Just Be Honest

By Cindy Yates

Read Yourself into Happiness and Success...

just by being honest.

 

Just Be Honest changes how we look at EVERYTHING.

 

Cindy asks, "Do we keep our word to ourselves?" With raw vulnerability, Cindy helps others see how she rose above a very dark time because of her willingness to be honest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Atmosphere Press
• Release date: Jun 10, 2021
• ISBN: 9781637527900

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Never underestimate The Power of Honesty in a SUCCESSFUL life.

It came as a surprise to me to find that I would write a book. My background is seemingly very far from the path of an author. My college education is in business and fashion, and for a very big part of my life I have been in the beauty industry. I knew when I was very little that I wanted to help people feel beautiful. My mother was a natural beauty with amazing talents, but she lacked confidence in herself. As her little girl, I wanted so badly for her to see her beauty and gifts through my eyes. As I grew into adulthood, I found that I had a passion for helping others rise above the low self-esteem that seemed prevalent in almost everyone I met.

While on the quest of helping others feel and look their best, I discovered that it didn’t matter how physically beautiful they are—if someone doesn’t believe they are beautiful or smart or important or talented, then they aren’t in their own mind.

How we see ourselves is the only thing that matters, even if it is the furthest thing from the truth. This kind of self-deceit is so devastating to those of us who have experienced it. It creates a barrier in our minds and hinders our forward motion toward a happy, successful life.

I realized that if I sincerely wanted to help others find and love their true identity, I had to learn to work from the inside out and find a way for them to see themselves through an honest lens.

In the beginning, however, I wasn’t sure if I had the answers.

It wasn’t until I experienced a devastating loss and everything that I thought was important became irrelevant, that I found my true path. When my little boy passed into Heaven, I lost a very big part of who I was and found myself drowning in my grief. I also found that I needed to reevaluate my future.

As I was going through this very difficult time, I found that writing down my thoughts helped me have clarity. I also found that being completely honest with myself and how I was feeling, and coping, became the only way to rise above the seemingly impossible obstacles that were in my way of being happy again.

I experienced a great amount of success in my life, but I found that those success stories didn’t truly represent me fully. My work has been mostly helping others enhance their physical image and their success through business opportunities. But I now knew that my life’s work would be in helping others see themselves with a clear vision from the inside out…unzipping their outer layer and discovering their true potential.

I found value in my associations with all of the people throughout my life up to this point. Some were highly enjoyable and successful, some were terribly dysfunctional, but I learned so much from all of them. I learned what I didn’t want to emulate, and I also learned that I had weaknesses that I was not proud of. It was a difficult and painful discovery about myself. But because of this personal discovery, I have come out on the other side renewed. I have come to appreciate the gravity and great import that honesty and transparency hold in all of our lives. I cannot express enough how grateful I am to have arrived at this point in my life and possess all the insight I’ve gained through first-hand experience. I am honored to be able to share my life’s education with you.

This book is my way of sharing with you a collection of lessons I have learned through some of the most influential experiences of my life. Most are experiences that seem small and insignificant. But no matter how small, these experiences have changed my life for the better. It is one of my deepest desires that they will touch your life as well.

In the chapters of this book, I share how truths have set me free in some of the most unexpected ways. I deal with the rare subject of honesty. Honesty with ourselves, our families, our friends, and our business associates is crucial. We need to find it and bring it back as a fundamental part of our lives.

Deceit is not new. In fact, it dates back to the very beginning of time. When the Lord asked Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? Cain’s reply is one of the very first documented lies. He said to the Lord, I know not: Am I my brother’s keeper? (Genesis 4:9) Not only did he lie, but he concealed the fact that he took his brother’s life.

In our world today we find that dishonesty is part of our everyday lives. Sadly, it feels at times that it is an accepted way of communicating. For me, making honesty an integral part of who I am has made all the difference. I thought that I was honest. No one wants to think of themselves as dishonest. Throughout my life I have tried to have honesty and integrity play an important role in developing my character and those of my children. I have been on a quest of examining my life and I have found those parts of my life that need work. It is a constant struggle within us to stay true to what we stand for and to not bow or bend to the peer pressures of others.

If we are struggling with self-doubt and fear, it most certainly is coming from a place where we cannot be honest with ourselves. Being honest with ourselves will set us free and help us reach higher heights, especially when we feel it is impossible to move to the next level of our lives.

Honesty in life is learning how to listen to ourselves and be true to that voice. When we listen, and learn what makes us uniquely happy, is when we will experience the kind of success we are striving to achieve. It starts with understanding what we love to do and being honest with how this knowledge will enhance our lives. It is having the courage to take the first steps toward being our best selves.

I wish we could sit together and share stories from our lives. Our experiences have brought us so much wisdom. I know we would learn from each other and we would inspire each other. We would be uplifted and empowered to be our best selves. I would share with you the concepts and lessons that I have found and can tell you they work because I have used them in my own life, and shared them with countless others who were seeking answers.

CHAPTER ONE

Getting to Know You

Do you realize that you have everything it takes to live a completely full and happy life? You can experience success at the furthest extent that your imagination can take you and then some.

Your life is meant to be uniquely yours and deep within you is the power to be everything your heart desires. But therein lies the secret. What does your heart truly and honestly desire?

I have found that self-awareness is almost nonexistent for so many people. When you are asked what it is that you want, can you lay out the vision using colorful and descriptive words? And is it your own vision from deep within or did someone else push you toward a goal that wasn’t exactly your own? Or maybe an even more common reason that you have not found your true destiny, is because you are trying to fit into a certain mold. Maybe you have been comparing yourself to others or to an unspoken standard that someone set for you once upon a time.

Did you know that comparison is the thief of joy? Trying to keep up appearances just to fit in will result in you losing a part of yourself. Comparing yourself with others cheapens your unique abilities and gifts.

I have coached people through the years who were working toward achieving big success and for some reason that success was fleeting or not quite attainable. As we worked to sift through the reasons why, inevitably we found that the goal had never been a dream of theirs but was really a dream of a parent, a teacher, a spouse, or even a friend. Were they just trying to appease someone else because they wanted to be accepted by that person of influence in their lives or because they were afraid of the consequences of going against the expectations of others?

Deep within ourselves, we know who we are and what it is that we are meant to achieve in this life. When our vision within ourselves matches our efforts and our belief system, that is the very moment when we begin to not only experience wonderful success but deep happiness. It is a magic formula.

We all know people or know of people who have this kind of happiness and confidence that comes from leading a life that is in harmony with their innate individual destiny. For most of us it is a work in progress, but the secret is in the effort and consistency in being completely honest. It is not always easy. Sometimes we find that we are swimming upstream against the expectations and demands of others. But trust me when I say it is well worth