Honesty: Truthfulness, sincerity and self-knowledge. Communicating and acting authentically with oneself and others.
• Honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom…Thomas Jefferson • Understanding how I experienced certain life events gives me greater knowledge of myself and more detachment from my self-destructive patterns. When I refuse to remember the pain of early experiences -- projecting it onto others and making it about them, rather than sitting with it and feeling it myself -- instead of resolving the problem, I compound it. In my inability to sit with my own pain, I ask others to contain it for me through dynamics such as projection. It is identifying in someone else what I should be identifying in myself, displacing a painful feeling by dumping it onto an unsuspecting receiver. This does not allow me to do the inner work that I require to be clean and healthy, and it crosses another person's boundary in an unfair, unhealthy way. My greatest potential for learning is in studying myself with honesty and openness. I will look honestly at myself….Unknown Author • Study the heart and the mind of man, and begin with your own. Meditation and reflection must lay the foundation of that knowledge, but experience and practice must, and alone can, complete it…Lord Chesterfield • People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars; and then pass by themselves without wondering…Saint Augustine • Some might be tempted to call this journey of true self-discovery, narcissistic. I can not disagree more. It is the key to great thinkers and great human beings. It is a journey not filled with self adulation’s but rather a deeper look into oneself; a look of honesty and true introspection. It is a journey of true humility…Viola Jaynes • Knowing your own strength comes with the discovery of who you are. Truly knowing yourself gives you the perspective you need to learn from your mistakes as well as your successes. Being yourself allows you to grow and explore; through understanding yourself comes a greater understanding of the potential that lies within. I believe this kind of life lends itself to truer happiness and much greater satisfaction…Viola Jaynes |