No doubt attracted by my intention to write about self-love this month, a book came across my path that seemed to speak to some of what I was trying to express in terms of how speaking your truth is a powerful act of loving yourself.

Click to buy from Amazon!Thinking that it might be along the lines of expressing one's feelings ... sharing resentments and such in real-time and all that, I found that author Deborah King addresses the "big" lies many of us are carrying around.. namely childhood abuses and traumas.

Her own, for example, involves an incestuous relationship with her father up to the age of 12 .. and one that she kept secret throughout her tumultuous adolescence and young adulthood, until being diagnosed with cancer when she was 25.

Heavy stuff.

I have no doubt about the mind/body connection... that what remains unexpressed in our lives, no matter how well of a job we think we're doing, will always, ALWAYS manifest in physical form. King does a wonderful job of walking the reader through each of the seven chakras... describing the physical and psychological dysfunctions of each one and how they are affected by trauma in our lives.

Her website includes a brief 20-question 'truth heals quiz', "designed to show you ways in which you may be lying to yourself".(Take the quiz below!)

Upon taking this myself, I was ranked as "one truthful dude". I suppose I feel assured by that, and yet, I don't think that this quiz, or even the scope of her book addresses the way dishonesty and inauthenticity can still operate in our present lives, even if we have faced and outed the bigger truths of a screwy childhood. Telling the truth is an ongoing process, and it is my belief that a commitment to honesty, even about 'the small stuff' is vital to maintaining health, presence and connection to self and others.

But it's a good place to start. Deborah's practice draws in a great many people suffering with chronic and acute physical issues ... some terminal. For those that are willing to accept the connection between their symptoms and the unspoken 'stories' that are eating them up from the inside, there is hope for their healing.