Open Your Mouth

Is not saying anything considered lying? I’ve been pondering this theme that keeps coming up in my life about having conversations, even the conversations that are tough to have. You know those conversations. They tear at your heart because you want to be real and honest but you think that it may strain the relationship or maybe the other person will judge you. Or sometimes it’s the conversations that put such a pit in your stomach that it feels impossible to have the conversation. In the moment it can seem that it’s easier to just not say anything.

I’ve been there. Every day I have a situation where at that moment I have a choice. Do I speak up? Is it worth it? Will it change anything? What I have learned is that at the moment it may seem that it’s easier to not say anything. But is it really? Is it easier to live my life knowing that I have something to say and never give myself permission to say it? Something as simple as “No, I don’t want Thai food” but I go along with it anyway because it seems that everyone else is happy.

No, Thai food isn’t a matter of life or death. BUT, what I’ve noticed is that it’s the small decisions that pile up within me and turn into bigger decisions. If I’m not willing to say no to Thai food, am I willing to say something that does make a difference when it’s at that pivotal moment that literally takes me closer to my vision or further away from it? Am I willing to speak my truth when it comes to my businesses, relationships and what I choose to be about in the world when I don’t speak up about some of the smaller conversations?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not one that has to have everything my way: what movie to see, where to eat, etc. There are always compromises. I’m talking about those conversations that eat away at us. The ones I think about while going to sleep wondering why I didn’t say anything or I only said a portion of what I wanted to say. You know what I’m talking about.

I see this theme in all conversations everywhere I go. On TV, in meetings, in the store, it’s everywhere. What would change if we just took the courage and spoke our truth in the smaller moments so we could train ourselves and people around us to HEAR us when we had the big conversations? When will we give ourselves complete permission to be heard? When we will give ourselves permission to speak aloud and make our voices heard? Then the next question for me is “Am I one who provides a safe space for people to speak their truth?” Is that the bigger question here? Imagine the solutions we could create if we opened our mouth and spoke our truth with the intention to be honest, authentic and vulnerable.

More to come…we’ve just scratched the surface.