Seems like a couple of easy steps. But for some they are very hard ones to take.
To find ones voice can be challenging. If you have ever been shouted down in your life or watched what happened to people around you who stood up for themselves...well it might not have always been a pretty picture. You see enough people get flatten for speaking their truth and you start to weigh the pros and cons every time you want to say something. And that is certainly stifling behavior at best.
What is the worst thing that can happen if you speak your truth? Certainly people around the world have died when they have spoken their truth. That is a given. But for most of us in our day to day living that is not a probable outcome. The most probable outcome is that someone else will disagree with us.
And when that happens it's a chance for dialog to begin and ideas exchanged. And if both people "stay at the table" both people can come away with more information...more insights. Maybe you will never change the other person's opinion...but you were both heard and that's an important part.
This is of course on many people's minds in Wisconsin right now. Our new governor..Governor Walker is trying to take away the unions right to sit at the table and bargain. I think there is something fundamentally wrong with that. Being at the table says you both have a stake in the issue. Being at the table says you respect each other enough to talk. Being at the table says I value you.
Being at any table gives you the chance to use your voice. Then it is up to you to do that. I love this quote:
Only one thing is more frightening than speaking your truth,
and that is not speaking it.
-Naomi Wolf
Here's to knowing your truth...finding your voice and using it.
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