It’s said “the truth will set you free”.
I believe it does.
But not “any old truth”. Not ideas inherited and accepted without validation from external sources such as generational and societal conditioning.
Your own, personal truth sets you free.
The authentic expression of your own truth – your story – is the most powerful message you can carry to your audience.
It’s good for business and it’s good for you. Literally.
And yet transparency is one of the toughest things to do.
I speak into my truth with you, but I had to grow into it.
I could spend all of my time writing “matter of fact” business-success related blogs, but I’d be selling you and I short if I did. It’d all be a bit dry and vacuous.
Devoid of reality.
How easy it is to overlook that at the heart of every entrepreneurs life, there’s a human being with all that comes with it.
The way I see it, I’d be starving you of nutrition, the real food of life, if I didn’t share, with open heart, the stark reality of me and my life with you.
Don’t misunderstand me. I’m not so arrogant as think my life is any more interesting or important than yours or anyone else’s, what I am suggesting is by sharing the warts-and-all reality of me with you, you get to reflect on the warts-and-all reality of you with you.
Sometimes we have to see ourselves through the eyes of others to recognise who we truly are.
Which cuts both ways. There are times in our lives when the mirror brings us a reflection we don’t want to see – the “ugliness” of how we’re choosing to show up in life.
Equally there are times in our lives when we’re not willing to see, accept and own our own beauty.
Our inherent magnificence.
Our divinity.
In the sharing of myself with you, I have to be real. At times it might be uncomfortable to read. I can swear on occasion. I may say things you fundamentally disagree with. I may challenge some of your most cherished beliefs.
And you might not like me for it.
That’s perfectly okay. I’m not attached to you liking me. I am attached to adding value to you and your life.
My transparency has one intention…to serve you. It does, in fact, serve us both. Transparency must be experienced within before it’s expressed without. To not know and speak your truth is bad for business and it’s bad for your health.
You are always at choice.
I’ve been referred to, at times, as “enlightened”. It’s not a description that’s ever sat well with me. For a start, the person announcing themselves to the world as “enlightened” is in more trouble than they know. The very claim itself reveals the contrary. The same principle applies to being seduced into the idea by the opinion of others.
Oh how the ego loves a stroke.
And anyway, “enlightenment” is a relative term. Yes, I know I’m more conscious than most but I also know there are people on the planet who are more conscious than I.
Perhaps “enlightenment” isn’t what we perceive it to be.
Maybe “enlightenment” is not the overcoming and absence of “darkness”, but the recognition, acceptance and ownership of it.
Is that not a far more befitting description of mastery?
After all, the “darkness” has and always will be there. It doesn’t get removed. It has to exist for the light to exist. Cold couldn’t exist without hot. Everything exists only because it’s relative to something else.
To suggest a human being has ever existed without the “darkness” is to mask the reality of life and all within it. It’s simply a matter of degree.
Given that context, I can live with the idea of being “enlightened”.
The “truth” is not inherited, it’s discovered. Know yours. Own it. Live it. And speak into it.
Christian Simpson is the UK’s leading coach and mentor to business owners and entrepreneurs. For COMPLIMENTARY ACCESS to tried, tested and proven entrepreneurial success strategies, click here
