Blog entry for:

often, it is not what i say, but the way i say it, that really matters. as i have discovered or better put uncovered across the course of the past year, this is an important idea to remember. yes i had to set some boundaries, and yes i had to get some of my closest friends and associates on the other side of those boundaries, and yes what i said was the truth as i felt is. HOWEVER how i said, what absolutely needed to be said was quite s different story. in my haste to be assertive, i lacked any of the diplomacy that i have developed across the course of living. it is true, that i understand what politics and spinning the truth are all about. it is also true, that i was and still can be a puppet-master, manipulating others into what i want them to do. the irony here, is that when i attempt to step beyond the limitations of such behaviors, and be honest and genuine, i often bruise a feeling or two. do i need to apologize for that? of course. do i need to make amends, not hardly, except in the living sense, of doing better to express what i am feeling in a kinder, gentler fashion. learning how to balance the truth and diplomacy seems to be a bit hypocritical to me, at least on the surface. is it really disingenuous to provide some honey with the bitter brew that i am about to serve up? well, what i heard in the reading this morning, is that is not necessarily a bad thing. the honey i am speaking of is not flattery and being complimentary -- i hate when that comes at me, and there are people who wield compliments like weapons, then tell me they really mean it, that they do not just blow smoke, despite the evidence to the contrary. no the honey i am referring to in this instance, is to change my tone, choose my words more carefully and aim to educate rather than wound.
so anyhow, working on how i say stuff is an important task for this day, especially since what i desire the most these days is to have an overall positive net effect on the world around me. so it is off to have a positive effect on myself, by a quick trotting tour of my neighborhood, it is after all a good day to live.

∞ DT ∞