Emotional Honesty

“Could you imagine how horrible things would be if we always told others how we felt? Life would be intolerably bearable.” – Randy K. Milholland

That is my thought for the day. I don’t really know why, but it just seems to fit. Humans as a species are idiots. They hide everything they feel from one another for fear that they will get hurt. They lock up all their emotions inside and show the world a carefully constructed façade in an attempt to avoid hurting.

Then, when we do finally get up the courage to risk exposing ourselves to the world, most people still don’t do it in a straightforward way. They play little games and make sly comments in which they think they are dropping hints about things. The thing is, because we all know that everyone hides their feelings, most people don’t catch on to the hints because they assume that nobody will actually reveal their feelings. Then, because they miss the hints and signals, the people dropping the hints get upset with them. This leads to confusion, anger, and plain ol’ confusion.

Now sure, when you tell someone how you feel, you are exposing yourself to them. At that point you are reaching into your chest, removing your heart, and holding in your outstretched palm. Any number of things can happen at this point. They can respond by taking out their heart in return, or they could laugh gleefully as they throw your heart to the floor and begin jumping on it. Sure, it can hurt like hell, and the pain might not go away for a good long while, but at the same time, keeping that kind of thing inside is what has led our society to the state it is currently in.

Look around our country today and you will find that the entire population is in some state of denial about their own feelings. Nobody is completely open with anyone. Everybody has some kind of secret feelings that they don’t expose.

So here is my challenge to myself and anyone reading this. Be honest with everyone in your life. Tell people how you feel about them. If it screws things up, at least you now know and can move on with life. Don’t pussyfoot around people anymore. If you don’t like someone, don’t pretend to be nice to them when they are around and then turn around and bitch about them when they leave. If you love someone, tell them that you love them. If someone has kept you sane when you would have otherwise killed someone or yourself, sit them down and let them know that they have helped you. Don’t keep things inside to fester. That kind of thing is never good for anyone.

“Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” – Henry Rollins

If you have a friend worth loving,
Love him. Yes, and let him know
That you love him, ere life’s evening
Tinge his brow with sunset glow.
Why should good words ne’er be said
Of a friend till he is dead?
- Daniel W. Hoyt

“Live this day as if it will be your last. Remember that you will only find ''tomorrow'' on the calendars of fools. Forget yesterday's defeats and ignore the problems of tomorrow. This is it. Doomsday. All you have. Make it the best day of your year. The saddest words you can ever utter are, ''If I had my life to live over again. ''Take the baton, now. Run with it! This is your day! Beginning today, treat everyone you meet, friend or foe, loved one or stranger, as if they were going to be dead at midnight. Extend to each person, no matter how trivial the contact, all the care and kindness and understanding and love that you can muster, and do it with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again.” – Og Mandino

“Somebody should tell us, right at the start of our lives, that we are dying. Then we might live life to the limit, every minute of every day. Do it! I say. Whatever you want to do, do it now! There are only so many tomorrows.” - Pope Paul VI

“If you had one phone call to make before you died, who would you call, what would you say, and why are you WAITING?!”

“The most human thing we have to do in life is to learn to speak our honest convictions and feelings and live with the consequences. This is the first requirement of love, and it makes us vulnerable to other people who may ridicule us. But our vulnerability is the only thing we can give to other people.” – Leo F. Buscaglia