544 thoughts on “Taking Responsibility and Speaking my Truth”

1. ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way’ – wow what a statement. And it can be felt when this is delivered in this way compared to half of a truth, where you just want to get the facts across.

   I’m still learning about this, but boy oh boy do I and also the other can feel the difference when it is delivered. There doesn’t have to be many words either.

   And I totally agree we all have to play our part in it, then it becomes the whole truth…

2. “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way” – I agree. Even when people do not like the sound of it, truth holds us all as equal, and it does so knowing full well who we truly are, and that can be more than what we allow ourselves to think we are.

   1. Fumiyo, I agree truth does hold us equal, no one is superior or inferior, we are just as equal as each other.

3. “we have the potential to change the world.” Taking responsibility for living truth is felt by all.

4. It’s great to be aware of how we each contribute to the truth or lies of the world, it’s really the only way it can change. And, we have allowed standards to drop so low in the world because we haven’t spoken up. What we don’t realise is how much we each have a personal responsibility for how the world is, and how we are does have an influence.

   1. We have a responsibility, in how we live and express, ‘By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?’

5. ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ Spot on Denise, holding back the truth never works and keeps everyone stuck and not evolving.

6. This is a great approach – there is so much that is wrong in the world and so much that is really awful, we don’t need to address everything head on but we do need to take responsibility for what we do, think and present in our own lives, and make sure that we are no contributing even a tiny ounce to everything we hate in the world.

7. There is no such a thing as ‘my’ truth. A truth is only such a thing when it is also true for everyone, independently of how we live. This brings the Normal is not just something we accept; it is also what we walk (hence it is also how we move). Our ‘normal’ is as well, the result of the energetic configuration we hold in our body. This feeds our movements and is also confirmed by them. Issue of responsibility onboard. How we communicate it? As my truth? Or as ours (mine and yours)? Energetically, it makes a difference.

8. Beautiful. When we speak our truth we can feel the urgency that we need to live love.

   1. Live and express love and truth, ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’

9. “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” Yes this indeed would change the world enormously. And it is not a big task, just a step by step learning to express the truth that we deep down know.

10. One of the biggest lies of all, that love is about being nice when love is truth, speaking and expressing that truth. There is an absoluteness about love and we miss out on that if for a second we allow a lie. There is lots to unpick here as we live and have created a web of lies in and around us … so it’s back to the love we are and taking steps each moment to living the truth we know and observe.

11. By not expressing truth, we allow un-truth to be expressed and fill up the space instead. Thank you for the reminder that we are either healing or harming and there is no in-between.

12. The more I see the good and being nice being played out in my life, the more I can see it in others. I have to see all the lies within myself first before I can see them being carried out in the world.

    1. True, we have to feel and see things in ourselves first, it is then easier to observe them in another.

13. mmmm “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” wow, I know this to be true yet when you consider the impact of that statement we can see how we have the world we are living in today.

14. We all have a responsibility to ourselves and others to express truth, when we hold back everyone misses out on the love and evolution that is on offer.

15. ‘Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say’. Everything unexpressed remains in our bodies, far better to express what one is feeling, and as we do it becomes easier the more we practice. It is also how we develop a deeper relationship with our own bodies.

16. When we express what we can feel is true it feels expansive and light in our body: it literally feels like there’s more room, to express whatever’s needed next, and we’re not burdening ourselves by carrying unspoken stuff from moments before, around with us.

17. When we deny the lies we see in our day to day life we are actually putting on rose color glasses about the world around us and perpetuating these lies.

18. The truth is always known in every single one of us, hence holding it back is denying who we are and where we come from. Speaking from it and breathing and living life in it, is actually claiming the mere stack of who we are.

19. “What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?” I have kept quiet from speaking up most of my life, not wanting to rock the boat, not realising that by not speaking what I felt I was living a lie, so now I know that my truth is what I am feeling from my whole body not what my head is telling me.

20. Truth comes from our whole body, not just our words. So what is my whole truth?
    A question to take into my day, thank you Denise.

21. “what if love is delivering truth?” When a lie we are living is exposed our body knows it is a truth and we are offered the opportunity to live the truth.

22. Lies come at us from every angle to keep us disconnected to the Love we all come from! If they did not that is the lies that seem so normal then we would all simply return to the Love we all are.

23. There is no such a thing as ‘my’ truth. We do not own truth. There is only our truth. So, when we stand up for truth, we stand up for everyone.

24. Thank you Denise for this reminder that we can make so much difference just by speaking the truth.

25. Expressing truth is an act of love, one that deeply honors and confirms the love we all equally are, and are from.

26. “It is a HUGE responsibility for all of us to take ownership of the whole picture and the part we play by expressing in each moment what we feel is our truth.” When we do this we reclaim our birthright.

27. Lying can also be what doesn’t come out of our mouth. This doesn’t feel like something I don’t know but at the same time I can feel that I haven’t lived in this knowing. Lying can also be in how I move, do I walk in my truth for example? I feel like I could go deeper in exploring what is true for me and what does living in truth feel like, thank you Denise.

28. If we stay silent, we’re actually contributing to all the lies, all the hatred, everything about the world that we don’t like and know is totally not okay. We have a billion opportunities to express the truth, through how we live, walk, move each day – even walking – do we walk as who we really are, or are we walking as less, trying to go unnoticed? Every expression counts and feeds the greater whole.

    1. That’s the bit we don’t like to admit – that no matter what we do, whether it’s speak up, stay silent, or whatever – whatever we choose is feeding a greater whole, and the effect is much greater than just on us.

29. Living the true and real us absolutely, otherwise we are living and reflecting a lie.

    1. This hurts to feel but feels true.

30. We can speak out about the untruths of the world by living truth as much as possible. In other words, living the true and real us as opposed to a watered down or numbed version, causes a shake up in the collective as we are all connected.

31. Let me lie with this for a while, could a white lie have any truth, hum possible never, even when we speak 100% truth it is a lie if that truth is not lived and coming from Love, as you say Denise; “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love,” and this has to be lived otherwise it is knowledge not a lived wisdom. When we look deeper into truth it comes loaded just like Love is loaded. Could it be that first to live in a way that brings truth, that truth comes from being absolutely honest first, and before we become absolutely honest we had to be honest and from honesty we still bounce back into lies? It is the same for Love it is to much to go to true Love from where we are at we have to start with being at-least gentle before we become self-loving on the way to Love. “Love is delivering truth”!!!

32. It’s a great point Denise, what’s the point in knowing the truth if we don’t speak up and bring that truth to this world? Starting by valuing what we feel and understanding how that truth supports the world, even if at first it beings an unsettlement, it’s a great place to begin.

33. It is important for us all to express in full at all times, ‘What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?’

34. Speaking our Truth is a huge deal, as holding back hurts us so much. I recently realised how angry I was as a child for not speaking up and saying what I felt to say, and then holding onto resentment. The beliefs that then form about yourself are so self destructive, and actually have us behaving in a way that is totally not who we are in Truth. Is it any wonder that we then get to a point and do not know who we are.

    1. Offering a child the opportunity to speak up can open the door for a waterfall of communication we have not expected yet it can be the most extraordinary opportunity that lays a foundation for good physical and mental health for the rest of their lives.

35. I remember moments in my life where people have delivered a truth to me. They are very clear in my memory even though some happened decades ago. With each incident, it brought me to a stop and made me reflect on how I am and how I behave. Without them, i may well have continued in the same way rather than making the changes that I feel have evolved me, so in the same way, I realise I should not hold back what I feel is there to say, because we all have our part to play in supporting each other to hear truth.

36. Denise you raise very interesting points in this blog. The one that stood out for me was, ‘What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?’ I too used to hold back from expressing even when I felt things were not right. This is something I have changed.

37. Before we can speak the truth we firstly have to connect to it and make it part of our personal daily lives first, otherwise big chance is that you are just regurgitating something that has been fed to you by the media, family, friends or other means of communication.

38. Hello Denise, a very powerful line here “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” We tend to think of inaction as not doing something but it’s actually still an action – a powerful choice that has an effect. This is great for me to remember as often not saying anything is seen as not causing trouble or a disturbance, but what if it actually allows a disturbance to remain?

39. The tension itself is telling us something is not right, we are not at ease with ourselves and with what’s there to be expressed.

40. We all need to eat a little humble pie as when we consider how much we have held back our selves in life we are very quick to create an excuse for it, to justify it. But the moment we do this we have missed an opportunity to surrender to a deeper truth that we hold with in. A truth that is for all, always, never for us alone.

41. There is a huge responsibility we all have in speaking truth, as you shared Denise it can change the world. Just in that thought alone you can feel the potential and responsibility it holds. If truth is not spoken, lies rule the roost and we allow the world to be run by an energy that is not love.

    1. Absolutely Kim, lies can only exist and take hold when we are not living and expressing truth.

42. Absolutely true Denise! I had a lightbulb moment when I read your sharing! I felt a deep awakening by your words “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”!

43. ‘What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?’ I agree Denise, turning a blind eye to evil all throughout history has never worked and has allowed us to end up with systems and this sort of acceptable form of corruption and abuse all because too many have stood by and felt they didn’t have a voice. The responsibility to express truth is needed in a world where many have become complacent and given up – thank you for shedding light on this topic and inspiring so many to ponder more deeply into this.

44. What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world? Holding back is not letting through the true impulses the body is giving us to express one way or another. If we choose to not express who we are we definitely are adding to the big lie everywhere.

45. In one respect this is true, “It is a HUGE responsibility for all of us to take ownership of the whole picture and the part we play by expressing in each moment what we feel is our truth.” What if in another way it’s not “HUGE” but actually totally natural and the “HUGE” part is the energy we put into not actually taking “ownership of the whole picture”. From my experience aligning to the truth may make part of us uncomfortable or think it’s huge but actually it’s simple and freeing. It’s another way for us to live from how we have in the past while equally it’s returning to a time that everything around us was held with a deep equal care. We seem to hold one area of life up that we consider ourselves doing well in or excelling in to make the others seemingly feel better and yet what we are saying is that it’s all one life. With respect you can’t have a good and bad part or a part that is less then another, it’s all one and so if something is happening in one part then it’s happening everywhere else. This is the same with a part you are excelling in, what you are seeing if true will be in all parts of your life and maybe it just hasn’t been appreciated.

46. Denise I am inspired by your action of speaking out, because it is our responsibility to speak out when something is not representing truth, and when we know that to be so and don’t express the truth we are adding to all that is not true in life.

47. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” I have not seen it this way before, it makes sense and feels profound in my body.

48. When I heard Natalie Benhayon say words to the effect of ‘when we hold back from expressing truth, we hold everyone back’ it sent shock waves through my body, and for the first time I understood. Now if I feel something is wrong, I will speak up. I’ve also come to understand the importance of lovingly expressing truth to another.

49. When we decide to speak truth and not hold back, we are choosing to serve all of humanity not just ourselves.

50. It is the not hesitating that is important… It really is vital that we start to heed the impulses that we get, to not prevaricate, and to initiate action when it is there to be done.

51. ‘…what if love is delivering truth?’ That’s where we have to come to Denise and take responsibility for everything what we have added ourselves to the lies of this world knowing we are all an equal part of the creation ,we call world, as it currently is.

52. Lies are so insidious, whether a little or a lot, they equally pollute, and sitting back and allow a lie to go unanswered, we become part of that lie. The only way to avoid this is by speaking up.

53. I have never intentionally lied but when I hold back from expressing what is felt to be true, I am holding back truth for another, and that is no different from lying. This awareness opened me up to more responsibility.

54. I used to think love was about being nice and being good, but I’ve since come to understand that it has nothing to do with either of those things – and in fact nice and good can be totally devoid of love. What’s loving is feeling and speaking the truth. It’s so refreshing to hear the truth – even if we’re squirming, there’s a part of us that knows absolutely the truth of something. It’s just a question of how honest we’re willing to be with ourselves, as to how willing we are to listen to the truth.

55. What you have shared is deeply profound for so many ignore the responsibility for the part they play in the whole and the harm that can come from the smallest of mistruths. What we say and the quality in which we share it is our responsibility and cannot be done in denial of the potential change that is possible when truth and love combined are spoken.

56. What a powerful blog Denise, thank you for encouraging us to stand up and speak the truth; in its fullness. The responsibility to do so is ours, and indeed why wouldn’t we.

57. “The standard we walk by is the standard we accept” this means we are making a choice to align to abuse or a lie if we don’t speak up. Television and newspaper watchdogs (yes I know many say they are a toothless tiger but that abdicates our responsibility in their process) say there are many things they would like to do something about but way too often people do not report or complain and they cannot action without the initial complaint. We have to step into our own responsibility to support others to also do the same.

58. “what if love is delivering truth?” not something that we have been taught but something that very much resonates with the whole universe and as we are part of this grandness it deeply resonates within us too.

59. What a great sharing on the responsibility we all hold on speaking our whole truth that we feel in our body. We are not taught this and so a little lie becomes acceptable if we cant feel it in our body which is our maker of truth. The real understanding from this sharing is to relearn to feel truth from our body and then begin to express from there and we will know the difference if it is not from truth and this will become the only way.

60. If we never stand up and express our truth to correct the lies we will always live in the shadow and falsehoods of those lies.

61. “While I was not expressing what I really felt in full, I was choosing to not claim my truth, the whole truth, myself. Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” So true Denise. If we stand back and say nothing we are complicit in the goings-on in our world today.

62. This is very beautiful and inspiring. Thank you, Denise. I certainly have measured and censored my expression thinking something might be not acceptable, too much, too harsh etc. but your sharing here makes me realise that that thought itself exposes that I am already not being truth-full because if I am truly connected with my true essence and expressing truth, it is not for me to decide how the other might receive it, I do not own the truth and the truth will be delivered and heard exactly as the moment calls for.

63. We take little or big steps in what we see is going on around us. Like this article for example, it makes sense, it’s a great step and I can appreciate it. What if though we feel that we just like making things look better and while we go to some things that are somewhat comfortable we leave others untouched? You know it’s like casting out the weak first or giving away things that we don’t really like anyway. I am not saying that this is how it was or is for this article but we can spend time talking about how we did this or did that and yet here we are in a similar place. It’s like we step into something true like this article gives us and then just take another seat on the same bus. We don’t really want to get off the bus we just change our seat which gives us a better view. Now we can say we should at least appreciate the changing of seats and I agree but what if the appreciation also is found by seeing that this is all just a step and like any step it should be closely followed by another and another and another. As I said this article, a great step but this is not time to take a seat, what’s next?

64. Love and truth is our foundation and when we are able to appreciate this fact for what it has on offer for us, we can start to strengthen this foundation by expressing this love and truth in how we are with ourselves and others and in everything we do in every moment of our lives.

    1. Thanks Nico, this is a simple way to view our commitment to love and truth, as our foundation. Our foundation is actually our true being, it’s who we are in essence and we are learning to share that with the world.

       1. Indeed Melinda, actually in that we are just doing our job, that where we are made for, to live and share the love that breaths us forth.

65. Pingback: Are We Taking Responsibility For Our Own Lives? – The Truth about Serge Benhayon

66. Hello Denise and yes speaking up when we feel something at the time is spot on. Being open to a relationship and what comes back. A lot will change in how we are and how things are if we commit to this. Is it the commitment to this alone though? I have seen plenty of people do this and yet not much has changed in the world and in fact it seems to be spinning faster. Is it possible that while speaking up in this way is to be appreciated and celebrated it’s the ongoing commitment to this in every moment that truly supports. As they say there is no use being a one hit wonder and then standing on that. We will need to build a foundation of this and it never ends, no holiday or rest but the consistent point of presence with what you are feeling. Thank you Denise.

67. Every time I come back to the blog I feel such a sense of responsibility for what I choose in my expression.

68. I used to think I spoke up when seeing something but it was usually done in and with judgement and arrogance…. so in truth not speaking up to be heard. Or I would spurt out something aggressively because I had bottled it up for eons instead of saying it in the 2 minutes it would have taken to start with. Thank goodness, with the amazing reflection of Serge Benhayon whom never holds back, I was able to see and feel how important it is for each and every one of us to speak out against lies and untruths.

69. This blog brings something new to me every time I re-read it – Thank you Denise

70. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” — This needs to be asked in every classroom across the globe!

71. It’s a great point you make here Denise that whenever I withhold love from being expressed I am not being honest and truthful and therefore in pretence, adding to all the deceit and lies in the world. There is no middle ground; in every moment I can choose to be love or I am lying.

72. I can feel the responsibility I am avoiding should I choose not to express what I feel. Saying nothing can get you in deep trouble as it can be taken as agreement with whatever the lie is.

73. There is so much truth in this article. “This exposed to me how I thought I didn’t lie.” When we do not speak out and claim what we know is truth we are complicit in and magnifying the lie.

74. ‘We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?’ This is one lie that needs exposing again and again.

75. ‘Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.’ This is huge Denise and I am becoming more and more aware of the amount of times that I do not speak up so as not to ‘rock the boat’. In the past I have been vocal and imposing in expressing what I felt was true and felt lots of reactions but since I have connected more to what is really true for me the way I express my truth has changed but too often I still fall back into not expressing something in the moment and in this I am complicit in allowing a lie to continue. Acknowledging my responsibility in this feels lighter, allowing the opportunity to no longer be weighed down by my lack of expression and everything that is held in my body because of my unwillingness to ‘go there’. Thank you for the inspiration to explore this more deeply.

76. A whole new level of responsibility you have shared Denise, the fact is, What is not expressed is held back in place of the truth, therefore, the truth is not expressed meaning it can only be a lie

77. I was in a situation yesterday where I tried to cushion the truth of what needed to be expressed so the other person wouldn’t feel so bad about it. Later on I didn’t feel great about what had happened and was looking underneath what was said and realised that by holding back the full truth I was in fact lying. What shocked me is how easily the lie tripped off my tongue. I had justified it to myself by thinking I was helping the other person, when in fact every word was dishonouring of them and me. Poison actually.

78. ” what if Love is delivering Truth” so by living and reflecting who I am and what I know to be the truth, I am without words also offering the reflection of responsibility of living another way and exposing lies. It’s not always appropriate to verbally express as it can be imposing and a matter of when one is ready to come to the realisation themselves. I have made the mistake of imposing and it has the opposite affect.

79. By holding back the truth that lives within we add to the lies which are the root cause of all the waywardness we experience in our communities . Each of us speaking out our truth and in that not holding back an ounce of it, will eventually restore the unity and harmony we as human beings ought to live together according to the nature of our being.

    1. Speaking the truth is always a call back to responsibility. If we look at the world and media reporting of what is going on, including with global leaders, no one is really delivering the truth. Everyone has a personal stake in what they say and every move is calculated to some degree in protection and self interest. It seems to be life is a game of being liked instead of stating the truth as Serge Benhayon consistently does, and being committed to that truth regardless of what comes back at you. By taking caring of self only we actually contribute to the overall ill health of our communities – of which we are a part and deeply affected by! The truth gives us all an opportunity to grow and evolve and if you look at what’s going on worldwide with human beings and all the problems we are experiencing we can see how much truth is needed.

       1. Sure Melinda, you can actually say that we in general are avoiding truth and instead are choosing for ideals and beliefs that will constantly keep us in a movement in which we think we are improving and bettering our lives but actually we are not. As only when we return to the one and only responsibility we have, which is energetic responsibility and to shine our light to the best of our possibility, we then will be in correspondence with our true nature and with the truth that our lives on earth is actually about, void of any self but loaded with a sense of unity.

80. If we are honest we would realise that our society is becoming increasingly complacent regarding the value we place on our own human bodies, our relationships and our everyday lives and this is eroding the very systems that support us as a whole. Increasingly the abnormal is considered the normal so speaking up and speaking truth to initiate corrections to all of the above is becoming more and more essential to break this pattern for us all.

81. ‘By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?’ Well said and very true Denise, too many people prefer to turn a blind eye than to speak the truth, I too used to live this way as well but I learnt to take responsibility and stand up and speak the truth when needed – this has changed my life and the more you express your truth the easier it becomes and the more expansive and spacious you feel in your body.

82. Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say. A lovely reminder for me this morning Denise, thank-you.

83. I’ve been caught up in this pattern too – thinking that because I wasn’t outright lying and staying silent that I was better than those who were lying. Every time we holdback on expressing what we know to be true, we add to the separation, irresponsibility and lies in the world, while every time we speak out, we bring an opportunity to return to harmony and truth.

84. I have been pondering recently how there are certain things that we expect and accept to be untrue and how communication is being used for manipulation – like advertisement for example, there is an undercurrent that we expect what they say might be exaggerated and slightly bent to appear more appealing; and we have kind of given up on the mainstream media as a reliable source of information. Could it be because we have left it too long without expressing the truth while trying to put on a brave face when in fact we are hurt by the lies?

85. When I read and considered this phrase “I thought that I didn’t intentionally choose to lie because I kept quiet about how I really felt about a situation, but what has been empowering for me is to claim that a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken. And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie.” I saw with stark clarity that in all those moments I hold back and do not state what I can feel needs to be said I AM in fact lying. Perhaps the biggest lie of them all – the lie that states ‘what we say and do, or don’t say and don’t do, does not matter’.

86. It is true Denise truth actually has a resonance which can be felt and is indeed felt by everyone – we have just forgotten how to recognise this. The constant barrage of communication that is not full of this presents like a weight pressing on everyone and eventually numbs people down. It is all of our responsibilities to recognise this resonance and to communicate in this way.

87. At times, I have heard it being said that biting one’s tongue, not speaking up, is the way to go. I feel there is need for truth without going into a heated or unpleasant way of communicating which can make situations more emotional and complicated until eventually the issue becomes obscured. This is why it is important not to go into reaction or hook into the emotion of a situation. Emotional responses do not hold the truth we want. So when we speak the truth it is vital that we come from love, not from anger, defence, pride or hurt. If truth is love it holds none of those things.

88. In this internet driven era of high-tech 24-7 communication/entertainment, how vitally important it is to make sure that we speak up for the truth of what we can all see.

89. Great expose on what is a lie, even if it is 99% truth it is still a lie, as truth is the whole truth.

90. With truth, we have the potential to change the world. True change therefore starts with us, living in truth and from truth.

91. Expressing truthfully has a resonance that we innately recognise when we have the opportunity to feel this , the thing is it is so rare on the planet at the moment , and this is what needs to be heard.

92. Expressed so beautifully Denise this line really packed a wake up call for me “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. Holding back serves no one yet to express in truth just keeps expanding not only ourselves but all those who feel that truth. Leaving no place for lies to fester and manipulate.

    1. Yes Marion I too felt the power of that line, as it shows how important our expression is, by holding back we can allow situations to fester and no true healing can occur.

93. Great Denise, when we are choosing to express truth we are delivering Love.. but the truth must come with love as its foundation otherwise it will not be true truth.

94. The responsibility for truth starts with us…. not only allowing ourselves to see what is not of truth in the world, it is more important to choose to know the truth about ourselves first and foremost. The more we acknowledge where we have allowed what is not true in ourselves, the clearer we will be able to reflect that truth to others so they too can make a choice for themselves.

    1. That’s absolutely where the truth starts – with us, first. Are we willing to be honest and open about the choices we’ve made, the areas we allow to go under the radar in our lives even though we know they’re not true.. or do we rock the boat, let go of our comfortable and familiar behaviours and choose what we know is true over what is safe and comfortable?

95. Well done Denise, it is worth to remember that every little thing we let pass, every time we do not speak up at something that is not ok, it is giving permission for the greater harm to grow out of control. With human sex trafficking now at an all time high in history, we know something is amiss… and it starts with basic respect for all equally no matter age, gender, or ethnicity.

96. I agree Denise holding back the truth is allowing a lie to continue, we all hold a responsibility to express truth in any situation it may not be welcomed at times but it can also support and inspire another to express their truth.

97. What if we approached everyday communication and upheld a lie is a lie no matter if you think it is 80% or 1%.

    1. I agree Luke – it would definitely be a step-up in self-responsibility and possibly a surprise to see how much we water down the truth (ie lie) for so many different reasons. But to become honest about this would be a great step forward in our awareness and understanding.

       1. A much needed step forward. And would expose many many industries.

98. When we live a life that is not lived in truth, there is no reflection for anyone to speak truth. It is time we claim back truth and live from the truth we all know, and take responsibility for speaking out our truth. It is the only way to stop the downward slide of humanity.

99. Great question Brendan! I’ve found that the answer to this for me in settling for and contributing to 1/2 truths / lies etc. has often been fed by a lack of self-worth (in thinking I’m only worthy of accepting less) and also because I have wanted to avoid taking responsibility for my own choices, and how my choices have, and do, contribute to the whole.

100. Pondering truth I am realising that living ‘Truth’ in our lives is far bigger that I could ever imagine. Speaking truth is something humanity grapples with everyday – what to say and what not to say, but is it ever questioned the intention behind what one has to say? when we get up in the morning how many of us choose to move more quickly, force a smile on our faces, greet people with a fussing way – all the time knowing that this is not the truth. Connecting deeply with who we are and honouring that in our breath, by being in our bodies as we move and bringing stillness in our presence is communicating truth and from that way, all that is to be said will be known.

101. This such a powerful blog Denise. So many brilliant points of truth. What stood out for me this time was what you shared about how you would have forgotten if you didn’t respond immediately. I can relate to this feeling as it highlights the condition of our society, of over-riding the impulses or truth we feel and how this has become so accepted and normal. We have lost touch with speaking our truth and instead sit in silence thinking we are being good citizens by staying in line. What we often don’t realise is that the world we are existing is a world that we all have allowed to develop. How often have we seen, for example, a music video aimed at our young children that we do not feel it appropriate? Do we say nothing or do we speak up about it with others? I love this Denise – ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ – as when we do speak truth we are bringing more love into our lives. And we all know from what we can all see that the world is crying out for more love.

102. I like the blog Denise, Truth is Love

103. Denise your blog has made the penny drop for me in realising that TRUTH and LOVE go together. Now that makes a lot of sense!

104. Denise, ‘love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?’ this is such an important distinction and one that needs to be heard and lived everything – love about delivering truth is what love is, and that nice that we’ve heard is love is actually a lie.

105. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” This is a very challenging statement but it is very timely that we are all hearing this, Denise. I recently sent a letter to the editor of our local newspaper about a topic where the truth had been not spoken. It was very empowering to do this.

106. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” If we don’t say when we know something is not true then we are part of the lie and the more of us that don’t speak out the more the lie magnifies and is accepted. We all have a choice to be part and party to the lie or speak our truth and add our voice to the call for truth.

107. Hi Denise, thank you for sharing your feelings on taking responsibility and speaking truth. It is something I stopped doing, feeling that I was stepping in and perhaps it wasn’t my place to speak up but more and more I see how it is opting out, and then I was left with the feeling of doubt, what if it could have made a difference? Having connected with Universal Medicine and Serge Benhayons teachings I realise how important it is to express the truth always.

108. Yes Denise, what you sharing here is so true and also very important. A lie is a lie not matter what we say. If we do not speak the truth what should our children learn from us? Imagine how a world could look like if we all learn to speak truth not matter what. As you so wisely wrote: “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world.” – That is true!

     1. I agree esteraltmiks – we all have the power to bring love to this world through the way we speak and live our truth.

109. Wow Denise this is huge. What you have shared is indeed so true. For as soon as we hold back the truth that we feel, be it not sharing all of it or sitting in silence, we have engaged in perpetuating a lie. And I have discovered how, when this happens, there is no denying how uneasy and uncomfortable this feels in my body. For ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ – so true and so powerfully said. Thank you for expressing what is in fact true for us all.

110. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. This is so powerful Denise and feels so true. By keeping silent we lie to ourselves and others and contribute to the weave of untruths that keeps us from living a truthful and harmonious life.

111. ‘Taking responsibility for every word’… and everything that happens is enormous and unfathomable to many. It is the ultimate in responsibility and will completely redefine the way we live.

112. It can be that simple, just to speak our truth, yet it can be so difficult for many for the fear that comes up around speaking up and being seen….. I just have to stay connected with me, stay present and stay open, there is nothing else for me to do.

113. This is brilliant and the material our education should be made about ” By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?”
     So true thank you for this powerful reminder.

114. When we are speaking the truth, it’s clear and precise. When a lie is said you can feel it in the voice, the tone and from the body. There’s that knowing in us that something is not right. If we just stop and feel, our body does not lie. It is important to take responsibility and call out the lies. Speaking the truth, strengthens our expression, a beautiful learning I am having. Expression is everything, how we communicate to humanity. When we speak the truth we are able to communicate with love.

115. This blog is a packet of hard hitting truth that we all need to hear at times. There is no sitting on the fence when it comes to expressing truth, even holding back a smidgen is an pandering of evil.

116. What a power packed blog – I hear you when you say “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” Thank you for the wake-up call.

117. starting to express truthfully can be quite addictive… It is liberating, feels great, and once this particular pattern is established, going back to the old way of expression feels like an old piece of clothing that you used to wear that no longer fits you, why would you go back to it?

118. Denise, I have recently observed how my willingness to speak the truth is affected by how much care and attention I have given to myself and my body, when either of these are disregarded, I seem far more willing to brush over what is inconveniently not true and choose instead a more comfortable path – one that does not cause any ripples and does not ask very much of me.

     1. Shami, this is a marker to feel that when we are in disregard of ourselves we also accept disregard of others. This is a great reflection to take with me , the moment that I don’t speak up and say what I truly feel I have a marker to stop and ask myself how I have been treating myself. How loving have I been with me? Thank you Shami.

119. It’s a big pill to swallow when one has a realisation like yours Denise, that by omission, or by silence, they have contributed to the world as it is today. But the amazing thing about that realisation is that it does open the door to a new way of living responsibly and seeing my actions naturally effect everyone.

     1. At first the responsibility might seem huge and overwhelming but the simplicity of taking true care with yourself, your words, actions and full expression I have discovered has huge impact at work, home and in the world at large – we like to think we don’t have that sort of power but we do!

     2. Sure Suzanne, there is a pill to swallow, but that is nothing compared to what we get in return. The abundance of love we are from and constantly connected to gives us guidance to a way of living that is respectful to the fact that we are sensitive, tender and highly delicate beings.

120. Lying HAS become normal. How did we get to this, where lying is rife and, is in many ways, seen as social etiquette? As you suggest Victoria, lying gets us nowhere, its antievolutionary. Finding the truth within ourselves and not being afraid to express it is most assuredly the way forward.

121. Lying has become normal. We are, for example, told that ‘white lies’ are acceptable – but are they really? Examining our relationship with lies feels like a really evolving thing to do; getting clear about the ways we’ve used them, the times we’ve lied by omission, the ways in which we lie to ourselves – all of this feels crucial if we are to get clear on our relationship with the truth.

     1. Absolutely Victoria, when we think a little white lie is ok, we are accepting all lies. A lie is a lie if it is 1% or 50%. It doesn’t make any difference the degree of the lie. We have been tricked by thinking that a little lie is ok. But the more you accept a little lie you are accepting and allowing bigger lies to exist. Until we have a world were lies have become acceptable. Once we take responsibility for our part we can make a difference. We can change the world.

        1. With lying and being nice having such a hold on us it can be a little tricky initially finding our way back to expressing truthfully and responsibly, nevertheless it is so worth doing as the world most definitely changes. Others too can feel the difference and it gives them permission to begin to return to expressing more honestly as well.

122. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” Yes Denise that changes everything and exposes the whole game we are playing with being nice, which has nothing to do with love at all.

     1. Beautifully said Judith – I agree exposed indeed is the devolving game we play of being nice. Whereas delivering truth always presents an opportunity to grow and deepen our relationship with love if we choose to.

123. Pingback: What Happens When We Do Not Speak Up? « The Truth about Serge Benhayon

124. Denise I too have discovered that holding back from expressing truth is unloving as Iater it becomes clear that some one really needed to hear what I held back from saying – it deprived them of the opportunity to choose differently. Recently I expressed a deep concern that was disturbing my very being and to my surprise my body then relaxed, all tension gone and I was able to move on without expecting an outcome. I realised I have often held back thinking I’d be viewed as silly or a troublemaker, or worse still, because there was no point, nothing would change.

     1. Anne, I feel that every time each of us expresses what we are feeling about something that is not ok, this is where the change begins, we are the change by each and everyone expressing what they feel, this will change the world.

125. I agree Denise when I don’t speak up against something that is not right I am adding to it, my silence is the same as saying I agree with the situation.
     By expressing how I feel about something even if everyone else disagrees, I am offering another possibility that wasn’t there before, as a reflection for others to speak up against the corruption or harm in the world.

126. I love how you connected truth and love together : When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.
     I feel and know exactly what you mean. Amazing how that shifts the belief that love is, into something very clear and powerful.

     1. Beautiful Steffanie, truth is love and love is truth, we all know it but have forgotten about that and that life is about bringing truth and love back into our lives.

127. Denise your blog is simple and short – but very profound. If we would make a tally sheet every day about when we lied (even a bit) and when we did not speak out what we truly felt – oh my God I think this would be very revealing. I will make the test and observe what a lie (even if I think I do not lie…) and holding back truth does to me, my body and my surrounding. What affect it has on my fellow human beings.

     1. Sonja, your comment made me consider that lies don’t necessarily have to be verbal, but can also include our thoughts and also the way we move our bodies… in other words, the thoughts that we allow into our heads and our actions and behaviours can be just as harming as the words that come out of our mouths – definitely an opportunity for us to consider being responsible for ‘everything’ and in ‘every way’ we express (or don’t express as the case may be…).

128. Denise you make such a great point here, how we are all responsible for truth, when we hold back truth we allow the world to think that truth doesn’t matter, when truth is really everything.

129. Yes this is very true.
     If we do not say what we feel needs to be said we are in turn supporting the very issue we felt to speak up about. This brings a sense of responsibility to playing our part.
     Like you say, every bit counts.

130. It is so easy to hide behind silence and think that because we are not participating that it is okay but often silence indicates a passivity and in itself is a lack of commitment to truth. What you have shared Denise is very thought provoking.

131. Wow Denise, that certainly takes being honest and responsible to a whole new level!

132. The world definitely dearly needs truth to be spoken, and expressed . Your blog is very powerful.

133. Denise I thank you for sharing this insightful blog with us all. I guess telling the truth is a little like being pregnant, we cant be a ” little bit pregnant”. You either are or you are not! I also like Anne McRitchie’ comment too. The truth becomes more important in our lives as we learn more about who we are and why we are here on this Planet. Thank you to Serge Benhayon for giving us the truth.

134. A lie is a lie, if it is not the whole truth then it is a lie.

135. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” This sentence delivers wisdom and understanding of the connection between love and truth. Thank you Denise.

136. That is very true Denise. Speaking up when we see something that isn’t right is an absolute must. Not simply for ourselves but for others as well.

137. This was great to read Denise, particularly… “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” If we were also told that love is being true to your self, then speaking truth would be so natural… This can start today, if we simply choose love.

138. As you say Denise “a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie”. This is a truth that many often forget. There is general acceptance of a ‘little lie’, which is justified in some way such as not wanting to hurt another’s feelings, going along with what others say despite your body telling you that it is not right or staying silent when what is before one is obviously not the truth. Yet if we were all raised in the knowing that a lie is a lie if it is not 100% truth, and to take responsibility for speaking our truth, as you say “we have the potential to change the world”.

139. “What if speaking out truth was loving”. Denise there couldn’t be more truth in this line. Learning that this way of being is how we truly love our brothers.

     1. I fully agree Kim, truth is the only thing that really helps us to change. Otherwise we just stay on the same merry-go-round of life that we are presently on, thinking everything is just about ok but not truly living a life of love.

140. When we modify what we feel to say for fear of ‘ not being nice’ that’s a contraction away from absolute truth and it becomes a lie. Denis your article has taken this responsibility to a deeper level if we are to deliver absolute truth and love.

     1. Merrileepettinato, what you say is so true, falling into the trap of ‘being nice’ rather than speaking our truth is the norm and so we accept so called ‘white lies’ in our society. If we all spoke the truth there would be no room for any sort of a lie, white or not.

141. ”We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” This is a revelation when first considered Denise, yet as you explain it is so true. There is no true love without absolute truth, thus if we hold back in any way expressing truth we are also holding back the love that otherwise would naturally flow.

142. It is so beautiful that you have shared that everything that is not said is as important and relevant as what is said thus exposing the responsibility of our expression even if it is held back…

143. I also feel a strong difference between talking about responsibility or actually living it. To speak up and express my feelings really brings a change. A change what is needed dearly in the world. And what I feel inside is this enormous shift it brings to me: to speak up for me. To not give up on love and truth anymore – never again. And this choice starts to build more trust in me, trust in me that I will choose love & truth even when maybe challenged or not liked from others. This trust is like a long lost part of me I claim back in my life.
     I have a relationship with me and with others and when I can trust in my choice to stay with love there is already one part of the relationship in love guaranteed… not a bad beginning : ).

144. “a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie”. This is huge Denise and very insidious too. How many times we resort to language in order to gain something from someone else? The reality is that if we do so, we do not speak absolute truth.

145. Thanks Denise. I am amazed at the quality of speaking the truth, it is the most natural thing and yet I still hold back! And something I have been feeling recently and confirmed when I re-read your blog, If I don’t express my truth, then I am not being responsible for my part. Hence there is less truth in the world.

     1. Spot on harryjwhite, if we hold back expressing truth then we are not taking responsibility for our part and hence there is less truth in the world. As you say, “it is the most natural thing” and yet we still hold back on occasions! Speaking the truth and calling out something that is clearly not true starts with each and everyone of us.

146. Pingback: True Responsibility « The Truth about Serge Benhayon

147. Denise, nice is such a killer of truth, and I know from personal experience that wanting to be liked is quite a rabbit hole, and truth is eroded once it comes into play. And yet I and many are attached to it. A wise woman said to me recently ‘what if it is about people trusting you rather than liking you’ – this is still one I’m seeing and unfolding in my life right now, but in considering trust, I feel the space for truth, as true trust is about knowing someone is there, a rock of truth for all.

     1. Thank you monicag2, I feel that is something that will stick with me also. Feels like there is more love in trust then in being liked. They may not like what you say but trust it is truth.

        1. So well put Kim, they know it’s truth and really that’s all that matter, we are bodies made to express and what if our jobs were really to just be and express truth and in doing so to reflect that to others. It really does take the personal out of it, we’re all here to evolve each other, and we do this by reflection.

148. Thanks Denise , I like the part “And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie “, it makes us aware that we need to express and stand for the whole truth and not manipulate it to our own liking. In so hiding the truth it serves nigh, only perpetuates the way the world and others lie and then make it ok for fractions of truth to be the norm.

149. Also, I am aware now that when I think I am speaking the true Truth there is no need or investment in the outcome or the other person ‘getting it’. The Truth doesn’t need to be right, praised or recognised… It just is and we all know it deep within, it is equal within us all.

150. ”To feel the different ways that lies have existed in my life.”
     I am at this stage of noticing where lies have infiltrated my life and it ain’t pretty!
     Today I was mostly in argument thinking I was telling the Truth; now when feeling into it the words I was speaking were NOT the Truth because they were void of Love and equal-ness for the other.. Even void of respect. A valuable lesson I have learnt today and I feel blessed for reading your blog in this perfect time Denise.

151. ” I am now taking responsibility for my part in the whole picture, and my part doesn’t end with me . . . we are all connected.”
     Love that last line for us all to take away and make our own! It leaves us in no doubt that we all have a key and equal part to play in delivering truth to the world. True responsibility.

152. Speaking the truth is very loving – this is the only way to go forward, and create our future, thank you Denise.

153. For so many years I’ve held back from truly expressing and speaking my truth – and the realisation of what this does and the impact on the body weighs very heavy. As Joshua expresses so well it is not actually serving anyone. A great blog Denise thank you. It certainly got me feeling more deeply into how I can dip in and out of speaking my truth and often hiding behind excuses of not wanting to hurt some one’s feelings.

154. A timely reminder for me Denise. True responsibility is also about not delaying presenting truth in the moment that truly needs it. Its actually not serving anyone to delay it to another day or time!

155. Thankyou Denise. Speaking the truth is self empowering, because it brings light to situations. Maybe all we need to do when we feel something is not right is just express what we feel truthfully and then its out in the open for everybody to be seen.

156. It is kind of back to front that as adults we need to re learn what we knew so naturally as young children. How important is it then not to quash a child’s truthful expression?

157. This is a great question Denise, “Does it matter that I know things are being said that are not truthful?” Yes, as if we then do not express what we know to be true, we become part of the lie, as you say. We are each responsible for speaking up and not turning a blind eye when it gets a bit uncomfortable or controversial. We all know what is true as it is our nature. This is how change begins to happen, and truth can become our loving way.

158. I have found when speaking truth there is always a lightness and quality in it. Whereas anything said with the smallest bit of untruth is measured and heavy in comparison. The funny thing is when I was growing up, it was drilled into us that if you can’t say something nice about someone… don’t say anything. That is a no win scenario ether way. How different would this life be if we had been told that speaking truth will never harm anyone.

159. I so love this Denise.
     ‘What if love is delivering truth?’

     Expressing our Truth is the ultimate form of love.

     Thank you for expressing your love

160. Lovely sharing Denise. It is very important for me to express as much as possible and not hold anything inside, and it is a work in progress! One thing that is super important to me is that when I deliver what I personally feel to be truthful, I must remember to deliver it lovingly, or the recipient is likely to react and not be open to what I have shared.

     1. I know exactly what you mean- if there is only 1 % reaction in delivering the truth, the recipient will go into defense and won´t listen. It is super important to let go of any reaction, otherwise, even if it is factwise the truth, it is actually harming the recipient.

161. And I also love your point that what if love was not about being nice but about delivering truth? If this is true, then perhaps it would explain why many find love so elusive – we are not looking in the right place.

162. This is a brilliant exposure of the ‘liar that lies within’ us all. We each have one and some are more sophisticated then others in that they can move in a far more insidious way; by being nice, by not wanting to rock the boat, by playing dumb. If we are completely honest with ourselves, these are all tricks we use to ‘get away’ with not expressing 100% truth. As you have so perfectly pointed out Denise, even when we think we are speaking 99% truth, that 1% missing is our total undoing as it allows us to think that we are speaking the whole truth when we are actually delivering a lie. Ouch! Truth is an absolute and it cannot be without the ALL of its parts. In this way I completely agree that we each have a responsibility to think, speak, walk and live ‘the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth’ in its truest sense, no matter how confronting this is. I for one am a ‘work in progress’ but every word spoken in absolute truth heals the one spoken with a lie. I would walk no other way.

     1. ‘every word spoken with absolute truth heals the one spoken with a lie’ thats wonderful Liane

        1. just re-read your comment Liane “every word spoken in absolute truth heals the one spoken with a lie”. I couldn’t agree more with this power-full statement.

     2. Liane, It has been amazing as I am also a “work in progress” and with each acceptance of seeing another way that I may be holding back, life continues to show me more pockets that may still be there. Forever unfolding.

163. Thanks Denise – yes indeed this is huge when we consider as young children we were not encouraged to express and instead were suppressed. Years and years of complying makes us accept what is not truth pretending it doesn’t matter when in fact it does. We only need to look around to see the world we live in is far from living it’s truth and we have all in contributed to this by not expressing. It is well overdue for us to speak up and express the truth we know within.

164. I love what you are sharing here Denise, and in particular where you say, a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie. This is something I really needed to read to feel the truth of those words and out myself. It’s time to speak the truth when it’s there to be shared, as love wouldn’t have it any other way.

165. Thank you Denise for sharing your blog , to hold back our expression of truth is to say yes to all that is not true. In the past I have reacted to lies, gossip and innuendo , recently I have begun turning that reaction into understanding and lovingly expressing what I feel the truth to be not at the expense of another but with awareness to be shared and an expansion that is offered..

     1. That is beautifully expressed Paul, and when we express lovingly we are also feeding that love back to ourselves as well as those we are expressing to.

166. Denise, there are 2 words that have always felt so important to me, Responsibility and Truth. No wonder I resonate so well with your great blog. I love the following lines,

     “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth”.

     To the best of my ability I always tried to live responsibly and truthfully myself, but I have in the past been one who fitted in with everyone, in order to keep the peace/harmony and seldom spoke up when people were being irresponsible or untruthful. But no more, I am learning to speak up now when it is necessary to deliver truth where it is needed.

     1. Beverley, ‘Taking Responsibility and Speaking Truth’ have also been things that I felt strongly about (and probably a bit opinionated about at times when I first took the lid off holding back my expression),to now seeing responsibility and truth as part of my daily life and part of living.

167. Your ”responsibility for speaking my truth” is inspiring.

168. ‘I thought that I didn’t intentionally choose to lie because I kept quiet about how I really felt about a situation, but what has been empowering for me is to claim that a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken’ This is a really valuable learning, thank you for sharing it.

169. I remember when I was growing up we learned about ‘white lies’ which would be exactly what you are talking about Denise – they were deemed to be harmless and almost needed because they kept things as they are, without rocking the boat, in other words continuing to be nice. As you say very clearly a lie is a lie, regardless of the percentage. It’s like you can’t be a little bit pregnant.

170. ‘What if love is about delivering truth instead of being nice?’ That’s huge, and true. What if being nice above all things adds to all the lies in the world? That is a scary possibility.
     It’s not about being rude, but considering being true, firmly and with love.

171. Hi Denise, this is very awesome what you are presenting here, I love what you say about it being as equally a lie to not speak up when we see a lie. This is easy when it comes from love.

172. I grew up with the belief that being love was to please others and be nice to everyone, this way of living nearly killed me until I met Serge Benahyon and learnt that me expressing from what I felt in my body ( my truth) is a way of me expressing love whether this is met with love or understanding or just plain reaction. Thank you Denise

173. ‘What if love is delivering truth?’ Yes, I can say it is and I am just taking my baby steps in doing so, learning more and more to express truth in everything I do and not only then when it feels comfortable. Thank you for this inspiring reflection Denise.

174. I think the world is crying out for truth and has been for a very long time. To get truth we need all the single voices like yours Denise standing up together for truth. In the UK we have the General elections coming up and the amount of rubbish that is coming out of the politicians mouths in incredible. Picture a day when a political party is founded solely on truth. This will only happen if there is enough people willing to stand up and say enough is enough we want nothing but the truth.

175. Denise. What a remarkable person you are, speaking out at the Advert you saw on TV.
     How many of us see things and voice it to the person we are with, but do not carry it through to the source from whence it originated. By speaking out we could make a difference to what is been shown on TV or even in the newspapers, or even getting our politicians to speak the truth.
     Next time I see something that I feel is not right, I will definitely call it.

176. I like how love here is connected love with truth, this makes me consider that perhaps our deepest most true expression is lovingly first. And then anything which is not that depths of love is not true.

     1. Absolutely Shami, It feels like if we don’t go to absolute truth, we are still confirming a lie.

        1. I totally agree Denise. The absolute truth is the only way to express.

        2. Yes I agree, the absolute Truth is the way. But I remember how far away I once was from expressing it. I was very far from being honest, especially when I was hurt – I shutdown and withdrew, then I was open for anything and everything to come out of my mouth.
           How do you express absolute Truth then? From my experience, give yourself permission to, and see what unfolds from there.

177. Denise, it is great to read of your commitment to speaking up and not accepting when you know things are harming. In sharing this you inspire me and I am sure many others to speak up more as well, it feels to be a bit like a gathering wave as when we live with the integrity to not accept that which is not true or is harming to everyone we make more room for that which causes no harm and that which is truly loving. It would be fair to say that adverts that use sex to sell are neither harmless nor loving.

178. I loved reading your blog, Denise. Not speaking truth and being nice is not loving, as you beautifully said. Many times in the past, I found myself keeping quiet to simply avoid a reaction from others. I realised then that I wasn’t taking responsibility for offering an opportunity to grow for everyone involved, including myself. It became more and more clear that if truth was spoken with love it had to be delivered. How freeing, empowering and serving is to say it as it is.

179. I loved reading your blog, Denise. Not speaking truth and being nice is not loving, as you beautifully said. Many times in the past, I found myself keeping quiet to simply avoid a reaction from others. I realised then that I wasn’t taking responsibility for offering an opportunity to grow for everyone involved, including myself. It became more and more clear that if truth was spoken with love it had to be delivered. How freeing, empowering and serving is to say it as it is.

     1. What you present here is super-true Giovanna. And if you need to have a conversation you know or suspect will trigger reactions no matter how lovingly delivered, ask for support. The presence of a wise and trusted mediator can assist all to speak, listen and respond and find a way forward.

180. I have definitely been guilty of holding back and not speaking the truth to ‘avoid hurting someone’s feelings’. However, how arrogant of me to think that just because words aren’t coming out of my mouth, that I am not communicating. We are communicating all the time and our words are just a part of this. By not putting words to the communication, it’s like saying to someone, I don’t love you enough to share what I’m truly feeling here. Big ouch.

     1. Alison, HUMMONGOUS OUCH,

181. Thank you Denise. Indeed Love is not about being nice, it is about delivering the truth. Thank you for encouraging me to speak my truth.

182. “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” If we don’t speak out we are condoning the status quo and that contributes to the mess the world is in. Our responsibility……to express truth.

183. A very powerful and empowering blog, Denise, thank you for speaking out. I especially like your comment that even when we don’t speak our truth we are contributing to lying. For me, it has always felt this way but I tend to ignore what I am feeling, shrug off the unspoken truth and let it lie (so to speak), but as you point out it doesn’t disappear into the ether, it actually contributes to the energy of lying.

184. ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ This is gold. Love is not about sugar coating our expression, being nice or holding back what we have to say. Love is about delivering truth.

185. What a wonderful call to responsibility this blog offers us. I love the absoluteness in it. When we don’t speak up for what is true we are in fact demonstrating through our silence that lies are acceptable. They are not. Just because we were raised to be quiet, not make a fuss, avoid disturbing people does not make it right. When we remain silence in the face of lies being told we may as well be vocalizing the lies ourselves.

186. Such a simple but oh so powerful message Denise, thank you.
     Self responsibility to speak our truth is the key, it is up to each and every one of us to speak and deliver truth, love; in an absolute way.
     Next time I hesitate/contract I will remember your words of wisdom Denise.

187. Great blog Denise, I know that I have chosen not to speak up when faced with situations that I felt to be not true. I have only realised in recent years that if I am not speaking up then I am just as responsible for what is happening. By not saying how I feel, then effectively I am saying that it is OK. Thank you for sharing

188. ‘What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?’ – Yes, by not speaking up we are in effect condoning something..

     1. I agree fiona55, it is hard to accept at times because of the many times I have not spoken up, but true nevertheless!

189. True what you are sharing, Denise, not only for the individual to not poison the self with untruth by holding back or accepting less it is also for the ones we are with. If we hold back truth, how can others get a true reflection on what is going on? Even if our deeply felt truth might not be truth in full – as long as we keep speaking up for what we from, who we are, speak up what we feel is truth – that’s a huge step already!

190. Everything we don’t say matters as much as that we do say, what a big truth that is. Many times I have noticed the difference in my body when I have said something that needed to be said and didn’t fear being disliked or not considered nice. It is so healthy for our bodies to not hold in when something needs to be expressed, just as i also find it exhausting when I talk when I don’t feel like doing so. Great writing Denise.

191. I am coming to understand as you say Denise, that what is unsaid is as important as what is said and affects those around us – the world we live in and adds to the lie. The more I am able to speak the truth and express, the more the interconnection between all of us becomes apparent and deeply felt. I never would have thought it was this powerful to speak up and out as I preferred to slide away from the responsibility by thinking that it didn’t matter that much. My eyes have been opened and my vocal chords are following. Thank you Denise.

192. To take responsibility for the whole picture and the part we play by expressing out truth at all times. Such an important truth you are sharing. I have become more and more aware of this. Because of that I realize now that not speaking my truth from where I stand/view the situation, I had withholding the whole from a vital piece of truth. The past time, I am playing with speaking the truth, whether writing my point of view on articles in the newspaper, sharing something that strikes me or just allow myself to find words for something that doesn’t feel right. I have many examples now. The biggest learning is that I get deeper connections with people, more honest talks and to my surprise a small remark can lead to a change, stop a pattern, bring awareness where it wasn’t there before and most of all plant a seed of truth, even though I get reactions. With the latter I know ai said what I felt was needed to express.

193. Denise, a really great blog. I love the line “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way”. Truth has always been such an important word for me, I have never been able to lie successfully, it actually hurts me if I try to. Biggest thing is when we lie to ourselves. Ouch!

194. I used to know that what was said or done was not okay, but instead of speaking up I would hope that someone else would do something about it. I would prefer to bury my head in the sand and pretend I knew nothing… When in fact I knew better and I just did not want to take responsibility.
     I don’t play that anymore, and I am learning more and more to speak up. Sometimes what I say comes out with a bit of force or some people react but I know that I am not perfect and I know how important it is for us all to speak up and express because when we do, we really do make a difference.

195. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” I spent most of my life being nice. But now I am understanding more and more how that behaviour allows us all to bury ourself in our mediocrity and abuse. Yet Truth, even though it is at times uncomfortable to deliver or to receive, holds us in absolute love and honouring, and supports us to return to the grandness that we truly are.

     1. Beautifully said Golnaz – I have also spent most of my life playing the nice card but it does not work and nor does it help anyone. The love that I am held in when someone speaks truth to me is beyond measure. It is as if they have taken the time to read me and what is going on for me and so deeply care, then what they say comes with the knowing that deep down I am love and ok, just what I am choosing is not so loving!

196. Amazing to feel in the body how it is to hold back and not express our truth. The contraction/tension confirms we most definitely do cop it when we are not living our truth. Not to mention putting up with a situation we in truth do not like. Holding back is not nice at all!

197. I love that you called and made a complaint. It’s us, the people that need to speak up, and use our voices to express the truth. The more we do this, the more it becomes normal to us and then normal to others and then maybe one day true changes can be made in the world. I know Serge Benhayon expresses the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth and its astonishing the amount of change that has already occurred from just one person.

198. Truth is love.

     1. And love is truth …

199. I had considered myself as an honest person until I thought about the so called little lies I had told and the pattern of this.
     Choosing from childhood to hold back so as not to offend others is the biggest offense.
     As you say “A lie is a lie if it is 80% or 1%”. I am work in progress and I am choosing to take responsibility and go deeper.
     Thank you Denise I have much to ponder on.

     1. Indeed Lynda: “A lie is a lie if it is 80% or 1%”, I find when I catch myself telling a lie, and I do not always catch myself, I can feel how my body has hardened or gone a little racy – a great indication from my body that what I am running with is not truth or love.

200. Rereading this Denise I feel how powerful it is that you use the word lie. When we use this word there is no where to hide and we feel how awful and harmful not expressing truly is. When we use the word lie then I can feel how there is no longer the ability to defend or justify the holding back, just responsibility.

     1. I fully agree Penny – it makes such a difference when we use the word ‘lie’. When I do, I find I can no longer deny it and am almost forced to take responsibility. It is a word I, like so so many others, have shied away from and adamantly denied lying. Yet deep down I always know when I have said a lie or told something simply to please others, by measuring the truth – still a lie though! The more I catch myself lying, even the seemingly ok ‘white lies’ the more honest and truthful I am becoming, both with myself and with others.

        1. It’s interesting isn’t that there has been a set up in society that make some lies acceptable (little white lies) and others not. To me this lessens the power of the word lie and makes it feel easier to get away for not being responsible for expressing anything less than truth.

     2. Penny that is a great point and so true – a lie calls for responsibility.

201. I love this sentence Denise ‘Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.’ – and I am forever learning the importance and absolute truth of this. The holding back, no matter what, is so much more harmful than we as a society are aware of – not until I came across Serge Benhayons teachings did I start to understand the enormity of this.

202. Simple yet powerful point to make- speaking truth is love and ‘a lie is a lie’, including when it is unspoken. What you have explored in this post Denise leaves me ill at ease as I can feel a level of accountability you are choosing now that I have not been prepared to live by, although I welcome the reflection this post offers.

203. I realise I have been a people pleaser and said things I know people wanted to hear. I always told myself that little white lies weren’t the same as big whoppers, but you are absolutely right Denise, 1% is still a lie. It’s not that I’m going around now upsetting people but I am working on speaking out with truth more recently and it feels very liberating in my body. I was being nice rather than speaking truth.

204. I agree with you that when we play our part, we affect everyone, we are all connected. Speaking truth sometimes creates such a movement that we avoid it. The more we avoid it the harder and loaded we get with the unexpressed energy. It only takes a moment of expressing truth to feel the difference.

205. Yes, there is no on/off switch.. We are always feeling, seeing and must also express. Great blog Denise.

     1. Indeed Emma, no on/off switch. Therefore we are always communicating/expressing. What are we expressing we aren’t talking?
        A question that is worth answering.

206. How about this…”Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” how would it feel if responsibility was taken for what we don’t say as much as what we do…so much is condoned and colluded with in society, I would suggest the most damage and pain happens when people make the the choice to be silent and not speak the truth. Great exposure of the impact of the choice to not speak truth and so in turn how expansive, supportive and loving it is to speak truth.

207. This is great to make us all stop and consider what a lie actually is, and to question also how much of a lie we might be living without being consciously ware of it.

208. Expressing our truth fills the cup with truth, otherwise someone else will fill it with something else. No-one else can fill our cup with truth, but ourselves.

209. Wow, wow, wow what an awesome blog Denise. I have just realised I have held back so much truth and love. I have become so numb from not expressing truth. I have had this idea that my words will not be heard so I chose to stay quiet. This is something I have done for so long. You have inspired me to stand up and speak the truth every moment of my life and it is not acceptable to play the game of not being heard and staying small any longer. To learn to express truth constantly. Thank you for this amazing and powerful reminder.

210. It feels to me that the responsibility to tell the whole truth in the moment, comes when I am really present and claimed in my body and it just comes into expression from a consistency of living that way. I remember trying to rehearse answers to all sorts of questions before doing a presentation. No matter how rehearsed I was, my responses in the actual moment never felt true and left me feeling empty. Universal Medicine had shown me how truth actually comes from the body and the quality of connection I hold in my daily life and yes Denise it is huge!

     1. That’s a good point Simon, I too used to rehearse answers to different situations when presenting and there was never any flow in any of it, the more I am connected to my body and the more consistency I have in the way that I live, the easier it has become for me to express truth whenever it needs to be delivered.

        1. That is something I can relate to very well Francisco.
           I used to be very shy and having to present something in front of others was a great horror. I planned everything down to the last detail and was always afraid that something might go wrong – or in fact that I might not be enough. Through the amazing Presentation workshops held by Serge Benhayon I discovered that I can trust that in every moment all there is to say will be there, because I am and know enough and far more than that.
           Since then I have started to hold workshops and lead projects presenting has become fun and joy.

211. To the point and very powerful Denise. It’s a great point you make about how we lie to ourselves about what staying silent means – it’s a lie of omission – so we don’t have to feel or take responsibility for what’s happening around us. We have become so complacent to what’s happening around us, completely switched off to the fact that the things we read and hear about in the news, for example, are happening to actual people, people who have families and loved ones. We have forgotten our connection to each other as human beings and it feels like this makes it easy to say it’s someone else’s problem. I’m with you 100% that love is delivering truth and you’ve inspired me to be more aware of occasions when I still may not be expressing the truth I feel and know in my body.

212. I always thought I was polite, caring and gentle by not telling people things that might be confronting for them. What I have learned is that expressing in full is the greatest gift I can make to anyone as only then I meet them as true equals. If I express in full all that I say will be with such love and clarity, that no matter how confronting the topic will be anybody will have a true choice of letting in what I reflect and by that allow themselves to heal.

213. Stop holding back and you will start to feel how magical and grand you are. Everybody has equally important contributions to make in every moment. Contributions only they can make, because all of us are unique like pieces in a puzzle. Only if all of us express in full together the big picture will be clearly seen.

     1. Michael, that is truly inspiring, we are all part of the puzzle, and everyone on earth is part of the puzzle.When we express our piece then more of the whole is available for everyone.

214. There have been many times in the past where I did not express my truth in full because I did not want to make others feel uncomfortable but that was just creating more hurt and disharmony in my body and also was stopping the other person evolving . I now understand how love is delivering truth in full and not holding back at all. Thank you.

215. Thank you Denise for sharing this. It rang true for me when you said “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. The truth can be lost by act or omission, how many times have we remained silent and allowed the truth to be lost? Speaking out truth is so important.

216. Truth is Love, absolutely Denise. As most people are seeking Love, does that mean they are seeking truth? I know I am. I, like you Denise, have been learning from Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine how Love=Truth and that it is my responsibility to myself an all others to speak truth lovingly at all times. I’m there at the all times yet but boy it feels so much better in my mind and body when I do.

217. Great blog Denise – I relate to linking the holding back with increasing self-doubt – self- doubt is such a retardant to expressing truth! We can see how in a group situation it requires every person to realise they play a crucial role in how a situation evolves – or not – when to speak out and how to say it just has to come from the heart – I have increased my self-doubt by speaking out from a place that is not love and then feeling the dire consequences of that – when you speak from the heart it confirms you whether it is received well or not. (of course sometimes I don’t speak if I know it will fall on deaf or resistant ears but I am aware of what is going on, and I acknowledge that to myself.)

     1. Yes Debra, I would go into self doubt, followed by questioning myself, then into my head. Now when I speak truth from my heart, I feel how it flows out of me, and I don’t look back, you have this knowing that it is complete.

218. I can feel the difference between completely expressing truth and not. And that is the self doubt which affects everything in my life, not only the not expressing in that moment, it laces the whole of life and opens the door to frustration and seemingly unrelated issues can arise, all connected to not expressing.

     1. This is so true Matthew, our responsibility to expressing the truth in every moment is not only vital for the integrity of ourselves but the integrity of the world around us. For the more we all hold back the more the world around us gets held back.

219. Well said Denise, you are taking the meaning of speaking truthfully to a whole new level. We are all responsible for taking our part in our living democracy, so speaking truth must happen in all parts of our life.

220. Awesome Blog Denise.
     ‘We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?’
     Since being inspired by Serge Benhayon I have understood the concept of truthful rather then nice.
     Nice does not feel lovely.
     Nice is slippery and fake.
     Nice keeps us dancing around the top and never do we deepen the connection with ourselves or others.
     The Truth feels expansive and opens up to deeper expression.
     The Truth feels real and solid. Something you can trust.
     The Truth deepens our connection with self and others and takes us into the core of true healing and change.

     1. So true Kathryn. Knowing and feeling the truth now, I don’t every want to settle for “nice”.

        1. Me neither. ‘Nice’ hurts.

        2. Couldn’t agree more Kathryn and Lee. Knowing the truth ‘nice’ does not feel lovely, it does feel fake.

        3. So true Lee, nice just hurts everyone.

        4. Well said Lee. Truth is solid, reliable and trustworthy, nice can be slippery and feel very fake. Why settle for less when we have a choice?

221. If answered, this question reveals it all really: “what if love is delivering truth?”

     1. Exactly right, Oliver, what an important question, and it needs to be asked because there are still so many of us who are unwilling to raise our heads above the parapet and see beyond our own self-preservation to what is really going on in the world.

     2. Yes, and the truth may feel uncomfortable but in that moment, or a few days later if it takes you a bit a of time to realise (sometimes I am in reaction so it takes me a little longer)… that the fact that someone delivered you the truth instead of “being nice” is in fact the most loving thing being offered to you in that moment.
        Yes I am squirm in my seat and have to see the choices I made, but with that I am free of the illusion I may have been under.

     3. Thank you Oliver, I just got to feel the magnitude of those words. It then makes love so easy and also equally deliverable to everyone. It takes away all separation.

222. I have held back in saying what I felt to say for most of my life. It always felt horrible in my body. I always new that not saying something that needed to be said, the truth, was in fact not being truthful. Lying. Thank you Denise for exposing this.

223. Yes Joe, being nice may get you favour or recognition, but it will never, hold you, evolve you, and complete you like truth does.

     1. I agree Julie, when I have an opportunity to speak the truth, and don’t take it, my body feels out of harmony, as if it has missed something,

        1. What a great marker Catherine.

     2. Very well said Julie – nothing beats truth.

224. As I read your blog I felt the importance of speaking the truth when we feel it and as you say not waiting until later, often I do exactly that and later never comes! I have always been ready to share my opinions readily on almost any topic but that does not mean that I have always spoken the truth. Now I am beginning to understand the importance of speaking the truth and not turning a blind eye to things that are not the truth because that serves no one.

     1. Yes Michelle, the later feels like it never comes, but it does, but sometimes just in a different shape or colour. I find it so beautiful when we honour what we feel in that moment and share it, even if its a big old difficult one that needs to be shared, because once expressed it seems to have no more power over me.

        1. So true Rosie.

225. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” Thank you Denise for this wake up call to fully express. When we remain silent we consent to keeping the world the way it is and we are all poorer for it.

     1. I use silence as a protection against reactions – the possible reactions of others. And I agree Patricia, it serves no-one – “we are all poorer for it.”

        1. A great point made Jeannette. Wanting to protect our own hurts by staying silent serves no one and the opportunity for everyone to hear the truth does not come out.

        2. Well said, Jeannette, I can relate to that as well. There is the illusion that if we don’t raise our head above the parapet we won’t get attacked, but as you say then nothing changes and we continue to live in tension and separate and no one gets the truth.

        3. I have used silence in case of reactions too, and someone shared with me yesterday that they were jealous when I spoke up in a group, as I was speaking with power and authority. What this then lead me to realise is to avoid the reaction of someone being jealous, I would stay silent…. and come to think about this… I realise that I have been doing this since I was a very young girl.

        4. Me too, I have used silence a lot, from fear of getting hurt. But I am dealing with it by learning to be responsible and speaking up.

        5. Jeannette, I had used silence as a protection as well, but what I felt was the way I was hurting myself every time I didn’t speak up, and also hurting others because I was not delivering truth that was not mine to hold on to but to be delivered to everyone else.
           Instead of delivering hurt to myself and others I can now choose to deliver love to myself and others.

     2. Yes that struck me this morning too Patricia. I know Serge has spoken about this before but at the recent Expressions & Presentation workshop I realised (again) how true this is. Our non-expression is also everything and we need to take responsibility for that as well.

     3. I agree Patricia, I have in the past not realised that if I don’t speak up, I am actually consenting to “keeping the world the way it is and we are all poorer for it”.

     4. Not putting it off is another important point, Denise, because then truth leaks away and we forget that we were ever going to do it or say it. Being able to act immediately on the impulse is key.

        1. Absolutely Josephinebe2012, and that is were the power comes from, it doesn’t get watered down when we deliver it in that moment, but the longer we leave it the less power it has to make a difference.

        2. Yes and the less power that energy we don’t call out has over the person expressing it. It really is a major responsibility to everyone to not hold back and speak truth and so so in the moment. Great blog Denise.

     5. Mary, I had been silent for most of my life because of the reaction I was getting from being me. But when I spoke up and said what I truly felt, I got to feel the love and power in expressing myself. These have been markers that I have taken with me all my life. It has only been recently that I have seen them as confirming and self loving reflections.

226. Hello Denise, simple and yet so powerful. I love this part, “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” From my experience with truth the world does change, love and truth go hand in hand and in that there is no room for ‘nice’.

227. Great exposure and deconstruction here Denise, isn’t it funny that we have equated being loving with being nice in which never a word of truth gets spoken. And yet truth and love go hand in hand. Cracking through the ‘nice’ barrier and delivering truth where it’s needed does away with the lies we all live with and perpetuate – and if we all did this what a different world we would live in.

228. Seriously awesome blog Denise. I have been feeling this too and how allowing someone to say something that isn’t completely true, but accepted by society, and agreeing with it as an ‘off the cuff’ remark in ‘light’ conversation is actually deeply harming also. Nothing is nothing and everything is everything, as a wise man (Serge Benhayon) has often shared!

229. I totally agree with you Denise, love is about delivering truth and not about being nice

230. This is a very loving message Denise and it gives you no place to hide. If we do not speak our truth or give voice when presented with the opportunity too, then we are simple lying to ourselves and everyone else at the same time. We are either engaged with the problem or presenting a loving opportunity to evolve. Unfortunately there is no fence-sitting on this one.

231. “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth” Such awesome reminder here thank you Denise.

232. Thank you Denise for delivering another way to look at holding back our expression. Ouch!

233. Thank you Denise, this was exactly what I needed to read this morning, as I have been using a new taxi company of late and the drivers have been charging me all kinds of different prices when they should be fixed. I got chatting to the guy who charged me the least and he assured me that I had been over charged previously. Time to take a leaf out of your book and speak my truth.
     This may be something simple and I would usually blow it off and not use this company again, but by not speaking up wouldn’t that add to the dishonesty of the drivers.

234. Thank you Denise for this very timely blog. I really appreciate your exposure of ‘being nice’. This has certainly played out for me often and has prevented me from delivering the truth that I absolutely know. But there is also something else that plays out for me. I have often actively chosen not to deliver the truth because by exposing a lie in another would also actually expose something similar in me. This is the horror of the arrangement that I have made with the world. I won’t call out something in someone else, because that would mean that I’d have to be fully honest about my own life. Furthermore and even more insidiously, by not calling it out it entrenches it deeper into ‘acceptable’ which means my way of being becomes even safer. So if I am to be fully responsible, in the absoluteness of that word, by calling out what I see as the truth, then I have to first be living that same level of responsibility within my own life.

235. Awesome blog Denise and as you say Truth delivers Love how gorgeous is that, holding back our Truth then delivers very little of anything.

236. Such a powerful piece of writing Denise, great work.

237. Such an amazing blog Denise, what you are expressing here is huge. I am feeling inspired to live a new level of responsibility – holding back our expression is harming to ourselves and to others and doesn’t change anything. This line is beautifully expressed –
     ” When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.”

238. So true about the consciousness or belief that love is nice, polite and courteous. I am re-learning the truth about love in all its power, firmness and equality. There is no love without truth, so when we hold back from truth we are saying no to love. This affects everyone on the planet and our body feels that 10 fold. This is a great blog Denise and thank you for opening the discussion and providing space for people to feel where they are at with speaking up.

239. Denise I have hidden behind the safety of not expressing all of my truth and each time pay a price – a lack in confidence, a lack in connection with myself and others, a general lack in everything that is joyfull about being me.

     Until I met Serge Benhayon and was introduced to how false this way of living is I am pretty certain I would have continued to feel slightly crazy for trying to conform to what I had felt was the norm in any situation. I’d have continued to only speak a certain level of truth and held back from more.

     Yes I still play safe a lot but I can’t hide from knowing I’ve been shown how playing safe robs myself and everyone of being all that they can be. though I’ve tried to fit in and sit comfortably with the world it’s not something that I can live with comfortably now I know,by not speaking truth consistently in all of my day with everyone I meet, I am only adding to the lies I see all around me and the suffering they create.

240. What you write is so true. I find after not speaking up for so long it is tricky finding what it is I have to say. An exciting work in progress.

241. ‘When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ Absolutely Denise, and if we hold back speaking truth it can feel horrible, as we are also holding back our love.

242. Good on you Denise. There is so much corruption and things not right with the world it is easy to get disillusioned and give up on standing up for what is right. We must be tenacious and consistent and stand up for truth whenever we can.

243. I read a newspaper every day which is Amsterdam based but deals with world news as well. For some time now, my sister Caroline and I have been writing letters to the newspaper(s), responding to articles that don’t bring truth. In the past I never did this, I was afraid, I was thinking ‘who am I to write this’. Nowadays I think: I am the perfect one to write this, so every time I read something and I feel a letter coming up, I email it to the papers. And guess what, they even publish them.

     1. Mariette, how awesome , thank you for sharing the inspiring way that you are speaking up. This has opened my mind a little more to the way in which I too can stand up for truth.

244. Truth may sometimes cause reactions in others of which we may be afraid, but from what I have discovered, there is nothing more healing than speaking out the truth and by that being met and held with absolute love. Truth opens the space for meeting each other as true equals.

245. I have found that truth and love are strongly connected, to live from love I need to choose truth as my everyday marker. I have held back so much in life, and expressing more of who I am and what I know is truth for me, brings me back closer to who I am and where I am from.

246. Yes Denise, I’m with you on this. As we begin to realise just what power we have when we speak, we can move mountains. Opening the lid on expressing in full is the way towards love and the journey of letting ourselves go, not for yourself, but for our community, society and all of humanity.

247. Absolutely glorious article. Reminds me, and re-connects me, straight away to the urgency and importance of responding to lies and mistruth in every way by every one. I remember having felt the ‘giving up’ behaviour of not thinking that if I would stand up for truth it would make a difference. I have stepped up now and taken myself out of that belief that standing for my truth is not valuable. I have started to speak up and claim my truth. And what I felt in the end (still do!) is that I am making a loving difference, because I stand for what is true to me, and this reminds people of standing for themselves as well.. you can imagine if we all inspire each other in our own ways by claiming our truth, love and harmony.. what a different world we would live in.. no worries – we are getting there, even if this means with baby-steps.

248. Absolute glorious article. Reminds me and re-connects me straight away to the urgency and importance of responding to lies and mistruth in every way by every one. I remember having felt the giving up behavior of thinking that if I would stand up for truth , that it wouldn’t make a difference. I have stepped up and taken myself out of that belief that standing for my truth is not valuable. I have started to speak up and claim my truth. And what I felt in the end (still do!) is that I am making a loving difference, because I stand for what is true to me, and this reminds people of standing for themselves as well.. you can imagine if we all inspire each other in our own ways by claiming our truth, love and harmony.. what a different world we would life in.. no worries – we are getting there, even if this means with baby-steps.

     1. I love what you’ve shared Danna, how it’s easy to give up and yet it’s necessary for us all to stand up and speak truth and cut those behaviours and ways we have which do not support and allow truth to be spoken and heard; it is indeed baby steps, but steps none the less, each truth spoken allows another to be spoken and we build a groundswell of truth available for one and all.

249. It is such a great point – that when we hold back what is true for us, it is a lie. I don’t want to admit that for myself, but in reality, there is so much more for me to express, not only by the spoken word but also through my writing and actions. What also occurs to me as I write, is that by not being my word, I am contributing to the lies in the world. This contributes to the doubts about myself that I experience from time to time, supporting an old belief of not being enough. Thanks Denise, greater clarity comes from truth.

250. Denise, that is a great reminder on how much responsibility we all have every second of our life.

251. Inspirational Denise – thank you for the clarity in which you present your point – that we lie when we don’t express the truth of what we are feeling. This is huge and has left me pondering on all those times when I have chosen not to speak up. Thank you.

252. LOVE your blog Denise. So simple, but jam-packed full of wisdom. I can completely relate to what you have shared – the other week I saw a video on Facebook of a girl putting a knife to her neck and cutting herself. Instead of reporting the video – as in NO WAY should it be allowed on the internet – I expressed how shocked I was but continued on scrolling through my newsfeed. I knew it wasn’t right, so shared my surprise and disgust with my family, but did not think of how many other people would feel the same way – or even see the video and think it was okay to do that themselves. Like how you wrote in your blog – ‘a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie’. In this case, I thought by saying how horrible it was would solve the issue, but not reporting it meant I was only partially claiming what I knew to be true, thus not actually claiming it at all.

253. I am expressing truth more in my life and although I find myself going into ”I hope I didn’t offend or hurt them in any way” it is getting easier in that I am learning to let go once I have spoken. Reading this powerful blog has given me the inspiration to keep expressing truth otherwise I am adding to all the lies in the world.

254. To claim the fact that not speaking up and not expressing what we have felt to be a lie, just as much as intentionally expressing an untruth, is a very powerful realisation,

255. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” There is a lot in this line for me Denise. Said or not said, “Expression is everything” (Serge Benhayon)

     1. I agree Suzanne, this sentence is very powerful, and relevant to many including me!

256. Awesome exposure of truth here Denise, I find that truth for me is something that is a difficult one not to coat over or dismiss. I am finding it such a change to honour what I feel is true and speak up about things that may cause contraction or reaction in another. Thanks for your sharing.

257. What you say is so true Denise. As you have felt, it is often in silence that we side with darkness and thus the lies. The unspoken words are often our and society’s down fall. It is the unspoken words that get overridden by the lie that we actually acquiesce to by not speaking up. Such a simple act as speaking up can change to world. Not in one instance, but with time and enough people speaking up, we have the power to change the world, to put an end to lies.

258. We often try and fit lying into acceptable categories, we have white lies which are apparently only small and so don’t count, then we have the lies we tell our children that also apparently don’t count, then the lies we tell people so as not to hurt their feelings, which apparently don’t count, then the lies we tell others and ourselves so as not to take responsibility which also don’t count – and then finally we have ‘big’ lies like saying not guilty to a judge when you are, which we can all agree do count. However like you have presented, no matter how small and insignificant a lie, no matter that it doesn’t appear to have any consequences, it is still a lie. And then added to the examples above, is considering that when you feel something and don’t say anything, you are in fact lying, either to yourself because your denying feeling it, or to the world because your not being honest. It is this last form of lying I find hardest to work on, because its easy to keep your feelings to yourself and assume that they don’t count.

     1. What you say here Rebecca is such a great expansion of Denise’s fabulous blog. A lie is a lie is a lie, not matter what colour it is or what size it is. I also feel that there is real power in the use of the word ‘lie’. I know for myself that if I really call myself out and call myself ‘a liar’ when I haven’t spoke the truth, then that wakes me up to my full responsibility. So often we hide behind words of phrases like ‘untruth’s’ or ‘falsehoods’ or ‘not speaking the truth’; all of which somehow enable us to dodge the bullet, all of which are purposefully used to enable us to hide in the comfort of not sticking ourselves up above the parapet.

        1. I find that too Otto – calling out and exposing my behaviour is sometimes exactly what needs to be done in order to change.

        2. I agree Ottobathurst, when we call it for what it is, lying, it leaves us no where to hide and it can really make me squirm when I am caught lying or when I admit that something was a lie, because it feels wrong to do, which is in a way a great thing, as it shows that our basic nature is truth.

259. Superb blog Denise and I can measure how I have changed my ways too. I am work in progress as always but I now say what I have to say in any situation anywhere speaking my truth. The reasons for that are 1) Responsibility towards my fellow human beings 2) My truth is worth being expressed 3) If we are here on this planet to evolve, we’d better start doing something about it now with no delay. I used to feel overwhelmed and defeated by the state of the world with its illness and disease, wars, natural disasters, lack of love but I have found with the immense help of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine that change starts with me taking responsibility and that everyone of us can make a difference by speaking our truth.

260. My truth right at this moment is that I loved reading this blog, and that I am inspired to be even more aware of expressing truth, – and what and how I feel. In response to your question: “what if love is delivering truth” – I would say a resounding “yes, love most definitely is delivering truth”.

261. Denise, we always have the choice to speak in full from our innermost. To begin with the honesty that we have not been doing this, offers us all the opportunity to discover why we haven’t and to begin the healing process of exposing these lies. As anything that in any way interferes with us expressing our truth is the biggest lie of all.

262. Great article Denise, thank you. Yes, once we really start looking at what is going on around us, eg: TV ads, marketing strategies that lure a buyer to purchase something they don’t need, it certainly starts as a process of becoming more honest with ourselves. We get to notice the hand we play, in either continuing the ‘game’ or simply saying ‘No’. And then going the extra step by picking up the phone, talking honestly in conversation is a powerful claim within the body and for others to consider another way. Speaking up, offers evolution spherically.

263. Thank you Denise Cavanough for waking me up on this part. How easily I tend to not speak up or acknowledge in the many cases I feel something is not true to me. It is a convenient way for me to not take the responsibility to help to stop the lies that are told and repeat to do so, until we give a voice to what is felt by everybody in our society. I do feel what is true or not and can now feel that I have an equal important say in stopping the lies that I allow to be repeatedly told and bring harm to humanity as a whole.

264. Taking responsibility and speaking the truth………..no doubt I will have an opportunity today, possibly in the next few hours to observe how I will handle this now, having read your article Denise. Thank you.

265. Yep, you’ve exposed a big one here! Lying is lying period! To think I am not a lier would be very untrue, although it pains me to say that because I don’t intentionally lie, or rather I do, because I get a desired outcome from not speaking my truth, I’ve just been in a habit of holding back and therefore not had to take any responsibility for my lying. I’m working on expressing more and I am finding that it is becoming easier and not laced with as much fear of hurting others as it used to be. More often than not I find people find the truth refreshing as opposed to feeling offended, which is always a lovely surprise.

     1. Amazing comment Elodie, before I read your comment I thought that I never lied and prided myself on my honesty but as you so clearly expose not speaking our truth is lying. Thank you for bringing my awareness to this.

266. There is so much responsibility in expression, every act of responsibility taken is a step towards more self-love, in saying “no” to what does not feel true in the heart and the body. There is no exception: everyone wants to be loved and to love in this world. To see true love lived in the world, we have to be this love first in honor of our bodies and our hearts.

267. Denise so powerful what you have shared here and it resonates so true with me when we are speaking the truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.

268. Denise, I agree with what you have written. It is easy to side step things we come across that aren’t OK and avoid the effort and possible discomfort of going against the majority. But then we are part of the problem. I am often amazed that, although I consider myself an honest person, I am still finding many examples of where I have been lying to myself and others to continue in the comfort of old habits.

     1. Same here Helen, I also consider myself an honest person and yet I still find many small examples of where I have been lying to myself and convincing myself that something was true ‘to continue in the comfort of old habits’ that I did not even realise I still had. Honesty and truth as with everything in this earthly life, are constantly evolving and deepening and as one layer is removed another deeper layer presents itself.

        1. Yes, I agree with you both Helen and Anne, the deeper we look the more we can see the subtle ways we lie to ourselves ‘to continue in the comfort of old habits’ or perhaps just overlook little untruths to avoid the discomfort of going against the majority. It is an on going process as you say Anne, one layer is removed then another deeper layer presents itself, until I imagine we actually live the love and truth that we are, in everything we do and say.

269. Denise you really hit the nail on the head for me, a lie is a lie if it is 80% or 1% a lie and we do all know that, yet we keep adding to the lies in the world. I remember as a child felling so isolated and alone at times as it felt that everyone was lying around me and whenever I innocently spoke up, my parents friends would say to keep that child away from me !
     The truth is that I would never have come to this realization and accepted responsibillity on my part for speaking my truth if it wasn’t for the support from Universal Medicine, how beautiful it is to re-discover that love is delivering the truth and we all feel connected.

     1. Why is it that we keep confirming ourselves with all those lies. It appears as if there’s actually no real, all encompassing ‘goal’ here in life. So lying or being truthful doesn’t really matter – so it appears. But it does and it always did. But we’ve chosen to ignore all the little and big things playing out as somehow a coincidence. Wow, how ignorant and arrogant. And I love your line about 80% or 1% lying, because this is how we keep playing games with each other and ourselves. It is either lying or speaking your truth. There’s – really – nothing in between. Anything that comes from the truth but is laced or watered down is really not a truth anymore. At the most, it is in words, but definitely not in energy. And it’s up to each and every individual to choose how long they stay ignorant or arrogant. Are we waiting to be one of the statistics in the continuously, alarmingly growing in illness and dis-ease or are we allowing and accepting the common sense of starting with self-care and self-love first. My life’s definitely improved so much on many many levels. That I can recommend being honest… Even though from time to time it is indeed bumpy.

270. Yes I see Denise, this takes lies to a deeper level, asking me to live in truth expects a higher level of responsibility. Well said.

271. So True Denise. What if everybody started not holding back anymore. That would be a totally different world. I would have never learnt so much if people didn’t express to me. Sometimes the truth isn’t comfortable at first, but definitely always worth exploration. While reading your blog I realised that it costs so much energy to withdraw from expressing and actually lie. So could it be that the desire of being heard is actually the fact that we actually want to hear ourselves in the first place. Literally. Worth exploring and forever deepening.

272. How the word love has been bastardised: “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.” I have learned to always keep quiet, never say what you feel – being nice. Now I speak up more and more and feel my responsibility to not hold back. Thank you Denise for this simple and powerful blog.

273. After having chosen most of my life to not say what I was feeling, I can feel how this has also fed my self doubt. Every time I felt something was not right and didn’t express that I felt it was not right, my self doubt was getting bigger and bigger. Every time I questioned what I said or didn’t say it, I was also feeding my self doubt. But since now choosing to express what I feel (not in perfection), I can feel how the self doubt and questioning were ways in which I held myself back. They had me locked in a pattern of being little. I can now feel that me expressing my truth I can feel the hugeness in me! No longer feeling that things are huge outside of me but feeling that feeling of power in me.

     1. Thank you for exposing this pattern Denise. It goes back to childhood for me and not expressing what I felt or being told I may be wrong. Self-doubt has been in my way since and as you say, it grows when we hold back and question what we truly know.

     2. Denise I love what you’ve added and one I know well. In fact it can be an indulgence this doubt and not speaking up, it can create a drama that’s not required. After all how do we develop speaking our truth, if we don’t start.

274. What a great step to take, Denise. We should never underestimate the impact it has if we speak up. Even though the company might go on with the ad, you have changed the energy of it and every person watching it will actually get your blessing.

275. Ahh yes the old nice card being played as love, such a tricky pernicious number that one! So much more is required if we are to stand on the side of truth and be that love in everything we do. I am continuing to unfold the layers of lies and dishonesty I play out in all sorts of manipulative ways just to avoid being responsible. Crazy when love is the alternative…..

276. Thanks Denise for the wake up call.

277. You have touched on something deeply powerful for us all, and the true health of all our relationships, Denise – whether personal, societal or global scale.
     By not speaking up, I agree absolutely that we are “adding to all the lies in the world”. To stand by silent allows unfathomable harm to occur, every day. The scale of this is enormous, and we can’t but feel it when we stand back, and look at the levels of corruption that plague so much of our society – in the media, government, business… the levels of harm that occur in relationship full stop.
     We have all played a part in such things coming to the point they are at. Every one of us is responsible. And yet, we mustn’t be overwhelmed to the point that we simply give up in the face of it all. Our choice to express what is true, and consistently so, IS what will bring a true difference. It in turn, may just inspire others… As you have shared Denise, we are all most definitely connected.

278. I have felt many times the holding back in calling out the lies when I hear or see them, the way you have expressed Denise confirms that in this holding back we are contributing to the lies and not truth. This is an ouch indeed.

279. I have the same approach as you. Years ago I decided with myself, when I hear myself complain about something or when I hear, feel, see something is not true, I have one option: to speak up and find a way to share my point/feeling. Speaking up has many dimensions and levels. For more than two months now I ‘speak up’ when I read untruths in the national newspapers or when I feel another perspective could bring more truth/depth to the topic. It has been a joy expressing this way. To my pleasant surprise four of my letters have been placed for all to read in the papers. So yes, we all -each one of us- do make a difference by speaking up.

280. Upon reading only the title and first paragraph of this article I was prompted to send an email to a cosmetics company and Transport for London about offensive advertisements lining the walls of the tube station which I walk everyday.
     I had felt to do this when I first saw them, but I didn’t make time in a busy schedule until now.
     Thank you for the inspiration and reminder to follow through on what I had felt.
     I feel like I have been true to myself and others in speaking out against what is not ok.

281. I love how this outlines there are no shades of grey when it comes to the truth. It has to be 100% of the truth, as there can’t be even a smidge of what is not truthful for it to be truly true.

282. Strong, powerful and revealing. The line “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” is pure gold and very revelatory.

283. What a fantastic blog and that’s the Truth haha. Responsibility = Love. The more responsible I am for myself, and as Denise says the bigger picture, the more regarding and care I take for my choices and the way I express. Say no more .. Say no less. Say what’s True and be consistent in that and life becomes You.
     My life has changed a lot just committing to Truth. It is eternal and we deserve it. The more people that express the Truth the more it will change from the lies.
     Fantastic Blog!! !!

284. Beautiful Denise, in not expressing truth (if only to ourselves) we are already expressing and if this is so, by not expressing what exactly are we expressing? the truth or what is not the truth? there can be no in-between.

285. Thank you Denise, I agree it is a great responsibility to be truthful in all we do.
     When we are responsible, our integrity is felt by all we are connected to.

286. When someone else shines their light and speaks their truth it becomes an opening for me to own my power and likewise shine. This way we can all become stars shining brightly to offer light in the world.

287. It is so easy to believe that things are out of our hands and that we cannot make a difference. But you have expressed here beautifully how acting on what you felt about something is so important and can contribute to change in the world. Thank you Denise.

288. I loved every part of your blog Denise. I loved the honesty this blog was written in and the fact that their was no lie not even 1% of a lie being told, but only the full truth.

289. You are so right Denise. Not speaking our truth is equally a lie as we are lying about how we really feel. Being quiet or keeping it to ourselves is not so ‘nice’ after all.

290. “Do I just sit back and say nothing?” and the answer is No. I can feel how important it is that we all express our truth no matter how big or small.

291. “A lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken”. This is a powerful statement. We always think about lying as saying things that are not true but you have greatly expanded on this definition of lying. I agree, staying silent when we need to speak up and tell the truth has exactly the same feel about it as actually saying something that is not true.

292. It’s interesting since reading your blog, I have spoken up for truth much more, rather than let things pass. I have been receiving letters from a charity I used to support, and the most recent one starts with ‘ I am writing because I know you have said you don’t want us to contact you anymore but I thought I would just write to you and check’. I understand the charity wants more money, but what it is that they don’t understand? I initially felt annoyed, but then wondered; how many letters like these have they sent out? I would previously have thrown it out, but instead, I felt to reply, and suggested firmly they didn’t contact me again. I loved your comment ‘I am now taking responsibility for my part in the whole picture, and my part doesn’t end with me . . . we are all connected.’ We all need to play our part.

293. Thank you so much for this blog. I love how you chose to not accept what was on the TV as it being normal, and instead picked up the phone. I tend to just ignore the TV and avoid it, but actually you have helped me to realise that this is me just being silent, which is a lie because I do actually have something to say.

294. Just taking responsibility and speaking my truth in every day life is what is now becoming more of a reality for me. If I falter from this fact I become aware of what I have done and this in turn gives me the opportunity to be more resolute in my approach to people and situations. I find just the simple things in life I have been letting slide and saying nothing when I could have easily made a reply to increase the power of love towards that person or situation. So thank you Denise for speaking so clearly about not holding back the truth.

295. As you have declared Denise, truth is absolute, and it is empowering to feel how by speaking out against the lies or manipulations we can open the door for others to make distinctions if they so choose.

296. And so often the truth that I hold back is how much I appreciate someone or something, or the love that I feel, or the beauty that I see. Not expressing that is as harmful to all, me included, as not expressing when something is wrong.

297. Pingback: Taking Responsibility and Speaking my Truth – a great read about honesty |

298. Great point that staying silent is still a lie because it is allowing un-truth or lies to stand, so by not saying anything or not challenging lies we are in fact endorsing them.

299. “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.” This statement knocks sympathy out the way….we have been told to be “nice” but “nice” does not alter anything, it allows for issues and lies to remain and become embedded. I would suggest playing “nice” is toxic in relationships, honesty is what heals and this is truth shared with love.

300. Denise, your blog has stirred things up in me. I used to pride myself on being honest and never telling lies…but, as you have exposed, even things not said equal a lie…

     1. I feel the same Pernilla – what I used to blow off as ‘just a small alteration of the truth’, I now have to take responsibility for, because as Denise brilliantly put – ‘a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie’.

301. Thank you Denise for bringing to the fore the importance of our role in speaking the truth – speaking from love.
     “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?”
     This is such a revelation as love in truth is not about ‘nice’ at all, it is about us sharing from what we know is true and saying it even when things are not ‘nice’. Truth can feel a little uncomfortable to express at times but I feel it is only for the reason which you say above. We have mostly been brought up to not say anything that will rock the ‘nice boat’ but truth may well rock this boat but in the most truly loving way for all concerned.

302. This is great Denise, ‘Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.’ I am learning this, after not speaking my truth for so long, for fear of rocking the boat and not being liked I am now starting to speak up, this feels very empowering and actually much easier than not saying, I have witnessed that it does make a difference and that things can change when we speak our truth.

303. Denise this is great to bring attention to, thank you . Holding back and not speaking fully all I feel has been a pattern in my life and realising that this is a lie is revelatory and brings a real responsibility to speaking up .

304. i love this Denise – ‘Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.’ So very true and something we don’t really consider!
     Thank you for this inspiring blog to remind me how important truth is all of the time.

305. Thank you Denise, that is a huge revelation and makes it very clear that we have a big responsibility to express how we feel all the time. This is a big learning for me. In the past I too understood lying to be the intent to not tell the truth, but your article exposes just how easily we lie all the time. Every time I do not say what I truly feel, I am lying and thereby contributing to all the aspects and behaviours in society that harm us. Thank you for such a simple and clear distinction that will stay with me throughout my day, Love is telling the truth in all situations.

306. Thank you for so clearly dissolving the very rigid concept of what a lie is. By holding back, by not speaking when something is there to be shared, we are lying. I am sure for many people that is a big revelation and something I’ve not really considered deeply. It keeps things quite simple and also cuts through so many situations where things are said with streams of truth in them yet it’s not all truth – as a result it’s clearly a lie as it’s not true. I had the tendency to look separately at each thing – what I now understand is everything is connected – it’s black or white. Truth or no truth. So if we don’t speak truth by default we are lying. A lot to reflect on.

307. That is such a great wake up call that if I do not express when I feel something is wrong then I’m contributing to the world being full of lies.

308. So glad you did not hold back from expressing this Denise – What you have said here really highlights how important it is to not let untruths pass by and to hold back, but to choose to take responsibility in any given moment/situation. We are not honouring ourselves or humanity by doing so. Thank you Denise.

309. I often justify my little or ‘white’ lies by trying to gauge if it will hurt anyone. Even if it might not have a direct impact on someone, it is still a lie that now exists in the the ether. This only exacerbates the lack of honesty and truthfulness in our lives.

     1. Gosh Jinya, wouldn’t it change the way we think and speak if we could see those lies hanging around us in the ether!

     2. So true Jinya those little ‘white ‘lies are so acceptable and yet another excuse to draw a line and excuse ourselves hold back, and not say what is true, ouch it is still a lie ‘colored’ as white.

     3. I can relate to your comment Jinya. And quite possibly our little white lies are more damaging than the big, obvious ones because of the sheer volume of them, particularly with Denise’s revelation that holding back our true expression is actually lying as well. I can see how this creates a breeding ground for larger scale corruption and deceit to take root and flourish.

310. Thank you Denise. You make a very telling point “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. This made me acknowledge how often I have heard or seen something I know is not true and just ‘let it go’, don’t rock the boat’, ‘does it really matter?’ By accepting my responsibility to speak the truth and to speak up for the truth means that I play my part in living in a society that is based on truth.

311. Great topic Denise, on many occasions I have spoken my truth only to feel like there was more to be said or said something in a way which will not offend someone. It is a good reminder to know that it is still lying and holding back and encourages others to be that way also. Thank you.

312. Thank you Denise what you say here is very true and very important. I have held back truth under the false impression of being nice. As you say “while I was not expressing what I really felt in full I was choosing to not claim my truth, the whole truth, myself. Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”.

313. Every time we don’t express our truth, it remains in the body, waiting to be expressed. This actually has an impact on our body. Truth wants to naturally be expressed and has nothing to do with being nice, but with love, love for humanity and knowing that truth in expression evolves all those around us.

     1. Thank you Mariette, such a powerful statement. ‘Expression is everything’ Serge Benhayon.

     2. Very good point Mariette and I feel the same. Our truth is better out than in and it seems that we are made to express who we are because of the uniqueness that we bring to the world.

     3. It’s quite impressive that the truth that lives within us is always ready to share of itself, it never rests. We then make the choice to let it through or not. It seems that the most healthy way here is to become aware of what is there to be expressed and learn to express it in whatever way feels true.

314. Thank you for not holding back Denise. I have been feeling how easy it is to be held in the web of complacency, to feel something but to not follow through and act on that impulse. To acknowledge that, by holding back we are in fact contributing to all the lies, is very confronting.

315. Breaking the stranglehold of ‘nice’ and presenting that not speaking up is of and in itself a lie – Denise, thank you so much for this magnificent expression. This is especially empowering for us women, who have grown up with ‘nice’. There is, I feel, the potential for a true reading of the word nice, but it is not cowering in a corner keeping small or out of the way, physically diminishing ourselves so we’re not seen, or cloaking ourselves in excess weight. Ladies, it’s time to throw off the shackles of niceness and step forward and be seen – and heard. We have so much natural authority and power. Let’s go for it.

     1. Hear hear Victoria! For a very long time I was under the illusion that being ‘nice and quiet’ and not making a stir was actually a loving and good thing – how wrong this actually felt to me and only ever served to keep me expressing even less as I added more pictures to the scenario of low self-esteem or lack of confidence. Self-empowerment begins with self and why would we not want to share our natural and beautiful selves for all to see.

        1. Agree Cherise, what are we communicating when we don’t speak our truth. And as you say making a stir could actually be a loving and good thing

     2. Here, here Victoria! Time to throw of the shackles of ‘niceness’- and shackles they are.
        I have been so nice for so long and I am so over it. The true feeling of being ‘nice’ over ‘true’. Lying to myself, lying to all. I too am learning to express from my natural authority and power and not be concerned with the responses. I am observing that there are many different situations and there are times/circumstances when it feels easier than others. There is, work, social, classroom, family (as sibling, as Aunty, as parent), friends, community. I am practicing to be me in my expression whatever the situation.

     3. I love what Victoria is saying here and I can feel the power in the words. I absolutely agree that we have so much natural authority, power and so much to offer that it’s crazy that we choose to hold it back. Being nice is diminishing and the biggest lie of all is to the self.

316. Thank-you for Denise for the great opportunity you have provided to all, who read this to see the responsibility we all have in expressing what we don’t feel to be true. I really connected to the comment you make “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say” and how I have been holding myself back in this way. Also this part “what if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world”. I would like to express how much I appreciate this powerful post I feel it has been a real wake up call for me.

317. Thank you Denise. The fact that we are all connected and that ‘everything is everything and nothing is nothing’, makes expressing the truth vitally important. The more we each take responsibility to express the truth which contributes to the whole, the more we will evolve as a society. It truly is up to us, as everything we do is registered no matter how small.

318. That’s really powerful Denise, equating held back truth to a lie, this is something that will have a big impact on my expression, thank you.

319. Absolutely agree with everything you said here Denise. I have often held back from expressing the truth in fear of the reaction I might get from others. I have come to realise, through the teachings of Universal Medicine, that holding back in this way serves no-one. Yesterday I wrote a letter to the editor of a current affairs magazine about an article on alcohol -something I have held back from doing for ages! It felt amazing to express the truth about alcohol so that all readers have the opportunity to ponder on this and maybe even choose differently.

     1. I can relate to that feeling of freedom and empowerment that comes after expressing truth, especially if it has been building for a while. There is always that sense of asking ‘why didn’t I do this earlier?’

320. “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” Yes, I’m realising this more and more, how important it is to be aware of what it is I’m agreeing with if I don’t say what I truly feel or speak up when needed. And also how important it is to not hold back from communicating my love and appreciation of others.

     1. That is lovely Fiona. I appreciate that you have brought communication our love and appreciation to others to the mix. It allowed me to see that the impact of holding back is the same whether it is in response to lack of love, or in appreciation of love. We either support an unfolding and evolving when we communicate from our heart – or have the opposite impact when we choose to hold back.

321. Wow, this is very powerful Denise, thank you. I fully agree with every one of us makes up the whole in speaking (or delivering) the truth and we are responsible in doing so.

322. A game changing, so often ‘hidden’ reality and realisation. ‘Not to speak is to speak’. In our comfortable, ‘polite’, un ‘boat rocking’, ‘I’m okay jack’, it’s not affecting me, turn a blind eye type silence, we allow our global societies to slide ever downward – and slide they do. We cannot pretend we are not living in one interconnected ocean, and that not saying no to that which is not love, be it extreme or subtle, is the same as saying yes. Huge and powerful realisation that brings responsibility home. Great article Denise, all power to you and all those waking up to a willingness to speak up for truth.

323. I love this Denise! ‘What if Love is delivering the Truth?’ I have found this to be absolutely true. When sometimes people would react to what I presented I would stop speaking that Truth so stop being Love with them. When I came to realise that speaking Truth was Love I realised I could no longer stop expressing it. People still react sometimes but I now I don’t let that stop me for being responsible for my part in the world, to express Truth.

324. Denise I have held back from my true expression on many occasions to be seen as nice and to not rock the boat. But in holding back the truth I am not being honest. Life is about expressing your truth with a full heart for all equally so.

325. Well said. And acted on. In the past I used to complain about things that I felt were wrong but never acted upon them. I have learnt loads from Serge Benhayon and continue to do so. One of the things I have learnt is our voice does count, we can make a difference and we need to call out what is going on in the world that is not love so it can start to change back to love.

     1. Absolutely vickylcooke, “we need to call out what is going on in the world that is not love so it can start to change back to love”.

326. Thank you Denise for highlighting that holding back from not speaking truth contributes to all the lies. It is our responsibility to express truth and be an reflection in the world.

327. Never even considered that something unspoken could be a lie, I just thought well if you want to think that well … What can I do !!

     Present the truth in every way

     1. Same here Jaime. I was aware of ‘lying by omission’ – as in the deliberate withholding of information – but had never considered truth unspoken to be a lie. Revelatory.

     2. That was my experience also Jaime, that if I didn’t ‘join in’ I wasn’t the one lying, however I wasn’t upholding any responsibility in expressing what was true and so in limbo land found myself escaping responsibility and holding back from honouring what I felt.

328. “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.” Denise it’s great that you have expressed this so clearly. I’ve always felt it, but I could not have said why before, like you, coming to understand and take responsibility through Serge Benhayon’s lived example and presentations.

329. Thank you Denise for exposing how we are all adding to and playing a part in feeding a world that revolves on mistruths and lies. This indeed keeps us small and absolutely arrests our evolution. By taking responsibility for the part we all play in this we are claiming ourselves and the world we live in and saying that we are worth so much more and why do we settle for so much less?

330. When speaking what we feel from our hearts – the truth – I have realised that it doesn’t necessarily need to be done out loud, as I have found often there is not the space to say it. In these times instead of suppressing it I just say it to myself. This feels very honouring to me and also to those around me because I haven’t held back in anyway. I have just honoured the situation for what it is and spoken the truth the way it was needed, whether this is silently or out loud.

     1. Nice touch, Robyn, it’s true the space or opportunity doesn’t always present itself and what you suggest gives us not an out, but a way to continue to commit to the truth.

     2. Yes Robynjones11, I am learning to discern when I need to speak the truth out loud and when I just need to acknowledge it quietly to myself. Either way, it is a learning. Because I’ve not been used to speaking up, it can feel awkward at times, but as I slowly build my ‘expression muscles,’ its starting to feel easier. Most of my awkwardness comes form worrying about the response I may get. What I love about your blog is the line where it says ‘what if love is delivering the truth?’ This really resonated with me.

        1. I agree Debra with feeling awkward at times with speaking up because I am already aware of the reaction that will most likely come my way when sharing the truth I am feeling. To me this speaks volumes about we I am at with my relationship to Love and delivering the Truth.

331. I love the simplicity and the power in your words. It has brought it home that any degree of holding back is actually lying. When I do not express, I am in effect very loudly portraying what is not the truth of my expression, and with that I am encouraging others to also lie about who they are. This is huge. A profound responsibility. Thank you for not holding back and expressing this.

     1. Golnaz, what you wrote is also huge,When I hold back “I am very loudly portraying what is not the truth of my expression, and with that I am encouraging others to also lie about who they are.”
        I feel there are so many ways in which this impacts on us that we are yet to see, but as we call it out , they will unfold.

332. Awesome powerful post Denise. Yes, nice is not truth. Feels so limiting. For instance, when we adapt or water down our conversation, or communication to ‘be nice’, it can be a form of us protecting, and keeps things static where they (comfortably) are, i.e. it doesn’t progress things. Comfort is not truth either. Equally, what struck a chord for me were your words: “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. We are never not communicating.

333. Well said Denise. To add: truth is felt, not heard, so it’s also important to deliver the truth at 100% power so it’s felt deeply.

334. Thanks Denise. So true. “Nice” is the fertiliser that allows corruption to grow.

335. When I read Denise how you didn’t delay or put off making the complaint, you just went ahead and made it in that moment, I felt how you exposed a key way of how so many of us brush the truth under the carpet. We might feel something is not right, then want to express how it is we feel, make the complaint, write that letter, whatever it may be, but in that choice to put it off till tomorrow or the next day, all these secondary thoughts will come in to destabilise our initial decision to tell the truth. ‘Does my voice count anyway?’ ‘What difference will it make?’ Etc. etc. And so we disempower ourselves and go deeper into apathy and in the collusion of not speaking up for the truth.
     I realised reading your blog how simple it is — it is about not putting off what we feel to express and not entertaining these thoughts. It is about knowing that when we do express the truth we are adding one more powerful voice into the truth for everyone, inspiring another and then another to break free from not speaking up as well.

336. There was a moment, one of those lightbulb moments, that went off not so long ago when it dawned on me that I lied more than I cared to admit. I came to the realisation that if it was not the truth then it was in fact a lie: ‘a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie’. I realised that I had a responsibility to speak when I felt something was not the truth. Denise, your blog is a great reminder to ‘strike when the iron is hot’ and say there and then when we see or hear something that does not feel right.

337. So beautifully expressed Denise, and your words here, ‘We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth’, ring so true for me. Being nice has been a bugbear for me for most of my life. The awful thing about trying to always be nice is that you can never satisfy it, you have to keep doing it because it becomes addictive, but the feeling of it in your body is quite sickly. Bit by bit I am choosing to speak up and as you say, deliver truth, and when it is a true truth, your body lets you know it in full and the resonance from it just ripples out and can be felt by all.

338. Denise thanks for highlighting the simple truth “A lie is a lie equally so when unspoken”.

339. Denise, your message that, ‘that a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken. And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie’, is a great reminder to all of us that standing by and not expressing our truth is in fact, also a lie! As you so wisely say, “by us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world”. When we start, is a choice that each and every one of us has in every moment!

340. “We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” – a great line Denise. How often have we held back from speaking truth so as not to offend someone, yet if we deliver truth lovingly, this can be a genuine service for another, rather than sweeping it under the rug and then they miss out.

     By speaking truth I can make a difference. So why should I expect someone else to be responsible for it?

341. Thank you Denise, I love how you highlight that just standing back and saying nothing is actually saying something. By not expressing the truth that we feel, it is just as if we are saying we agree with what is happening, when we don’t.

342. I love this article Denise- it is inviting me to take full responsibility for my expression and not hide behind half-truths which are indeed lies, ‘a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie.’

     When I think of it, an outright lie can be easily detected, but a little lie can be insidious as it goes unexposed, allowed to do damage because it muddies the water, so to speak.Then the water is no longer clear or truth in full. A little lie invites people to pretend that all is well when really not all is 100% well, but we feel we can hide the lie behind what is true. I’ve done this in relationships – I’ve let abuse be because, in the main, the relationship was mostly loving or rather convenient and I felt a degree of security that I didn’t want to jeopardize by calling out the abuse. In actual fact the relationship wasn’t mostly loving because the abuse was allowed, I never said no to it.

343. A very challenging and powerful blog, Denise, the consideration that to remain silent Is lying and whether 80% a lie or 1% a lie it is still a lie. I can feel all sorts of mixed feelings coming up and that is a great thing, another layer being exposed.Thank you for sharing your experience and offering love in thought, word and action.

344. You write with a simplicity and directness that validates the truth you are presenting, Denise that, “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.”
     I totally concur with your statement that even 1% of a lie is still a lie. I had direct experience of this just a few days ago when I uttered just one descriptor that was not correct in a whole spoken paragraph of words. The person responding to me could not reply to me with truth, or even accuracy, and was also uncharacteristically agitated as he spoke.
     I went away and reflected on the incident and realised it was attributable solely to the inclusion of one, false word out of a whole stream of them. It was a great learning and also very revealing. Thing is….I felt as soon as the false word came out of my mouth, that it wasn’t right so, for me now, complete honesty, backed up by precision in word, is my way.

345. Thank you, Denise, it is true for me too that if it was not for Universal Medicine, I would be living a life of resignation; given up that things could possibly be a different way. Through the inspiration of Serge Benhayon and his family, I can see that to love myself and others is to say when things do not feel true, even if it is going against the tide in that moment.

346. What an awesome revelation. It actually feels that the not speaking out, or only saying part of what you feel to say is more sneaky and deceptive than a straight out lie, it’s kind of kidding yourself that it’s ok. Thanks for sharing, lots to consider here… in every part of my day.

347. This is awesome, Denise. Thank you for the beautiful reminder of truth in word and action.

348. I know I’ve certainly opted for the silence rather than feel uncomfortable saying something. How long have we convinced ourselves that it’s ok to not speak up even if we know the truth. Holding back the truth is allowing mistruth (a lie) to continue. And what really brings this home is “a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken. And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie.” This is so important, thank you Denise.

349. ‘What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?’ Yes, worth contemplating, and, if we don’t say no to what is not acceptable we are in a way condoning it.

350. “…a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie”. I would have considered myself a truthful person, but have gone through life thinking that it is okay to lie to protect someone’s feelings, to be nice. Your blog has got me questioning: who am I to decide what part of the truth someone gets to hear or gets ‘protected from’? My responsibility is to express in full – ‘the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God’.

351. Whoa, what a powerful blog Denise! And yes, I agree niceness is actually far from love, it feels really horrible to be nice, it means I lie into someone’s face, pretending everything is OK when it is not. To deliver truth is a lot more uncomfortable but it feels amazing in my body.

352. That is huge. There are heaps that I don´t express in full for whatever “good” reason. Obviously that leaves a “vacancy” or absence of me that is filled with something that is not me but a lie – an explanation, a justification, an excuse, a niceness etc. – definitely adding to the lies of the world. And so it comes around again and again until I am myself in full and express in full. Thanks Denise for exposing the hidden lying and the way forward.

353. It can be very easy to withhold truth, particularly among people we know, as it might ‘hurt’ them, and because we don’t want to rock the boat too much, so we choose to keep quiet.
     Ultimately, the wrongs will keep continuing until more honesty is expressed.

354. Thank you Denise, this is a powerful article, whilst reading it I really felt the level of responsibility that I have in my expression, it highlights how by holding back the truth when it is felt in my body is creating hurt and disharmony not only in my body but also adding to the hurts and disharmony experienced in the world today.
     And also me choosing to express truth is just another way of love in expression and nothing else.

355. Beautiful Denise. Yes, love is delivering the truth, both for ourselves and for others. I’m still coming to terms with what is it to express in full and not hold back. Knowing when to say something and discerning what is needed to be delivered, but in that moment having had the full expression of myself. Not to mention the fear of what reaction I may receive…It is challenging but I have made the choice to start expressing all of me. Great blog.

356. Well said Denise, love is delivering truth and this is what the world needs. Thank you for this awesome reminder of always expressing truth.

357. This is brilliant Denise, thank you for hitting the nail on the head; ‘when we are choosing to speak the truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.’ The responsibility may be huge to express what we really feel in full, one allowing truth to be the foundation for us all to live by, is well worth taking.

358. Denise I love this – thank you for speaking Truth so clearly. I can feel the absolute truth and strength in what you are saying and it’s really made me stop. Thank you.

359. Awesome blog Denise , and full of much wisdom. This sentence really resonated with me: “ Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.” I used to hold back my expression a lot without realising that doing so was impacting on my body. It now feels to me, that all our unspoken words are still with us, gathering dust somewhere in our bodies and affecting our well being without us realising it.
     If I hold back these days I can immediately feel the impact in my body and it doesn’t go away – it actually hurts. I am also aware that what I have to say to another may be just as important for them to hear, as it is for me to express it, another reason for not holding back.
     And of course how I express to another comes with all the energy I am in at that moment, therefore every time I open my mouth to speak I have a huge responsibility, not only as to what I say, but how I say it – and the only way to say it, is with love.

     1. Very truthful comment there Ingrid, with lots of lived wisdom. You nail it with your last sentence with the importance of expressing ‘what I say, but how I say it’.

     2. Thank you Ingrid. Denise’s post is such a timely reminder. For ages I haven’t felt I’ve understood the word responsibility but when in comes to speaking up it’s really starting to make sense. I too feel the tension in my body when I hold back. This is feeling very uncomfortable these days and so the question – how uncomfortable do you want to feel before you say anything keeps arising. The other point you raise Ingrid in that ‘ … what I have to say to another may be just as important for them to hear …’ is something I find very supportive as it is a reminder that what we have to express is not necessarily for us.

     3. Choosing to not express truth is poisoning to the body I have found. I explain : I used to suffer from chronic sore throats and I was told that it was my weakness so I put up with it. What I have noticed over decades is that they have completely disappeared (or are not chronic any longer) because of me empowering me to speak my truth. We are not made to live in hiding and to shut up, we are made to express who we are and it feels safe to do so now. My eternal gratitude goes to Serge Benhayon for showing me the way.

360. “What if love is delivering truth…” that’s illuminating Denise, and feels so true to me. Thank you for reminding us of the responsibility of speaking our truth and not holding back. I was one for keeping my thoughts to myself, I was pretty numb to the world and that problems were other peoples problems, and if they didn’t affect me it was someone else’s business to sort them out. I realise now how selfish and insular that was, and it wasn’t until I too was introduced to Universal Medicine, that I realised that we are all one, and speaking up affects all of us, and staying silent just adds to the lies.

     1. Great point you make Sandra about responsibility. I agree that we all have a responsibility to speak the truth and not hold back as it will add to the lies in this world.
        If more and more of us keep speaking the truth then the tides will turn.
        Imagine a world where there was no such thing as lying. It reminds me of the movie “The Invention of Lying” – the film makes a point about literally taking our word when we speak and that no one ever lies. We got a long way to go but blogs like this – thank You Denise – is a start, sharing with the world that there is another way to be and live.

361. Thank you Denise for this blog, you raise such a good point. When we remain silent and don’t speak our truth, we are saying that things are OK, or that we agree with them. Yet when we speak truth, we have the power to change the world. I love this line “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.”

     1. Speaking our truth is empowering ourselves to make a difference in the world.

362. Wow, Denise, I love your blog, a very powerful sharing on speaking up about what you feel. I agree with you:
     ‘While I was not expressing what I really felt in full, I was choosing to not claim my truth, the whole truth, myself. Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say.’
     I also agree with your statement love is delivering truth. Is has a big effect on the other(s) and also on my body. It feels like I am building a foundation inside where I can build on everytime I express truth. And of course so can others build on my building foundation of expressed truth.

363. Denise this is one powerful blog. It delivers truth right between the eyes.

364. Denise, what powerful words. I am becoming more and more aware where I am holding back my truth. And this truth is not something I have to search for, it is simply something that is there to be expressed, and yet I often do not express it. Thank you for the simple example, I have often been in similar situations but then have failed to put what I felt into action.

365. Holding back and saying nothing is just the same as claiming that the lies are in fact the truth when they are clearly not. What a powerful fact for one to come to realise Denise.

366. Beautiful observation Denise, truth is so important. And as you say every part of truth we hold back is adding to the lies in this world. But sometimes the truth is very confronting for us, so it is a continuing building of responsibility and openness to ourselves and others.

367. ‘what if love is delivering truth?’ Thank you Denise for this powerful statement and your thought provoking blog which challenges us all to speak up. I was also struck by your pledge to take responsibility for every word you utter – responsibility in action and an inspiration.

368. Wow this blog makes me realise how, by not saying something when something is not right for me, I am actually lying. Silently agreeing. I feel inspired to express more of what I feel. Thank you Denise, this is profound.

369. Very powerful Denise, and very true 🙂 I know I am speaking up much more than before but I still at times let things slide or step over them in thinking I don’t immediately know how or who to address. When it is easy then I don’t hold back, but when it is asking me to dig a little deeper or try a little harder I tend to let it slide more. But as you say, ‘everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say’. With holding back and going all the way in expressing my truth I am adding to the state of the world as it is.

370. Thank you Denise.This is awesome. I can still feel how I play the “clever” game with degrees of truth but there is no such thing, as you say, “a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken. And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie”.

371. Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say….this is a powerful statement…

372. Big wow Denise, thank you. It really came through to me that I had judged my part as small and therefore inconsequential, yet it is each part that makes up the whole and, as you say, we are all interconnected and what we say or do not say always affects the other parts. Thank you for inspiring me to value my one voice and the truth I feel.

373. “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.” Wow. I used to believe that being nice and polite was the only way to speak, heeding to the old cry of my grandparents era ‘if you haven’t got anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all’. Blech. I can see how toxic this statement is now. Sometimes the truth isn’t nice. But the thing with truth is, it does need to be said. Because as you have so beautifully said here Denise, when we share truth, we are in fact sharing love. And love is never there to be kept hidden away for ourselves – it is to be shared.

374. Wow. This is so timely. There’s something I have been meaning to express at work that I know would stir some reactions, and as I have been sitting on it, it has started to feel stale in my body. I feel how the bit I am holding back is getting filled with untruth, whether ‘holding back’ is in a shape of muffling my feelings, diluting the truth, or keeping quiet. Thank you, Denise. I am feeling the renewed sense of my commitment to expressing truth-fully.

375. “What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?” – ouch Denise, this is a bitter pill for us all to swallow and ups the responsibility stakes. Awesome blog – thank you.

376. Brilliant Denise, thank you for showing us all how the idea that saying nothing is steering clear of trouble and is just a massive lie we tell ourselves. When we speak truthfully we all can grow. It is our responsibility to deliver truth loud and clear, as you have done here.

377. Wow Denise, this is absolutely awesome. I love that you phoned to express how you felt about the inappropriate ad, rather than taking the easy root and putting it off or thinking that your say didn’t matter. Your commitment to speaking the truth is very inspiring!

378. Awesome blog Denise. I had not considered holding a part of what I feel to express as lying before but reading your blog I can feel this is true. A huge responsibility but an inspiring potential for true change.

379. I am so with you here Denise. I am realising how much of the truth I hold back to be nice and it really isn’t nice. It is actually quite self destructive. I love how you say we have been taught love is about being nice, when actually real love is about telling the truth. I have learned this through Universal Medicine teachings too and am shedding my nice day by day in favour of not holding myself or my feelings back for one more second!

     1. Its like saying ‘nice dress’ to a friend, without adding ‘but it doesn’t really suit you’ because you don’t want to upset them. I’d rather have all the truth, but I know I don’t always give it in some areas of my life, and Denise’s article is a real wake up call.

380. Denise, I had a huge ouch reading your piece, I am someone who considers herself honest and yet there are many lies I see around me where I don’t speak up and as you say a lie is a lie if it’s 1% or 80%, there’s no wriggle room no matter how much I might justify. What I also feel is how I often make excuses of why it’s not appropriate for me to speak up and the thing that comes through the most is if at any stage I want to be liked or seen to fit in then I am disposed to lying and the opening is there to compromise truth – and this is a massive ouch. Thank you for highlighting this so graciously.

     1. I’m with you there Monica – ouch! What is highlighted here is how we have all, by virtue of staying silent, said yes to the world we so often object to.

        1. Great way of putting it Victoria, sums it up nicely (pun intended). And it is the niceness that so inhibits truth. To your ouch, I add a massive yuck!

     2. Yes Monica, I can relate to holding back and feeling that if I say nothing, that I somehow remain neutral. Often the want to express is right there, but the worry about the response is stronger and holds me back.

     3. I totally agree with you Monica. This is a very thought provoking article and you have greatly added to it by highlighting a very strong opening for lying to occur. For me, another opening has been when to share something would expose me to feeling judged less or not good enough.

     4. Absolutely Monica. It is a compromise of truth. I also related a lot to the 1% and 80% part of Denise’s sharing. I too am someone who is very honest but does not always speak up about everything I feel is wrong or right.

     5. And thank you Monica. I read Denise’s blog with appreciation for what she was identifying but it is in reading your comment that I felt like it really sunk in as to how much responsibility we all have to ensure that the truth is being told – and the lies called out for what they are. Why don’t I always call it out even when I know? As you’ve said, I’m busy protecting myself, so I will be liked or so I will fit in. Ouch, indeed.

     6. I agree Monica, this is a huge trap for me too – being nice, wanting to be liked, not wanting to stand out, not wanting to stir things up that may be confronting, etc. It is a huge opening for compromise and lies enter here easily.

381. I love how you claim that when we hold back and don’t say anything we are contributing just as much to the lies as when we are saying them ourselves. Each of us has a responsibility to speak up and express our truth so that lies stop becoming the norm. Thank you.

382. Denise thank you for highlighting that we all play a part in speaking what is true in a world that does not always want to hear it!

     1. So true Sharon… It is this highlighting of our individual responsibility that highlights the fact that we are also collectively responsible as a community and a society…

     2. I absolutely agree Sharon. Imagine if we all just expressed our truth, what felt right and what did not. Then those that use force to get their way would no longer be ‘successful’ in life.

383. Speaking what we feel to be true is super powerful – to the point that it is not actually ‘my truth’ that I am expressing, it’s not even ‘our truth’ in terms of a collective of people – it is actually ‘the truth’ and it is there for all to hear. Feeling the responsibility of this it is empowering to feel how harmful it is to hold back the truth, because it’s not for me, it’s not even for a group, but it’s for everyone, all of humanity and if you want to consider a bigger picture we could say ‘for the universe’. Now that should make us all think twice about holding back what we feel is true and needs to be said.

384. A lie is a lie, it’s either black or white, to be or not to be.
     This is a great article, not only because this needs to be said and high-lighted for all of us to read, but also because we have accepted a GREY or lesser version of what we already know is unacceptable.
     It’s this comfort of not rocking the boat that has led to us accepting a GREY version of truth.

385. I started to write this blog about 4 years ago, sent it in but then I found I was not speaking up in the process of having it edited. I then put it in the too hard basket. Then last year we sold our home, but before we sold we had to finish all the half finished jobs we had started. And this was one of mine. I knew I was now committed, to taking responsibility for all that I didn’t say. And I knew that commitment meant to speak up and finish .

386. Denise thank you for this whole new perspective on taking responsibility and speaking my truth, It would never have occurred to me to complain about inappropriate content on the television, my response would be not to watch that programme any more – which I can appreciate does not support the wider community.

387. Yes, we cannot not express – if I do not say what I feel I hold back and this is my expression and what I inspire others in: holding back. This is hurting all of us.

388. Thank you Denise, I came to a similar awareness recently. I saw that thinking about something that harmed another or the world was not the same as doing something about it. You show us the importance of each one of us taking personal responsibility, expressing truth, and not holding back. When we don’t, we join the millions of other silent witnesses who are thinkers, not active participants in healing the world.

389. I have recently become more attuned to the fact that when you say nothing, you are still saying something.

     But what is that something?

     Is that something saying that you are alright, in this case, about a lie being told?
     is this something saying that it is ok to misguide someone to believe that a lie is true?

     It is very empowering for everyone to speak up, as you never know who it will affect.

390. Denise, what you have expressed is a wake up call for me because you are so right in that we need to express truth in every part of our lives and holding back is irresponsible. Sometimes we are so conditioned with what we see on TV or in a magazine/ paper or what we hear from colleagues that we don’t register the truth-less-ness in it. And sometimes in these situations it is easier to not say anything but in doing this we are choosing individualism over connectedness and there is no brotherhood with such irresponsibility.

391. Thanks Denise for taking responsibility and speaking your truth. Your point about holding back even if it is a little bit, is too a lie has led me to ponder on how much I do this. I may speak part truth, or sometimes completely hold back. Your blog has exposed to me the lies that I am still offering the world by holding back.

392. Great point you have made here Denise.
     ‘While I was not expressing what I really felt in full, I was choosing to not claim my truth, the whole truth, myself.’- capping our ability to be able to fully appreciate and accept our innate amazingness, from where responsibility naturally flows forth.

393. Excellent post Denise Cavanough and well said. Thank You.
     I love it when you say “a lie is a lie, even 1% a lie”. YES we ALL collectively have a responsibility and I agree that when we hold back and not speak our truth, we are actually adding to the lies in this world.
     I find myself in situations where the choice to speak my truth is presented to me and it could be awkward, confronting, challenging or the person is ‘nice’. In that moment, how I respond is up to me but what I have found over and over again is if I avoid, evade, ignore or simply turn away from delivering the truth, it is presented again so there is no getting away from it.
     Call it a co-incidence but as I write this, my window cleaner has a mobile phone in one hand and cleaning the window at the same time and the banging noise on the window was not the way he normally does it. I had a choice ignore it and be nice or go out and tell him. I chose the latter and gave him an understanding. He stopped and did not react and of course he got it. I have no tension in my body by acting on what I felt.
     I did not want to do it but for me not speaking the truth is not an option. It is just the way I choose to live and I cannot imagine another way now – thanks to the work of Serge Benhayon and Universal Medicine.

394. I love the point that a lie is a lie whether 50% a lie or 15% a lie and the point about if we are holding back then we contribute to the energy of lying. This is actually very confronting and I can feel how I have so much more to say. Thankfully we are all connected and thus I get to be inspired by these words Denise.

395. Denise awesome reminder “a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie”.
     Something that is intrenched in society is our inability to stand up and say this is not right. So many of us sit by and watch as our screens on the television and lap tops are filled with inappropriate visuals. We become so used to seeing it we let it go which of course is a detriment to the whole of society. I love that you took a stand, I too am finding myself standing up more to things that I know are not true, it is so necessary if we are to heal the mess we currently are in.

396. Well said Denise. Flying under the radar is not an option as we all need to play our part in standing up for truth. I remember being told as a child to be seen and not heard and now know how dis-empowering that can be, for as you say, it is about ‘taking responsibility for my part in the whole picture, and my part doesn’t end with me . . . we are all connected’..

397. What you say Denise is very important. It is only in recent years that I have come to understand the great harm to me and others in all the unsaid things. How by not expressing what I know to be true I am lying. How love and truth are from the same source and therefore anything expressed without love is never true however “right” or clever the words might sound. Unimedpedia Truth gives more insights into the energetic meaning of Truth and can be found here: http://www.unimedliving.com/unimedpedia/word-index/Unimedpedia-Truth.html – well worth a visit!

398. Thank you Denise for bringing attention to expressing the truth which leaves no room for anything else. Lies come in all disguises and expressing in full eliminates any form of lying.

399. This is great Denise. There is no middle ground. We are either speaking the truth or not speaking the truth. And to not say anything is to let the lies go unchecked therefore we are not standing up for truth. Very simple really.

400. Thank you for this Denise, it’s given me a lot to consider. Not just in the verbal speech of what I feel to be true but in all my expressions, how I move my body for example – is it hard and rigid, thus presenting to the world a lie as to how I can actually move and be day to day? Or am I allowing myself to be aware of my body and release these held onto tensions. I am finding that when I release these tensions my truth can be more easily felt and thus expressed.

401. There are so many times I have held back from writing, emailing or phoning someone to express the truth of what I have felt. When I have done this it plays over in my head, why, because I knew the truth was there to be expressed and I didn’t act upon it. There was something that came up the other day, and I brushed it off with the ‘Can I do that?’ thoughts, ‘Am I being too much?’, when I knew what I had to share would support people. It has come back a few times since then, and was the first thing that came to mind when reading this blog, which has only confirmed my feelings.

402. I absolutely love this blog Denise. Truth is everything, huge and so important to me – and reading this only confirms my feelings. For too long I have held back in expressing everything in full, and I know I don’t have to, nor do I want to. I can feel how even one discussion in truth anywhere in the world, affects everybody – as one person opens up and expresses the truth, it then allows the same opportunity for everybody. No matter who or where they are. For too long we have been told or led to believe that one voice does not matter, how will that change anything etc. This is a lie.

     It is actually much bigger – in that one moment of expressing truth, no matter what or where it is – everyone will feel it. It allows for us all to connect to and express our truth.

403. For me it has taken some time to get used to speaking up after so many years of holding back, but the more I do it, the more natural it feels. Speaking our truth, lovingly so, is healing for all of us and as you say Denise – all of us speaking our truth has the ability to change the world, and it will.

404. Taking ownership of everything we see is a way to affect true change in the world. For if we don’t speak up when we see something wrong nothing will change. We can all say in private that something isn’t right but even if thousands of people feel this it is not as powerful as the one that stands up and says it loud for all to hear. Great to read your account Denise and your role in the bigger picture.

405. Denise your blog is so inspiring to read and brings much to ponder upon regarding our expression and holding back. It makes sense to me that this feeds and continues to support the consciousness of the lies in the world…. a very sobering thought and the unseen web that weaves itself through everything in our world from this feels cloying, restrictive and very controlling. Yikes – feeling this in my body in this moment is awful!
     “…but what has been empowering for me is to claim that a lie is a lie – equally so when unspoken. And a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie. This made me look at lying from a different point of view. What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?”

406. It hurts deeply in my body, when I am in a situation and I hold back saying the truth, because I am scared of any reaction. Most of the time I don’t hold back and I know how confronting that is for many people.
     But what I realized as well is, that if any investment or reaction is involved in speaking my truth in this moment, me expressing then can be very harming.

407. “What if when I don’t choose to express, and hold back from saying what I really feel, that this is also adding to all the lies in the world?”

     When we hold back from the truth, even with that 1% lie (because it softens the blow, or does not seem that important) we add another layer to the foundation of what is accepted as normal. It is all those layers over time that have created what we know of as society. The layers have to be peeled back, one at a time: so that phone call to complain, or choice not to accept a situation is vital in breaking down what prevails, and start to create a new normal.

408. Thank you Denise for standing up for truth and also for reminding me that a lie can just be about not being 100 percent true in my expression. I can see that anything not fully expressed is hiding something I have not been aware of. With this understanding I can develop my awareness of how I express – fully or not – and then change the behaviours that mask the true being – me.

409. “By us all taking responsibility for speaking our truth, we have the potential to change the world. We have always been taught that love is about being nice, but what if love is delivering truth?” Fantastic post Denise. Taking responsibility for everything we think, say and do is so important. If we stand by and say/do nothing, we are condoning an action.

410. This is very powerful Denise, and making me feel uncomfortable about how I have stayed quiet when I can see lies around me. I used to think that everyone was entitled to their own opinion, and still hold this to be true, but that includes me also speaking up when I need to claim truth.

411. Wow, Denise I sure felt the power and clarity radiating from your writing as you shared your truth. It also greatly inspires me to speak my truth when it is called for and to not hold back. And I absolutely love the truth in this line: “When we are choosing to speak truth we are delivering love – in an absolute way.” Awesome blog!

412. It is only recently that I have realised that not saying anything in the face of a lie is, in effect, agreeing with it. When I keep quiet and don’t say anything I am actually saying a lot. I am saying, “Go ahead, tell lies, I won’t say anything so it is OK for you to be lying like this.” The same goes for abusive and unkind behaviour – it is looking the other way and allowing it to happen – so contributing in full.

413. Wow this is so powerful Denise, and what you have written here has just been shown to me too, so a perfect time to read your blog and confirm what I had been feeling. When I hold back I am in affect lying because I am not saying what I have felt. Up to this point I had never seen holding back as lying. Just because I don’t say the words and just think them does not mean that no one will know, there are consequences and it can affect other people. I love this sentence it says so much about truth “It is a HUGE responsibility for all of us to take ownership of the whole picture and the part we play by expressing in each moment what we feel is our truth”.

414. Yes Denise I feel the same in tune with you in this very moment. Your blog is for me pure medicine to encourage me to express the truth in a situation that needs it.
     Thank you.

415. The Australian culture is notorious for its apathetic approach to issues of note, I think most people would say Australian’s (of which I am one) are “laid back”, but another way of looking at it would be to say there is a culture of not speaking up, of thinking that the issues in the world will get sorted out by someone else. This blog is saying it is more even than that – it asks us to be discerning about what is going on in the world whether that be in our own backyard, or in the greater world. And then once we are discerning, and interested, we act and speak about what is not right. Thank you Denise.

416. Thank you for sharing Denise, I fully agree that truth is either truth or it is not – there is a very clear line. When fragments of truth are spoken it is when people get confused. I love when you said: “Everything I don’t say is as important and relevant as everything I do say”. So often I have walked away from conversations not saying what I felt to and then having those thoughts circling my mind, whereas when I speak and say what I am feeling, everything then completes. There are no after thoughts of ‘I should have said this or that’. People then get to see the real me and not a version I have put on to please them.

417. wow! excellent blog Denise. ” a lie is a lie if it is 80% a lie or 1% a lie” this is huge! especially because when we are saying something that is 99% true, we are still holding back from the FULL truth.

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