For the last year, my intention has been to focus on a specific spoke in the wheel of the eightfold path—Right Speech. Almost immediately after I set this intention, I experienced big challenges and big failures. The lessons learned were painful but utterly necessary to truly take Right Speech to another level. Through the process it has been easy to see how the spokes are related to one another—Right Intention and Right Speech are intertwined at every level.

My first lesson came in the form of a deep intuition of a long friendship. It was clear to me that the stories some friends had of me were not how I saw myself or my current story. I felt this disconnected undercurrent as I struggled in my new and stronger self, one that left any trace of victim aside. The new self was one that others could not recognize, and one that showed significant growing pains through repeated mistakes. Continue reading →