Lately, I have been pointed in the direction of people living their truths and it got me thinking about people who never stopped living their truths.

We can look at people like Nelson Mandela, Gandhi, Princess Diana (to an extent), every Mystic, every Sufi, every change-maker from Galileo to Omar Khayyam and every person who ever had to live under the yoke of oppression, and can conclude that these people never wavered from their own truths.  Or from truths that were presented to them.  Nelson Mandela lived in a jail cell for 27 years and kept hope alive within himself that one day his people, his nation would live freely.  I know many of you will question my choice of the late Princess Diana, however, she really did bring “touch” back to what seemed an untouchable monarchy.  Whatever her legacy, that in itself is an incredible accomplishment. When people live their truths, the universe has no choice but to unfold within those truths.

Conversely, if we look at people like Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, Zine El-Abideen Ben Ali, Hitler, Genghis Khan, can we honestly say they were living their truths?  Or were they living their greatest fears made manifest? And yet the universe seemed to unfold to their wills.  Thus, the greater lesson unfolds:  what you focus on becomes truth. If a fear is made manifest, is it because it has been focused on so much or because the peace-makers/peace-keepers in the midst stepped aside and said “this too shall pass?”

Is Bashar Al-Assad living his truth in Syria or is he living his greatest fear made manifest?  And if he is living his fears, are the people around him living their own fears?  Hitler was a vegetarian but lacked the respect for life when it came to living people of his own species.  Is that relational?  Does one have to do with the other?

Here is the most salient lesson I have learned this week:  When I present myself as I am, it will be enough.