(Transcribed and edited from Lee’s live video message.)

Hello and welcome to the Energy Forecast for March 2015.

We are in San Francisco this month, and by ‘we’ I mean you and I, because unusually for me this month I’m here alone and filming this alone. I never feel alone because I feel all of you guys are listening to this.

I feel like when you have a lot of distraction around you, then focusing and honing in on energetics is part of your daily work – the same work that we do every single day. So, this beautiful vibrant city is quite the place and I hope that you feel something of it through the lens.

To speak now about the energies of March and what you’re going to notice coming up this month.

There are two keywords or titles that I would like to throw on the table for you: one is the word faster, and the other is background noise. I promise you that background noise is no pun intended (Laughter). I had that term come to me this morning when I was tuning in on the energy of March, and of course lo and behold I’m very aware of the level of background noise compared to usually the quietness of our hill.

But first let’s deal with the word ‘faster’:

Faster times, Faster Energies

Faster is going to be part of the pattern of your life this month, and so for some of you it could cause you to question, “Am I a little bit overwhelmed? Is too much happening at once?”

The truth is going to be that you’re actually re-patterning yourself to be able to handle a faster life. And by faster life I don’t necessarily mean you feeling overloaded with work or overloaded with demands on you – more that a very visceral experience is now beginning to happen for all of us on the planet. We are noticing that everything is speeding up. And that is because on an energetic level, everything is opening up.

So as you yourself open to an opening world there is an experience of multiplication that takes place.

It’s not just because of your level of personal opening or development that you’ll be feeling this. It’s directly because of how this whole planet and its people are beginning to rise and change together.

This can be tricky. It can turn up the heat emotionally and in action.

Dark Rising to Attempt to Dominate Light

We see this on the global stage. We see heated areas and heated arguments kicking off; some of them which seem as if they are from the Stone Age. So for example, the control that we’re seeing that’s trying to be executed over women’s rights in America; the sudden rise of homophobia and racism in closeted areas around the world. Ways of being that you would hope and feel that we moved through a long time ago.

But the reason that these things start to come to the surface is, at such a time of opening, the dark or the contracted energies will also rise. They will rise towards that which is opening and try and take it on, or take it down.

So try not to get too emotionally disheartened when you see that. Be an advocate or an activist in the areas that you feel most passionately about, to both make your stand and stand by your beliefs in areas that you feel you have something to contribute to.

But try to remember within all of this that it’s really important to come back to yourself every now and then when it feels overwhelming and acknowledge, “Oof! Everything is faster and more intense, including my own personal process.”

So some of you will notice that your life is moving fast; be that synchronicities, be that the ability that you have it to multitask in a way that you didn’t have before.

But where I would like to really focus this word ‘faster’ for you is emotions.

You will notice that emotionally, March is going to be a faster month than ever for you. Whether this is a sudden rise in emotion that just appears in you with no apparent warning or catalyst, partly because you’re allowing a higher level of feeling in, and partly because the world is feeling a lot more. Or you respond in a very big way to a trigger or a catalyst for you, if you stay aware, you’ll notice emotions bursting through and out of you in a faster way.

The Joy of Connected Feeling

Now depending on where you are in your own development around how you manage and experience your emotions, that’s going to look like anything from extreme emotional outbursts, right down to you just noticing a more subtle but present level of your heart in your everyday life. And not always in a way that makes you feel vulnerable or exposed and causes discomfort, but often in a way that you recognize you’re now housing a higher level of feeling inside your body everywhere you go and with everyone you meet.

So for those of you who develop and consciously work with this new feeling ability, this will mostly feel lovely. The experience of it will give you an incredible feeling of deeper connection to everything that is sensory and energetic in life. And that in itself will be a homecoming for you, because connection is what we are all ultimately here to experience.

Connection really is the gold on this planet – our experience of connecting to something we’re passionate about or someone we’re experiencing great love with. And that love is on every level; partnership, marriage, or lover intimacy, right through to the love that you can experience with a stranger that you walk past and you two just smile at each other and feel that connection.

The Shadow of Connected Feeling

The other side of this, or what some of you would label the ‘shadow side’ perhaps, is that this higher level of connection can raise the extreme emotions which are weighted in the negative. Feelings that don’t feel so good.

I know that for many of you, you’re sick of ‘the purge’. You know, this 3, 4, 5 year process where you feel like you’re purging emotionally, purging emotionally, purging emotionally.

I’ve said this before, but if you do find that’s your story, you definitely want to look at some work on energetic boundaries.

You definitely want to look at:
How are you supporting your nervous system – is your nervous system overstimulated?
Do you need to just help your nervous system calm down in a more focused and concentrated way?
Is there a person or a method that can help you focus this?

Those of you who feel regularly chaotic; that’s a real call for you to learn how to stand still.

So if you feel like you’re chaotically being bombarded from everywhere, or inside yourself, do something very simple. Go into a room by yourself. Go into a bedroom in your house for 10 minutes and just shut the door, have no outer distractions, have no noise or sound or phone, and just go in there and be with yourself for 10 minutes.

For some of you, doing this will burst open your underlying emotion.

But it will be a good thing, rather than having this chaos running your life and making you feel jittery all day.
Sometimes walking into the bedroom, shutting the door and having silence around you energetically (and in noise terms) just allows you to burst into tears. And when you burst into tears, out comes the emotion which was underlying.

The Inner Fire of Suppressed Anger

The other side of this, for some of you, is going to be anger and in some cases, rage.

Rage and anger. It’s funny when I say those words, as I can feel the nervousness among us as a collective when you even name those words. I’ve said the same thing about fear and it’s true. Just the word fear makes us nervous.

Anger and rage make us nervous because we think of safety. We think about personal safety if someone is angry or raging us. We also think of our responsibility towards others’ safety, and so we judge the idea of having rage or anger, in case we throw it at someone or are destructive.

The anger and the rage for a lot of you is going to be an experience of inner-fire. Think of it as the base chakra igniting and fire running through your body.

I read an interview with the actress Kathleen Turner the other day, and she said that she’s had anger all her life and it’s what has helped to fuel her activism in areas that people need help. This is clever use of an emotion.

Our emotions are in us for reasons and if you are someone who does feel a bit angry, and you notice it rising in you this month, ask yourself ‘What can I do with this?’ How can I constructively take this energy that is firing in me and alchemise it into form so that it can be useful and balanced for me, or beneficial to the world?

Where anger will also show up is that many of you will be feeling really sick to your stomach and at the end of your rope in some of your relationship issues.

There is this very interesting feeling I get as I’m talking about this that some of you have just had enough and the word is ‘abuse’. A feeling that you have that your boundaries have been abused, or that someone has been abusing you. And I think those feelings are going to come up very viscerally for some of you this month.

The thing I would remind you of if you’re going through that process is to try not to get psychologically righteous about what’s going on.

We can all have our moments where we may feel like we’re a victim of someone else, and in that moment we’re processing a wound of feeling like we were a victim in the past, and now playing it out with this person.

But ultimately, the truth is when you go beyond the wounds because you have got in touch with the underlying feelings, you get out of that psychological labeling of, “I was their victim, they were my perpetrator.” Because when you get stuck into those frameworks, it can leave you very off-balance.

Be Patient with Your Feelings before You Act

So to the best of your ability, if you do get emotional or you do feel anger or rage this month, try and just allow yourself to feel the feeling without acting.

For example, if you want to send someone an outraged email, or you want to phone someone and tell them what their problem is, try and first take a breath and catch yourself before you do it. Because I promise you, it will be the kind of feeling that within one day or sooner you will not have the same sense of purpose around the feeling.

It’s just going to be a very feeling month. And know also that this is the time that we are in now; everyone is feeling more, but anger and rage are going to be up on a personal level because collectively, we’re seeing some very destructive examples of anger and rage going on in the world.

Our Evolution in This Brave New World

If you look at some of the things that are going on around control of women’s rights in America or the attempt to take away women’s reproductive rights; if you look at some of the rise in homophobia in certain parts of the world, and also racism, this is real Dark Age stuff, it’s really old energy – old and dark.

Whenever any group or person wants to try and kill or limit another group or person or take away their freedom, we’re dealing with dark, dense energy that has been on this planet for a very long time, and due to a lot of the light and opening now happening on the planet we’re also seeing this darkness rise.

It’s difficult to see. I know, as a human being like you, when I see or hear about those things, it doesn’t make me feel good.

But there is a place that all of us have to come to in this brave new world; because it does take courage to be alive at the moment, if you’re in any way connected to your feelings or your senses. It is a time where a lot of us are having to, in a way, find strength that we didn’t know we had, and that’s the purpose of our evolution.

The purpose of our evolution is that we can get stronger and bigger as who we are and not only contribute to our society, but also experience our contribution in a very felt way.

The Background Becomes the Foreground

So the other theme for March is the term ‘background noise’.

Elements and areas of your life that have been background noise are now going to come forward. So if a relationship dynamic with a person has been niggling you for many months, it’s going to come up to the surface in March. If you have this underlying feeling you need to make a change and you can’t make it, March is a really good month to let it rise, and to tie up loose ends.

Think of it as a time to really clear out anything that has been niggling you for a long time. And if you feel like your pattern has been to avoid it, just say to yourself this month I’m going to do it. “I’m ready to let go of this avoidance – I’m just going to do it.”

The worst that can happen is you will attempt to do it, and then will stop yourself. But try and harness what is a very potent energy of fast transformation right now.

Transformational Availability

The speed of everything – the level of feeling, and the rising to the surface of that which has been suppressed. All of these things actually contribute toward powerful and really transformational openings.

So if you need to go into the bedroom and close the door every now and then go, (huge in-breath) “Oh my God! A lot is happening and I don’t know if I can keep up!” Just do it!

I promise you, we can keep up, but we can’t keep up if we don’t learn how to maintain ourselves within the speed of it all.

So, all along all of these Energy Forecasts for the last three or four years, I really feel like I have one job only. And it’s to keep reminding us that we can find what it is that we need internally, in order to be strong and bold in this world. Especially for the sensitives among you. I know it can be a challenging area and we’ve all had our experiences where we haven’t felt so able to be in that place.

Support Each Other

So the final thing I will say this month is be aware of supporting each other. If this month you practice one thing, practice the principle of, “Who needs my support?”

I’m sure many of you are very programmed to be that way anyway, but this month why don’t you just bring it into focus, that this will be one of your default checks, every now and then. Every now and then, you’re going to ask yourself, “Who needs my support? Who is it that I could phone right now?”

And many of you will do this intuitively. You might think of that sentence and a friend will immediately come into your mind’s eye. Give them a call, write them an email, think of them, send them some love from inside you if you don’t feel like directly communicating.

Let’s support each other and develop our authentic ability to do that. Because as we are in a time where certain groups and factions would like us to disconnect from each other and become afraid, the strength that all of us will find in times like these, both individually and as a group is coming together and connecting and looking after each other.

Connection and Love

You can’t look after everybody as an individual human being. You can’t save everyone you see. But you can give yourself and your love and your care and your attention in whatever way that shows up for you and to whomever feels right in each moment.

For some of you that will mean talking to someone, for some that will mean making them a soup or buying them a meal. Supporting others will always have a different form depending on you or who you’re with, but it’s all the same ultimately – loving and caring action toward each other. And that’s what we really need.

So this month think who needs my support and where can I offer it?

It will not only make you feel good, it will light up these other people and that in itself will make you so much more connected to the purpose of being here, which is connection and love.

So guys, thank you for tuning in this month.

See you next time and love to all of you and I hope you have an awesome month.

“March 2015 Energy Forecast,” by Lee Harris, March 2, 2015, at http://www.leeharrisenergy.com/blog.html

Politics & Warmongering: Hypocrisy …why continue the war machine when peace is never reached?

Hello, my peeps. I found a most interesting story that I wanted to share. While it happened one month ago, I believe it’s noteworthy and flows seamlessly with the other stories for today’s Roundup. Like all journalism and the basis for our First Amendment –The Freedom of Speech, Religion, the Press, Peaceful Assembly, and to Petition the Government of Grievances– differing opinions will always exist. And rightly so… that’s what diversity and acceptance consists of –and must be honored and upheld, hence we fall into true slavery, and not just debt slavery, as we currently live.

Some folks are of the belief that war, in general, is not okay. Of course, I’m hoping that by 2015, “most” people are of that stance rather than “some,” seeing it never ends and does not bring ultimate peace …not to mention the unnecessary countless casualties, devastation of lives and land, PTSD, etc.

Sadly, many of our leaders believe that war is a necessary evil …in order to bring peace (LOL, what a joke). How backwards is that?! It makes no sense what-so-ever, and is completely ludicrous. How does that saying go: “What’s the definition of stupidity?” Repeating something over and over again, expecting a different outcome. That would certainly be our corporate cabal, aka, our military industrial complex.

As such, these people have been coined a very specific term: Warmongers. And how fitting, don’t you think? For me, this is where the story gets juicy… CodePink (social political activists) had made an appearance at a Senate Hearing, exercising their 1st Amendment rights, and declared that Henry Kissinger be arrested for war crimes (love this crew) committed during his years of office as Secretary of State from 1973-77.

The press release stated the following: “CodePink is really proud of our action in the Senate today, speaking out on behalf of the people of Indochina, China, East Timor and peace-loving people everywhere,” said CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin, “Henry Kissinger is responsible for the deaths of millions. He’s a murderer, a liar, a crook, and a thug, and should be tried at the Hague.”

“I chose to speak out during the Senate Arms Committee because I’m appalled that the Senate would bring in a war criminal to testify about ‘American leadership’ when the only things Henry Kissinger and Madeline Albright have shown leadership in is wreaking destruction upon other countries and murdering countless innocent civilians,” said 26-year-old CodePink National Coordinator Alli McCracken.

“Is that the leadership we want to uphold as a nation and use to determine our current and future foreign policies? We need to stop rehashing these tired old war criminals and come up with a new foreign policy based on diplomacy and compassion –– two things Kissinger knows nothing about.”

‘Great American Villain’ Henry Kissinger Faces Citizen’s Arrest Inside a Senate Hearing Room by Annie Robbins. Mondoweiss.

International Politics: Extremism, like sensationalism, is always taking a front row seat.

“In his speech to the U.N. General Assembly, David Cameron said that ‘non-violent extremism’ is just as dangerous as terrorism and must be eradicated using all means at the government’s disposal. He referenced 9/11 and 7/7 Truthers as examples of the type of extremism that must be dealt in a similar fashion to ISIS.”

WOW, I’m dumbfounded at the lengths that our corporate cabal puppets continue to go, day-in and day-out. Saying the most absurd statements, such as what Mr Cameron spoke of in his statement to the UN. Further he stated that “our military can support humanitarian efforts.” Again, an oxymoron: “Military” is counter-intuitive of humanitarian efforts …ne’er the twain shall meet. In order for peace to reign, you must stop the war!

Equating non-violent truthseekers to ISIS extremists …is most out of balance, don’t you agree? Of course, I’m of the belief that the beheadings shown in ISIS videos are all phony false-flags, created by our corporate cabal to maintain fear through advanced computer graphics… exactly like some of our favorite action movies on the big screen that look oh so very real.

Wait… did I just say that out loud? Is that too unrealistic for our government to go that far? Is it too unrealistic for our government to be the architects and creators of 9/11 attacking our own people? Fortunately, as soon as our corporate cabal is dethroned, then all this will come out into the open, huh? Boy, I look forward to that day. Thank Goddess for our right to freedom of speech.

VIDEO: David Cameron Says Non-Violent Conspiracy Theorists Are Just As Dangerous As ISIS by Louise Turner. Your News Wire.

International Politics & Ethics: Desperate laws are making their way into legislation without media coverage.

Desperate measures for desperate times, seems to sum up the goings-on of our international corporate cabal. And the worst part for me is that they did it in their typical sneaky fashion: Owning the mainstream media, they put the kabash on any news coverage so no one knew it happened.

As a result, it passed with flying colors, without a peep from anyone because we had no idea it was even happening. Don’t you think this is a topic that people want to know about, whether here in America, in Australia, or anywhere around our world? People want to know this stuff, more importantly, have a right to know and to do something to prevent it. Don’t you believe that people would have protested, or at least phoned or contacted their government? Our beloved controllers …you guys are something else: Fighting to the very very very bitter end, in the hopes of staying in power.

This took place last year in Australia, and while they separated from Great Britain in 1901 as the Commonwealth of Australia, they are still under the Monarchy of Queen Elizabeth, and in my book that equates to our corporate cabal.

“Journalists and whistleblowers will face prison as a result of the first tranche of national security legislation that was passed in the Senate …And they laughed as they did it. As the Coalition, Labor and the Palmer United party voted in favour of this bill, which dramatically expands the powers of intelligence agencies while creating new offences for disclosing information.”

“It’s a bill that makes many broad changes to our intelligence gathering …where intelligence officers can gain immunity from using force or committing other offences…. Reporting of these operations, which could foreseeably lead to situations where a public disclosure would be in the public interest, could land journalists and whistleblowers in jail. And not just journalists, but any person who shares or republishes this material.”

Although this occurred halfway around the world, we need to remain vigilant that it doesn’t spread across the ocean. Further, if there’s a way to reverse this or protest it in retrospect, then it needs to be done: Go Aussies! Honestly in the long run, I cannot see this making a huge difference –and yet it needed proper media coverage.

Since the end of duality, on December 21, 2012, the human spirit now has the support of the Universe to rise above the nefarious agenda of our beloved cabal. The truth will prevail, and given this Australian law, those in that land, and even us elsewhere around the world, need to simply be ever more mindful … in order to stay a few steps ahead of our controllers and free ourselves from under their thumb.

Journalists and Whistleblowers Will Go to Jail Under New National Security Laws by Paul Farrell. The Guardian.

Across our beautiful world, We Are All One.

Many of us live our life based on the idea that we cannot share what we really feel or think, out of courtesy or consideration for another. However, when we examine why we so often live by suppressing our truth, we come to see that our reasons for doing so are not quite as selfless or admirable as we may presume them to be.

By trying to protect the other, we are often simply trying to protect some aspect of our illusory self. In this essay, we will examine the consequences of not living our truth — how this impacts us and those around us — and I will also share with you 5 tips for authentic self-expression.

If you are like most people on our planet, chances are you have “bit your tongue” on more than one occasion, preventing yourself from saying something you felt deeply called within to say. Similarly, you can probably remember your share of situations where you stopped yourself from acting in a way that you were called to act, or perhaps ended up engaging in some action that wasn’t in alignment with your true, personal nature.

From the time we begin to walk and talk, terms like “good girl” and “good boy” are drilled into our minds. We quickly learn what we “should” do to make mommy and daddy happy or proud, and what we “shouldn’t” do.

The same is blatantly displayed by our schools, legal systems, and religions. As we grow up, we unconsciously take all those patterns of suppression and conditional acceptance with us into our adult years, often repeating the same cycle with our own children.

Look at our society to begin to understand the effects of this. We don’t have to look far; our own lives show so much imbalance due to the suppression we have endured. The rates of depression and anxiety alone are at all time highs, and our happiness levels are far from optimal.

Unfortunately, being inauthentically “polite” through the suppression of our personal truths may be the accepted or normal behavior, but it is far from natural or good for us.

It is still a rare event on our planet to grow up in a household where one is encouraged to share and live their truth — fully — without any compromise or conditions. In fact, we are quickly taught that life is all about compromise.

But we cannot point fingers or lay blame on anyone in particular for all this, and definitely not our parents, who simply did what they were taught and the best they could. Blame is definitely not the solution here, or anywhere else for that matter, neither is anger or regret, whether you are a parent or child.

If we are going to find a solution at the root level, what we have to grasp and understand instead, is the source of this suppression within our collective. As with many areas of life that drive our choices, it is here as well that we will find fear present, underlying this issue.

As I have often shared in past essays, our modern society is still like a child, who simply wants to give the impression of being grown up by trying to imitate adult behavior. However, we are far from the spiritual maturity needed on a global consciousness and collective scale where truth is honored, rather than feared.

And so we are told that it is not polite, it is not appropriate, it is better left unsaid, for the sake of those involved. So like good girls and boys we retract our many natural forms of personal expression. After all, most of us don’t want to stand out as the troublemakers, the ones stirring things up.

Today, however, I invite you to say enough — enough to suppressing and repressing who you are, what you came here to experience, and how you wish to live your life. It is time to reawaken within ourselves our natural state of being, one rooted in liberation of the mind, body, and spirit.

A state of being that allows us to express and experience our infinite and Divine potential, rather than continue to play small and hide the truth of our unique and individual magnificence.

The Weight of Living Your Truth

The importance of living our truth is one of the topics that I am always very passionate about addressing and helping people apply. Based on both experience and observation in myself and others, I have seen enough to know the negative toll that not living our truth can have on us.

It suppresses our creative potential and motivation. It reduces our joy and wellbeing. It dims our inner light and radiance. It is a large contributing factor to all sorts of dis-ease that we see today, whether on a physical or mental level. Ultimately it sabotages our ability to have, feel, and live with inner peace.

I know that, all too often, human beings present to themselves and others, all sorts of convincing reasons why sacrificing their personal truth is the “right” way to go, whatever the going situation. Today, I am not so sure, however, that there is ever a justified time or reason where I could agree that sacrificing our truth outweighs the benefits of living it.

Perhaps I am dismissing life or death scenarios, you may be thinking. Surely it must be better to suppress one’s truth if it means staying alive, right? At a time in the past I would have thought so. Today, I simply tie it to our fear of death and seeing it as some form of punishment or fate to be avoided at all costs, rather than the natural transition between the spiritual and physical dimensions that it is.

So even if one were faced with a life or death situation, it really takes some deep soul searching to figure out what the best option may be for each individual. Luckily most of us will never be faced with choosing between living our truth or staying alive. What we will commonly be faced with, however, is choosing between living our truth or denying a part of ourselves; living our truth or illusively pleasing another.

It is all too prevalent in our society to suppress or sacrifice our truth to spare the “feelings” of another. Perhaps we hope to be politically correct, or not stir any trouble. Perhaps we can even call it an act of compassion by considering the feelings of another before our own.

Unfortunately I don’t buy those scenarios either these days. We have seen enough martyrs come and go over the ages on this planet, and I feel we keep missing the point. Denying our truth always carries with it some repercussions that negatively permeate into the collective consciousness.

On the one hand, we may think that we are helping another, but on the other hand we are normally harming many more, including ourselves and the person we think we are protecting. Suppression and/or repression always builds resentment, and blocks the natural flow of energy on some level. We see the consequences of this clearly in every area of our society. For example, sexual suppression or repression leads to all sorts of imbalanced expression, in the forms of sexual violence.

So what is one to do? Speak freely, love freely, and act freely? In a perfect world perhaps, but we cannot forget we live in the “real” world where limits, rules, and boundaries of all sorts are the norm, right? But is that really what we think on a heart and soul level? Is that really the best we can do?

From where I am standing we have tried that way. We have suppressed, repressed, and tried to be good little boys and girls for long enough and it really hasn’t gotten us very far or made the world a better place; the evidence is all around us.

Let us consider, instead, the potential of what life would be like if we put into action speaking freely, loving freely, and living our truth freely. It is really not that far fetched to accomplish; in fact, more and more people are doing it everyday. We have to understand that this is not some perversion of free will where the entire world goes mad. We already have that.

Instead, by living, speaking, and acting from our truth, it sets the foundation for a very different way of life. When we live our truth — our heart and soul aligned truth — we instantly transform the landscape of our reality into one where love, peace, and compassion are the prevailing norms for all, not just a select few. Let’s examine how this can be possible in more depth.

A Story of Limited Potential

Let me introduce you to Kerry and Leon. They are fictional characters but their story may cast an eerie similarity to someone you know, perhaps even yourself. Kerry was longing to meet the man of her dreams and one day in her mid 20’s was introduced to Leon. Both of them felt it was love at first sight and each did everything they could to put their best foot forward during their courtship. Leon wasn’t much into the art scene, but attended every theatre and art show that Kerry suggested.

Kerry did not enjoy the corporate side of life, but politely entertained all of Leon’s gatherings for his business contacts. Within two years they moved in together and Kerry had an engagement ring on her finger. Leon suggested she focus on real “jobs” to build their life together and so Kerry stopped creating her art. Her style of living was carefree and scattered, while Leon preferred rigorous routines and structure.

A feeling of unease was beginning to grow within each one of them, but neither said anything for they were “in love”, about to get married, and did not want to rock the boat. Kerry became focused on having a large family, often daydreaming about the 3 or 4 kids they would have running around. Leon became focused on his career and not really interested in kids, but they figured they would work it out when the time came.

Fast forward 5 years later: Kerry was pregnant with their third child, while Leon gave up an opportunity to advance his career in another state. Kerry wanted a bigger house. Leon wanted bigger job satisfaction. Kerry wanted more help from Leon. Leon wanted a better connection with his wife. Kerry wanted a creative outlet. Leon wanted to start his own company.

Each pushed aside their desires out of fear of not pushing the others’ buttons and bitterness grew within. Instead of owning up and courageously sharing their personal needs and truths, each was engaged in blaming the other for the incongruence and unhappiness they felt within. By now, surface-level heated quarrels had become the norm in their life, but they refrained from digging deeper out of fear of what may surface.

Fast forward 10-15 years later: Kerry now lives with a man she barely sees or talks to, and struggles to attend to their three children, while taking art courses at a community college. Leon feels misunderstood by his wife and after missing out on a dreamed of work opportunity begins to question their relationship.

Needing an outlet of support he begins seeing a co-worker, which quickly escalates to a romantic relationship. For the first time in years, Leon feels like he can be himself. Kerry learns about Leon’s affair and files for a divorce, feeling betrayed, and hurt by the man she thought was her “destiny”.

Assets are fought over, child custody is questioned, and Leon and Kerry become bitter enemies. After the divorce Leon moves out of state and Kerry feels like she has been completely abandoned. Within 6 months she finds out she has stage 3 breast cancer and falls into a deep depression.

How this story unfolds further includes many possibilities as to how these individuals will choose to live the next half of their lives through each moment from here on. And while the details will differ, the premise and pattern is one that is all too common in our society today.

Whether in romantic relationships, sibling, parent, friend, or coworker relationships, we have a society of people addicted to repressing andincapable of expressing their truth in the moment it needs to be shared.

So let’s look at how we can turn this all around and live in a more harmonious way with ourselves and others.

Release Your Truth to Free Yourself and Others

The going story in society is that relationships mean sacrifice, but that idea is missing a big piece of the true essence of the purpose of relating. The best, most loving, peace-filled, and long-lasting relationships I know all have the common thread of both parties freely expressing and living their truth. This doesn’t mean that we get exactly what we want, rather, it means that we express exactly what we need.

From this vantage point, both parties are in the best position to openly and honestly evaluate whether their paths would be better off together or apart. We keep thinking that doing things to satisfy the other, while sacrificing personal needs, is the way to go. I’ll just do “this” to make/keep “her” or “him” happy. However when we look around, we have to start acknowledging the obvious: it isn’t working.We cannot shut out or shut down who we are and assume that it is going to go away unnoticed.

When I observe human-to-human interactions, I am amazed at how so few people are willing to see the bigger picture or the immense impact of their actions of suppression. We are so self-absorbed by our thinking that we are acting with others in mind, that we miss seeing how our own fears keep us stuck in what we share and do, or don’t.

We live out the illusion that we are sparing the feelings of another or saving them some hassle, but in truth, we are so not. We are instead perpetrating the creation of a deceptive web where no one wins.

So for a change, let’s try something new. Instead of suppressing your truth, try effectively expressing your truth. The next time you have an interaction with anyone, on any topic, or for any reason, try the new approach of sharing openly, honestly, and authentically from the heart.

If we don’t love our partners in a way that warrants us living with them or being with them in a formal union, we owe it to them (and to ourselves) to let them know. Share your truth openly. When we don’t, all the while we may keep thinking that we are sparing their feelings from being hurt, but we are in truth deceiving them about our connection, and preventing them from moving on and finding someone who would be a better match for them.

So don’t fool yourself ever that by holding back your truth, you are doing it for the sake of another. No. You are doing it for your personal selfish reasons out of fear. This is not meant to be harsh, but honest. Yes, sometimes the truth may be a bit inconvenient to hear, as it bursts our illusions of comfort, habit, and security, but it is always better than deception. You are not protecting anyone, by deceiving them.

The above example about romantic relationships is just one of many everyday situations that require us to share our truth. The point is that this applies across all boards, to every and any situation, romantic, platonic, casual, business, family, or other. We are deceiving the world by holding back our truth, and in turn deceiving ourselves. We are compromising the quality of our life, not because life is compromise, but because we are putting self-limiting, unnatural restrictions upon it.

So let’s go back to Kerry and Leon. How could their story have been different? The answers are as infinite, as the choices they had in every moment of their interaction, right from the very beginning to the very end. In one timeline, Kerry and Leon realize after the third date that they really are looking for different things in their life, and part ways after sharing their personal needs and wants openly.

In another timeline, Kerry and Leon separate after 4 years of giving their relationship an honest try, progressing to become great friends and supportive single parents for their kids. In yet another timeline, Kerry shares truthfully her personal concerns, or Leon his, where they realize how important they are to each other and engage in counseling and spiritual healing. The possibilities continue on and on!

The point being, that in every single situation, every day of our life, we are given choice points to change things around, to become more aligned with who we are, and what we are here for. Life can be joyous and beautiful, but we need to stop sabotaging it by suppressing our truth and blaming it on external circumstances. When we live our truth, life takes on a whole new meaning and dimension.

Consider therefore all of the areas of your own life where you are suppressing the truth of who you are, what you wish to share, and how you wish to live. Realize that this is a CHOICE you are making for YOU. It is time to stop using “the other” as the excuse, because hopefully you can see by now that the other is suffering just as much, if not more by you withholding your truth.

Give your relationships an honest, open, level playing field. Be transparent so that everyone knows where they stand to give each a fair chance at living their truth. Release and free yourself, to release and free others. Only in this way can we begin to transform the world into a space of joy, peace, and compassion that supports the personal evolution of each being.

Applying the Art of Living Our Truth

Here are a few tips to help you live your truth, rather than suppress it, in common areas that involve others in our lives:

In New Relationships

When you meet a new person the surest way to attract the partner or friend most in resonance with your being and choice of experiences in this lifetime is to be yourself, rather than being who you think they want you to be, or who you think you should be, or what you think will impress them.

Every single relationship that begins or is maintained on the latter premise is built on a foundation of conflict. This is one of the biggest reasons why people find that they cannot stay together for long in romantic partnerships joyfully; once the “honeymoon” phase is over, the “act” of not being ourselves becomes too draining to keep up.

The more the true essence of each person comes out, the more both parties feel deceived or out of alignment. It is at this point that most people wake up to the reality of how mismatched they are and have some tough choices to make.

Enter into a relationship (romantic, friendship, family, or coworker) by speaking, sharing, and living your truth, and you are guaranteed to attract to yourself people who are most in alignment with you and your life path. This does not mean that there will not be any challenges down the road, but the truth-based foundation will provide for effective, soul-based solutions at each point.

In Mature Relationships

Remember that we are constantly evolving and changing, and what may have been you or made sense to you at one time, may be completely different at another time. However, we need to communicate that with those closest to us who may be impacted by any of our inner and outer changes.

This may often prove to be even harder than sharing your truth at the start of a new relationship where many may feel they have “less to lose”. Most people are very habitual, quickly adapt to a way of being, and resist change. Most people also have a hard time seeing others in a new light.

However, you owe it to yourself to keep evolving, rather than stagnating your potential because someone else is choosing a different journey or pace of evolution than you. So find the courage and share your truth.

Whether you need a new job, found a new calling, changed your religious, political, or dietary views, or have found a partner who suits you better, you need to communicate that openly, honestly, and authentically with the person that it impacts. Repressing your truth and living from a state of fear only grows to manifest bigger challenges down the road.

In Social Settings

Wherever you may find yourself, if you get put on the spot to comment about some topic in a social setting, find the courage to share your truth. As I will share below in a moment, sharing your truth does not mean negating or putting down another human being. There are heart-centered ways of sharing our truth, but sharing it clearly nonetheless.

Tips for Authentic Expression

No matter what situation you find yourself in, and the examples are many, here are a few specific tips for engaging in open, truthful, constructive communication, which allows you to express your needs, views, and preferences.

When we begin to live from this space, where we express openly rather than suppress, we give others the courage and inspiration to tap into their own truth-sharing as well. Inspire and live by example, for as you free yourself, you help liberate others to enjoy living from their space of truth.

Know your truth.

You cannot effectively share your truth if you haven’t decided who you are, what you want and need, or where you stand on certain matters. Do some soul searching, engage in some inner work, take your personal evolution seriously to learn what your truth is at any given time and be able to share it freely.

Center yourself in heart-based consciousness.

What we often say and how we say things in our everyday interactions is based on unconscious, reactive impulses; they are far removed from any kind of meaningful expressions of truth. When we think, speak, or act impulsively from a space of reactivity, we often live to regret it on some level. It could be anything from minor personal discomfort to serious consequences that may cost us our job or relationship.

We have to be sure we are tapping into heart-based truth, not Ego-based truth. Heart-based truth is liberating, Ego-based truth is limiting and fear-filled. When you share whatever you perceive your truth to be, you will know instantly by how you feel within, whether it was based on heart truth or illusory, fear-based ideas.

Pay attention to your body and overall feelings, which can help guide you to learn more about yourself and instantly correct your approach in your interactions. Some people will feel discomfort in their chest, others in their intestines, others yet in their back or shoulder area. Short term, this can manifest also as trouble sleeping, and long term, it can manifest as all sorts of dis-ease conditions whether psychosomatic or or real biochemical breakdowns.

You can deceive others, you can deceive your mind, but you can never deceive your body. If or when you don’t speak the truth of your heart and soul, your body will give you clear feelings about this through some discomfort.

Before you share anything, especially where serious matters are concerned, center yourself, quiet your mind, take a few conscious breaths and tap into a space of heightened awareness. We need conscious action, not unconscious reaction if we are going to be effective.If you cannot do this for whatever reason, and have the opportunity to postpone your expression, then do so; time does wonders to help us see the bigger picture with greater clarity.

Don’t take things personally.

While we’ve been considering our truth, we also have to remember that at any time someone else may share with us their truth. You cannot control what the other person may say or how they may react to your truth. That is their journey, their choice, their Karma.

You are responsible for you. Remember, people do not like change, and most live deeply rooted in fear, where change is a scary thing to be avoided at all costs. Regardless, stay focused on being as honest, transparent, and receptive as you possibly can, and make anything you share be based on tip number 4 below.

Share from the heart, with love and compassion.

Sharing our truth openly does not mean being rude, inconsiderate, manipulative, or insensitive. If and when our truth is shared from the heart, it is always for the best of all involved, even if they perceive the outcome as hurtful or negative. The most important thing is to stay connected to the heart at all times and grounded in a high degree of mindfulness.

Forgive yourself.

Hindsight, as we know, is always full of clarity and reason, but we can never judge the past based on present moment awareness. We have to forgive ourselves (and others) for whatever may have been said or done, and release it. Festering negative feelings and regrets within ourselves only hurts us, and very seriously at that on levels of the mind, body, and spirit.

Our happiness suffers, our health suffers. Release and forgive, and simply learn to apply the highest state of heart-centered mindfulness you can today, with which to make your present actions count in the most positive way for all involved.

“Suppressing Your Truth Isn’t Helping Anyone,” by Evita Ochel, February 28, 2015