speaking-up

What good are words if no one believes them?

Breaking our silence is powerful. Whether it comes as a whisper or a squeak at first, allow that sense of spaciousness, of opening, allow yourself to trust the bottomlessness, and lean into the dark roar which will light up every cell.Though it may start softly, we build in confidence and skills, we realise we do not need to wait for permission before we open our mouths. We do not need to wait for others to make space for us, we can take it. We do not need to read from others_ scripts or style ourselves in weak comparison. We do not need to look to another__ authority because we have our own. Down in our cores. We have waited so long for permission to know that it was our time, our turn on stage. That time is now. Our voices are being heard into being. They are needed.

Let today mark a new beginning for you. Give yourself permission to say NO without feeling guilty, mean, or selfish. Anybody who gets upset and/or expects you to say YES all of the time clearly doesn__ have your best interest at heart. Always remember: You have a right to say NO without having to explain yourself. Be at peace with your decisions.

It__ not unpatriotic to denounce an injustice committed on our behalf, perhaps it__ the most patriotic thing we can do.

Sometimes Truth cannot be silenced.

Only by speaking out can we create lasting change. And that change begins with coming out.

I am strong and human with a mouth that works like a man__ and a more intelligible brain, and I demand to be heard.

To say nothing is saying something. You must denounce things you are against or one might believe that you support things you really do not.

Call Stella 'Trash Can Girl' again and I'll beat the h--- out of you. In fact, call her or anyone else anything ever again and I'll do the same. I'm done saying nothing. I'm done letting you treat people like crap. Do you hear me?

...it only takes one voice, at the right pitch, to start an avalanche.

When God grabs you by the scruff of the neck then although theoretically you have a freedom to say 'no', in another sense, actually, you can't say no because it's like Jeremiah. 'God, you have cheated me. You called me to be a prophet against the people that I love, and all that I proclaim is words of doom and judgement.' And yet if I say "I will shut up", I can't.

But you know all about that, being sorry and having no words to say something when you know you should but you just can't

Speaking up is important. Yet to speak up without listening is like banging pots and pans together: Even if it gets you attention, it__ not going to get you respect.

Choosing with integrity means finding ways to speak up that honor your reality, the reality of others, and your willingness to meet in the center of that large field. It__ hard sometimes.