Secrets

How do I do my life with no more secrets,
Have open honest living here in love;
Where we can be ourselves, no fear or favour,
And live our lives together, like above?

We used to live that way when we were children,
We'd freely chat about each passing day;
Somehow as we grew up we grew more cautious,
Then secrecy crept in to spoil our play.

An honest life it is for alcoholics,
A life of Spirit driving all their acts;
For lies and deadness pave the way to madness,
They look around, and plainly see those facts.

Somehow we quickly scurry to the shadows,
Stay silent as we clothe ourselves in leaves;
Say ‘nothing’ when we're asked what we were doing,
And skirt around the truth ‘Sir, if you please’.

For we don't live above like we're in heaven
But here on Earth, where fear and danger lie;
Though we may long for honesty and reason,
We live with fear lest danger have us die.

Some people skit along like leaves in autumn,
Which swirls of wind sweep merrily aside;
They flee in fear as if someone were chasing –
What chases them is living deep inside.

“If others see what person I am really,
They'll dump me, throw me out, or me despise;
So I'll tell them I am the kind of person,
I think they like to see before their eyes.

“For I can't reach the standard I'm now setting;
I follow it, like north star in the skies;
But I can't live there, build my home, no lying;
I'll end each day in failure, me despise.”

Ease up, my man, that star is for direction;
Each step you take leads closer to your home;
We struggle here, and quickly lose direction,
But better than before – we no more roam.

Push limits of your growth in that direction;
Take risks, make little forays into truth;
You'll find it's not so bad, this honest living;
And energy you'll save avoiding sleuths.

Sometimes I find much later I'm the loser
For having tiptoed around in fake disguise;
If I'd just spoken words of life and meaning
All trouble we'd have missed, including lies.

But how do we move on from this deception
And twisting conversations with such talk?
Six steps a fellow gave me while in business,
To help me grow beyond the way I walked:

“It took some time to be in this position,
So cut some slack to change direction too.
Six months should see you far along that pathway,
With others thinking, speaking well of you.

“You've broken trust, two years it takes to mend it;
Accept that fact, and buckle down to work;
In two years if they still despise your presence,
The problems theirs, ‘Wake up! I'm not a jerk’.

“Avoid temptations lair, stay out of places
Where you found lying easy in the past;
Say, ‘no, I cannot walk that road, I'm sorry’,
Why ask for trouble – you'll get there at last.

“When you goof up go make amends quite quickly,
The pain of it will help in future days;
Admitting that we've failed in our endeavour
Spurs us to tell the truth in all our ways.

“Watch what it is you seem to dodge most often,
Sometimes it tells us where the trouble is;
What scares us, really, in our daily living?
Address that problem – that's where the freedom is.

“Celebrate the times of truthful speaking;
Don't focus on your failure to do right;
Life is a mix of both, for all our trying –
Accept that there's a gray, though out of sight.”

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