Rediscovering Truth

As a child I learned that truth was objective, did you? Subjects like maths and science offered multiple choice questions for which only one of the answers could be right. When it comes to these situations (and plenty of others) I can see the value in one objective, logical truth. Questions like ‘How much rocket fuel do we need to get to the moon?’ Need one unambiguous answer. Objective truth certainly has it’s place!

What was missing from my education, though, was the other kind of truth, personal truth.

Photo credit Dhivakaran S

This kind of truth is much more subtle, more difficult to quantify. Perhaps that’s why it feels more mysterious and why many of us find life easier if we just ignore it. While there can still be a single right answer when it comes to personal truth, it’s not an answer you can get top marks for because it’s not an answer that anyone else has or can check for you. It’s an answer that comes from deep in your bones, it’s not covered in the textbook, and what’s more, other people might disagree. ‘Should I go to the party? My gut says no, my friends say yes.’

As I consciously work to reconnect with my own felt sense of truth I notice the old conditioned parts of me working to externalise that truth, to turn it into a set of rules that I can follow so that I don’t have to go inwards. (I wrote more about this recently in a post called ‘Can I trust my inner guidance?’ in which I noticed that I write my menstrual cycle down in my diary so that I can check with my diary whether I have the energy to do things.)

Going inwards is not something our western cultures make much room for. We’re taught not to do it from the get go. We’re shown that whether we should eat is determined by the time of day rather than the rumblings in our tummy. Notice how you respond next time someone asks ‘Are you hungry?’ Did you check the time? Me too!

So in redicovering my own personal truth that’s where I’ve started. Very simple very physical questions like ‘Am I hungry?’, ‘Am I tired?’ or ‘Do I need the toilet?’ are things that I can answer with no problem. Even though I might not always ask myself those things, I still know how to do it and can find the answer pretty quickly.

When it comes to ‘Should I go to the party?’ it depends. Sometimes I’ll have a strong gut reaction (usually no!) sometimes I’ll be less clear. When I’m less clear I’ve started to bring in parts work. I ask the part of me that wants to go to the party why it wants to go and do the same for the part of me that doesn’t. Maybe (probably) I’ll find that the part that wants to go doesn’t want to let people down and fears criticism if I don’t go. The part that doesn’t want to go might feel tired, not want to be in a place where I feel unseen and unheard or fear sensory overload.

In allowing these parts both to have their say I can see that they are both coming from fearful places, if they are in fear, that means they are not my true self. I can then ask myself how I feel underneath those fears. I may get more fears, in which case I can keep digging or I may get a calm and peaceful yes or no. The true self feels calm and peaceful so when I reach this point I know I have my truth.

I’ve found this process to be a very effective way to get to my truth and the more I practice it with little questions, the more I can trust it with the big ones ‘Is this work my true purpose?’ for example.

Because our truth is a fluid, soft and evolving thing it’s important for me to remember that just because I get a ‘yes’ to this now, doesn’t mean it has to stay a ‘yes’ for all eternity. Checking in and getting quiet and still is an ongoing process.

If you’d like to move towards your truth with a fabulous group of likeminded women, come along to our women’s circle or if you’d like some one to one support you can book a free 30 minute chat. You can find both of these at https://www.healingwomanhood.com/book-online