On Speaking Your Truth (and how to release the outcome)
Dear friends,
How difficult is it for you to stand up for yourself in a way that honors your spirit and soul and yet allows you to release the outcome? If you are like me, this might be difficult. As I write from the heart about my experiences, I have had many days where after I hit the publish on a post I want to take it back. One such day was the day I poured out my heart and soul on my empath post.
I was getting messages, friend requests and more. The Facebook fan page always welcomes my fans and I appreciate your many messages of support. What I did not expect was outright plagiarism of my work. This did not come my fans, but other sites claiming to work from the heart. Working from the heart, using my experiences. Interesting.
So as I work through speaking the truth without fear of my voice being stolen, I would like to offer you some advice. <<< By the way, I feel like Ariel and the Sea-witch Ursula. Sites trying to lure people in…using other voices. <<< For real.
On Speaking Your Truth:
- Live by being authentic. If I would advise you on something, I better be ready to do the same thing. I want to give you genuine advice that I would want given to me. That is pretty simple to follow.
- Live by example. If you tell the world that you wouldn’t do something, but you do it anyway, well, there really is no truth in that. My for example is that now the site of my stolen work has a disclaimer saying I can nicely ask them to take it down. I tried that, but then they just re-wrote it slightly different, still using my experiences. Interesting.
- Have the courage to speak up…without fear that you are doing something wrong. You know the old saying, two wrongs don’t make a right? Well, if you speak up about an issue that is important to you, and you do so in a manner that is true to you, as nice as you think you can be in this situation just stating plain facts, you are doing what you felt called to do. You can still walk away with your head high because you tried to do the right thing.
- Only take care of you. This one is hard because you really want the other person to do the right thing and understand how you feel in this situation, but the bottom line is, they might not care. You can’t micromanage the feelings that the other person should have. This is very difficult if you are someone who feels very deeply. The other person might be emotionally detached from the situation and therefore, just not be invested in the outcome like you are.
- Let. It. Go. How many of you get to this point, but just stay in the driver seat like Thelma and Louise going over the cliff? Yup. You are not sure what to do. I get it because I am just like you. Letting go requires that we have a greater faith in the universe and God (or whatever you believe), and that we are being supported as we go through the hard things in life. Trust me. You guys have read my about me. I honestly believe that I am being supported as I navigate life and that each step is to show me something I might not have considered before.
As I stared at my work being taken, a feeling of sadness overtook me. What am I supposed to learn from this? How can I protect myself and my readers?
If you read through a blog article and you get to the bottom of the article, look to see if the source is there, really hidden away. If it was taken from another blog without that person knowing, go directly to the blog and say something like “Hey, I just read this on this site called Steal All Your Stuff (fake name).” Here is where I found it, and copy the link. These sites have no photos usually of the owner and appear to have fake names as well. Why are they hiding?
Usually, if permission was given, the source will be credited right at the beginning saying guest post from X. Or used with author’s permission from X source. It will be boldly at the top…not hidden away, with another author’s name at the top like they wrote it. Also, what I have found is that sites who work correctly also give a nice author’s bio at the bottom. This benefits both sites. It shows that the author has in fact, given his/her blessing.
It’s sometimes difficult to be an advocate for yourself, but hopefully if you advocate for others, it will get easier to tell your truth as well.
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