You may have heard the saying that, “the truth hurts.” I won’t dispute that sometimes the truth can hurt, but I propose that the truth doesn’t hurt so much as it heals.

I want to take a different approach toward telling the truth that starts with telling the truth about you to you. I’m talking about your internal dialogue with respect to what you believe to be true about yourself.

• Have you done or said something you regretted only to blame yourself for being stupid or insensitive?
• Do you hide your greatness and not tell the truth about who you are and what you have to offer?
• Is it easier for you to forgive everyone else, but for yourself there’s an extra dose of blame and judgment?
• Have you found yourself embellishing the truth to receive or deflect attention and then later regretted it?

When you don’t tell the truth about yourself to yourself, you deny your own brilliance and diminish your power in the world.  Some people might think that how they feel about themselves comes from others, but it’s actually coming from inside themselves. They are essentially disengaged from themselves, if you can imagine such a thing.

In order to increase your internal truth-telling, imagine having a different conversation with yourself so that you can release your brilliance into the world and begin to see yourself as others see you – wise, beautiful, intelligent, interesting, witty, loving, kind, giving, and so on. As thoughts come into your mind that you are bad, stupid, lazy, mean, or not good enough, gently silence those thoughts with the truth of who you really are, no matter what the circumstances may be or what other people say.

Perhaps you did make a mistake. Big deal! Give yourself a break and recognize that you’re more relatable to others because you are human.

Perhaps you embellished the truth; you now know that you don’t need to do that. Many people will love you for who you are, not who you want them to think you are.

Discover a healing salve for your heart, mind, body and spirit that releases you from the bondage of lies, deceit, and embellishment. That healing salve is having a truthful conversation with yourself first, revealing the best of who you are (no need for blame or judgment).