, and the important thing is: did you do it?

Do what?

Did you observe closely who you are being when you are with other people?  Observe what do you do; what are you up to?  As I said last week, if you really do this, and don’t just think about it, you will probably be disgusted, which is most often the case when you have a direct experience of the truth about yourself.  The truth is usually bad news—and then it sets you free.

But you and I would rather tread familiar territory, even if the familiar involves repeated failure, broken relationships, mediocrity, work that bores us—at least it’s familiar; we know how to deal with it.  But truth is a pathless land.  There are no rules, no signposts, no handrails, no certainty; your ship’s rudder is gone; you no longer know exactly who you are, or even what you are.

As you are observing yourself with other people, notice the strategies and the compulsive behaviors that arise.

  • Do you compulsively thank people?
  • Do you constantly apologize, as if excusing yourself for daring to be alive?
  • Are you compelled to talk excessively?  Or to be silent?  What is that designed to do?
  • Are you an habitual wallflower?  Or are you driven to be the center of attention?  (some effective attention grabbers: anger, emotional outbursts, being late, being loud, flamboyant behavior or attire)

The powerful action to take regarding being is to simply observe it.  You can’t do anything to impact being; anything you do is more of the same, just different.

We will continue this dialog next week, but it will be useless to you unless, in the interim, you actually observe yourself with people—watch yourself closely—you want to catch yourself in the act.  Thinking about it won’t do it…

Guest Post by Richard Saunders, Sculptor/Artist, http://www.fantaciworks.com