True to Ourselves

This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow as the night the day, thou 'canst not then be false to any man.

~~William Shakespeare~~

To thine own self be true. A grounding statement for those of us who get caught up in the storm of needs and feelings of others.
Listen to the self. What do we need? Are those needs getting met? What do we feel? What do we need to do to take care of our feelings? What are our feelings telling us about ourselves and the direction we need to go?
What do we want to do or say? What are our instincts telling us? Trust them -- even if they don't make sense or meet other people's rules and expectations.
Sometimes, the demands of other people and our confused expectations of ourselves -- the messages about our responsibilities toward others -- can create a tremendous, complicated mess.
We can even convince ourselves that people-pleasing, going against our nature and not being honest, is the kind, honest thing to do!
Not true. Simplify. Back to basics. Let go of the confusion. by honoring and respecting ourselves, we will be true to those around us, even if we displease them momentarily.
To thine own self be true. Simple words describing a powerful task that can put us back on track.

Today, I will honor, cherish, and love myself. When confused about what to do, I will be true to myself. I will break free of the hold others and their expectations, have on me.

This meditation comes from a book called:
The Language of Letting Go
Daily Meditations for Codependent
Author: Melody Beattie




This reading was sent to me by a recovery buddy. It reminds me of the movie The Renaissance Man. There was a group of misfit soldiers put in this class where the studied Hamlet. They made up a rap song to help them understand what they were studying. The song is called "Hamlet's Rap" and it is attributed to Mark Wahlberg.

Hamlet's Rap

As sung in The Renaissance Man

From "Renaissance Man"

[All] They gotta know, they gotta know,
We gotta flow, they gotta know, they gotta know, ho
They gotta know, they gotta know,
We gotta flow, they gotta know, they gotta know, ho
They gotta know, they gotta know,
We gotta flow, they gotta know, they gotta know, ho
They gotta know, they gotta know,
We gotta flow, they gotta know, they gotta know, ho
To be or not to be
The Double D MCs are letting it be
Let be, to be or not to be

[Montgomery] MC Hobbs on the job
Ripping rhymes like the mob

[Hobbs] The shit's iller than Cape Fear, the Shakespeare saga
Started with this Prince kid, his moms and his father
His pops got took for his props undercover by his brother, man
[damn]
Now his brother's king lover, man
Actin' real trite he took his brother's life
For his green and to sex up his queen
But the prince, he ain't goin' for it, he's out for revenge
His pop's ghost comes and then

[Montgomery] Dammit, Hamlet, those are your ends!
So just chill and cool for now
Play the fool until you take him out
Cuz all eyes is on you, so the one way or another,
It's a kamikaze style, or do it undercover
But either way, ya gotta say-ah, so what the hey-ah
Strap on your black and get set for the payback

[Benitez] Ain't got no gat, but he's sportin' a tool
Strap on the sword for the Laertes duel

[Leroy] Cuz he's tryin' to blame Hamlet for his sister's death
But she took her own last breath, she ain't got shhh left

[Melvin] Never heard yet
A more absurd set
Of circumstances
Murder and romances so

[Montgomery] Incest, we had to put it to rest
We had time to manifest, he stuck the dagger in the king's
chest

[All] To be or not to be
The Double D MCs is letting it be
Let be, To be or not to be
The Double D MCs is letting it be
Let be, To be or not to be

[Ophelia]
The Double D MCs is letting it be
Let be, To be or not to be
The Double D MCs is letting it be
Go Hamlet, go Hamlet, go Hamlet, go Hamlet.


Last night in my RCIA class the deacon told me that I have a special gift. He thinks I have the gift to discern spirits and told me that he believed that I was called to be a holy prayer warrior. I'm not so sure that I agree with him. The way he described it to me sounded like a huge responsibility. I'm not so sure I'm ready for anything this heavy.

But I will agree with a few things. There's a tug of war going on between good and evil. I also agree that love is the only way to overcome hate. This is a spiritual war. With all of that I will agree.