Be square with yourself. Be straight out. It is not for you to kid yourself. Words do not make something so.

In terms of the eyes of the world, you do not have to be perfect. You are not looking for perfection. You are looking to be honest and direct with yourself. You tell the truth to yourself. You do not pretend something away. You speak truthfully to yourself. You are quick to pick up the unreliability of excuses that others make for themselves. You see it again and again. Now I ask you to be truthful to yourself. No pretending truth away.

You are now taking responsibility for yourself. You do not try to get away with anything. You don’t pretend anything. You don’t make up stories to yourself so you will feel good. Certainly, you do not put yourself down, nor, surely, do you build yourself up with pretense. It is good to have a solid foundation. Let self-honesty be your foundation. It is sturdy.

You don’t have to be a whiz in the world. You don’t have to be the best anything. You do have to be truthful. No longer do you excuse yourself from truthfulness. You are a harkener of the future. You set the tone for the world. Support yourself.

Of course, you do your best, yet that you do your best is not an excuse. It is not that you have to excel in everything or anything. You do want to excel in being truthful to yourself.

There is no need to make up stories. There is need to be truthful.

If you really desire to feel good, be true to yourself.

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you, when I say to be honest with yourself? You become a man or woman of truth. You follow truth. You are honest. You don’t fudge on tests. You don’t cheat. Cheating is always cheating yourself. You simply do not skimp on truth.

Never do I want you to be hard on yourself. I do want you to be straight with yourself. Be one who doesn’t evade the truth. You look it straight in the eye. Stand on solid ground, beloveds. Be not slippery with yourself. Do not say you filled the gas tank unless you did fill the gas tank.

That you forget is not an excuse. You may honestly have forgotten. You don’t beat yourself up because you forgot. Nor is it okay to constantly forget and excuse yourself from forgetting as though it is all right to forget.

What We are talking about is taking responsibility for your actions, reactions, and inaction. You do not pawn off your responsibility on to someone else or to something else. Rely on yourself. Rely on yourself to be frank with yourself. Be your own best friend. Be not hard on yourself nor be over-easy on yourself. Have one simple command, and that is to be true to yourself. Let the stories you tell yourself mean something. What is the point in pretending anyway?

Say what is so, and do not say what is not so.

Let no one have such power over you that the only way for you to live is by making up stories. That is not a habit to develop.

Think of it, if everyone spoke truthfully. Think of it, if there were no slipping and sliding with truth. Think of how good it feels to rely on yourself, to be dependable, to be willing to like yourself. On a solid foundation, you would not be so tired. You would be on solid ground.

It is a great consideration for yourself to be truthful. There would be no cover-ups. You would simply look yourself in the eye and you would speak truth as a matter of course. You would be light of heart. Heaviness of heart would leave. You would unpack your heart and make life simple.