Truth Series: Part 1: Why Truth Matters

Welcome to part one of a four-part series, delving into the importance of living your truth.
Published May 16, 2017

“Honesty is the best policy” – who hasn’t heard that before? But all clichés aside, this old adage about truth has some, well, truth, to it.

“Your truth is the reason you are here, it is the purpose of your life, your offering to the world. When actualized, it fills you with a deep sense of fulfillment,” says Nina Taylor, an intuitive coach, yoga teacher, and writer based in Toronto.

We hear this phrase a lot these days – “your truth” or “living your truth” – but what does that really mean?

“To me, ‘living your truth’ means actualizing your innate gifts and talents in your day-to-day life,” says Taylor.

Essentially, it means living in a way that incorporates the truest essence of your being, as opposed to suppressing parts of yourself and ignoring your deepest desires or elements of your identity.

It’s important to note, Taylor says, “to live your truth is a practice, not a destination. One never arrives. Like all things in nature, our truth is constantly evolving. Our work is to develop enough clarity and self-awareness to know where we are in relation to it and how to redirect ourselves back to it, to whatever lights us up and ignites our hearts.”

She explains what it feels like when you’re successfully living your truth.

“You know you're living your truth when your life unfolds with ease and grace; everything you need seems to show up at just the right time, almost miraculously. The right people appear, the perfect opportunities present themselves, the right connections are made, all of it with very little effort on your part, if any,” Taylor says. “You'll feel an undercurrent of excitement that propels you forward, and a sense of gratitude that seems to lace itself into every experience.”

Truth and our quest for it can impact many areas of our lives, from finding our purpose, living an authentic life, to being a good parent.

Expressing authenticity and self-truth is just as important for children as it is for adults.

“The only way to raise healthy, happy, resilient and successful young adults is for parents to be true to themselves first,” says parenting expert and speaker Nola Peacock. “Children are like sponges and absorb beliefs and emotions from their parents.”

Peacock, who is based in Alberta, has worked with many young people who are stressed, struggling with depression, and even suicidal.

“I believe that a huge factor in this is kids not being allowed to be who they truly are,” Peacock says. “Parents and society have expectations of how kids should behave, talk, act and be. This rarely works. Kids need to be allowed to live authentically and parents need to show their kids how to do that.”

In our four-part truth series we will look at how to find your truth, living authentically, and coming up next week, truth’s alter ego – falsity and lying.