Discover the importance of speaking your truth for meaningful change and the risks involved. Explore the motivation for activism and honoring ancestors. Learn how to have difficult conversations and create change by understanding people's needs and taking risks.
Speaking your truth means letting go of the need to please everyone and instead focusing on authenticity and alignment with your values.
Trying to change people's minds is challenging and often ineffective, so it's more productive to connect with like-minded individuals and influence those who are already receptive to new ideas.
Deep dives
Speaking Your Truth without Pleasing Everyone
One of the main points discussed in the podcast is the idea that it is impossible to make everybody happy or do right by everyone when speaking your truth. The speaker emphasizes that taking a position on an issue will inevitably lead to being praised by some and criticized by others. Additionally, staying silent or making vague statements can also be hurtful. The key takeaway is to let go of the aspiration to please everyone and instead focus on speaking authentically and in alignment with one's values.
Limited Potential to Change People's Minds
Another main point highlighted is that changing people's minds is challenging and often ineffective. The speaker suggests that most individuals are resistant to changing their entrenched beliefs and biases. While some may claim to be open to differing viewpoints, true willingness to learn and consider new perspectives is rare. Therefore, rather than wasting energy on attempting to change people's minds, it is more productive to focus on connecting with like-minded individuals and influencing those who are already receptive to new ideas.
Guiding Questions for Speaking Your Truth
The podcast offers a set of questions designed to help individuals effectively speak their truth. The first question is about clarifying the changes one wants to make in the world and the specific outcomes they seek. The second question addresses the importance of identifying the right partners and collaborators who share similar values and goals. Next, one must consider the needs of their target audience or community, what they need to hear, witness, and be affirmed in order to take action. Lastly, the speaker encourages listeners to reflect on their personal reasons and motivations behind speaking their truth, as well as the risks they are willing to take in order to create the change they seek.
Speaking our truth is a hard and scary thing for all of us to do at the best of times.
If you worry about ruffling feathers, doing right by everyone, saying the wrong thing, or the consequences of not saying anything due to fear, you’re in the right place.
Join me on this episode to discover two important considerations to keep in mind if you feel called to speak your truth, and five key questions to ask yourself that will guide you in using your voice in an intentional and aligned way.