Thank you for being honest

Thank you for being honest.

I said these words several times yesterday - on the graduation call I co-facilitated for our latest group of Nurse Coach grads, in my weekly group therapy call, and then again to my daughter when she confessed something she had hidden from me. 

I said them over the weekend to my dear friends who are walking a painful cancer journey.

It's happened so often lately that I felt compelled to reflect on it here with you.

Why does it feel so good to be honest?  Especially radically honest? 

When we live in a world filled with fake shit, where we can create whatever images we want, contort our lives to look a certain way, and hide behind the masks of social norms, why bother being honest about anything? 

It feels good to be honest because I highly value it. When my values and my actions align, I'm living in integrity. Honesty, integrity, alignment - these all feel good. Like, real good. 

I love honesty so much that I risk my ideas of what others might think of me regularly, because it feels so good to be honest. 

There's freedom in honesty. I know what's true for me in this moment (even if it's that I don't know) and I know I don't have to hide parts of myself in order to live my life.

There's trust in honesty. When I'm honest with myself, I build trust with myself. When I'm honest with you, hopefully I build trust with you.

There's power in honesty. If I'm honest, I hold the power. I am not a victim of my circumstances or of outside forces like other people, the climate, politics, or oppressive systems. 

It also feels good to be amidst honesty because I lived my entire 10 year marriage being deceived by people I loved. 10 years. Every day. 

Pain and trauma have a way of clarifying things- when we do the daily work to alchemize it. Shedding the layers of pain that deep betrayal brings is a process. One of the greatest gifts of that process has been the clarity about who I really am and what I care about the most. And the daily practice of aligning my life with those things, while letting the rest go. 

As a nurse coach, healer, and facilitator I walk this process with others. In the safety of our relationship we get really honest. 

What's working? What's not?  What are you willing to do about it? 

And then we co-create something magical together. 

My role- believing in your ability to heal, rise, and create your life in integrity. Asking you powerful questions based in my intuition and connection to the Divine. Offering helpful resources and practices.  

Your role- taking the daily action to align your life with your values. Not giving up. Staying the course. 

The outcome is up to you. It's your life after all.  And yet, you don't have to do it alone.  In fact, what could you create with someone committed to supporting, guiding and believing in your process?  Work with me->