Do you recall certain phrases or fables which express a truth that is repeatedly revealed in your consciousness?
It may strike you in the moment, but no matter what seems to happen, how much information you process, or how busy you are the basic tenant just seems to stick.
Years ago, at one of the first Leadership Summits (now called the Global Leadership Summit) I heard Mike Singletary speak. Mike was a hard-nosed, all-pro middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears. He was known for his superhuman work ethic in studying the game films of opposing teams. He was as engaging and intense in this leadership talk as he was on the gridiron. He planted a seed that day that has sprouted into one of the mantras of my life. In fact, my adult children will tell you that they’ve heard it ad nauseam.
“Truth and time walk hand in hand!”
That’s it! When I first heard it I don’t think I was stunned or blown away. I didn’t even turn to my fellow participants and say, “Have you ever heard an expression so rich?” Yet, this seed has germinated over the years and now is one of the staples of my life and one I share with my coaching clients.
“Truth and time walk hand in hand!”
If we are patient…If we trust…If we just wait…the truth will be exposed over time.
It probably won’t be revealed as quickly as we may like. It probably won’t be unraveled at the pace we may like. And when it is revealed we may not even like the effect it may generate.
The reason I struggle with this, and you may too, is that I like to be in control. I want to make sure that I am a handler of truth, dispensing it at my will, on my command. Much like my DVR, when I want it, I get it! However, life is not my remote.
Truth is a gift to be handled with integrity, with a sacred sense of honor.
Those who seek to manipulate the truth or bully others with their perception of the truth will eventually be faced with a stark reality – you can only “manage” perception for so long before the truth is revealed. Over time the real truth will be exposed. “Truth and time walk hand in hand!”
What makes this even more mysterious is that neuro-science is teaching us that the limbic part of our brain, which has no capacity for language, expresses what we just “know to be true” or “feel” or “sense.” So when someone is feeding us a line, a lie, a half-truth, or a crock of barn-kaka, there is something that doesn’t seem right. We just know at some level that what they are trying to sell is not true. Try as we may, to wade through the smoke-and-mirrors of their speech; we may just have to wait for the truth to be revealed.
