Contact & Withdrawal, Sharing & Withholding
Hi Friends! Here’s an update on what we’ve been up to so far in 2021:
Dr. Brad Blanton has been been enjoying his recent retirement, while also working on his next book (with a little help from some friends) at his Shenandoah Valley home. It's Touch and Go is about the blessings and damnations around contact and withdrawal between our fellow human beans.
More than just a book, it will be a collection of writings, music, and videos which he envisions folks reading, listening to, and watching together while sharing their thoughts and experience in real time with one another. We'll keep you updated on its release!
Brad and friends in Virginia, April 2021
Lately, some of our Radical Honesty Trainers have appeared on recent podcasts to discuss Radical Honesty. Last week, Mak spoke with Ruben Abergel on his latest episode of Social Animal where they chat about withholding vs. sharing all of your thoughts.
Check out the following message from Mak and this short clip of his conversation with Ruben...
Should I share EVERYTHING all the time?!?
As a Radical Honesty Trainer, I'm often asked the question if being radically honest means sharing absolutely every single thought that pops into your head at every single moment?!? The answer is "no!" That's called "diarrhea of the mouth," and in any case would be an impossible task to achieve. Our minds are racing with so many manic thoughts that our mouths would wear out and fall off if we tried to speak all of that mess out loud.
After a lot of practice with Radical Honesty, we might get to a place where we are CAPABLE of saying anything to anyone at any moment, and that's a liberating place to be! AND, we will always choose what to share and when. The important thing is that we have all trained ourselves to habitually withhold important truths from each other in order to not rock the boat, to not rub the other person the wrong way, or not feel too vulnerable around the people that we care about.
That withholding creates stress and tension in our bodies, creates distance in our relationships, and creates a mental jail of our own making which protects us from the freedom and joy and exhilaration that we would otherwise feel if we would simply allow ourselves to express out loud what's really going on with us. The best way to get started being radically honest is to notice the things that you are withholding from other people and simply start sharing those things out loud.
Watch the full episode of Ruben's Social Animal Podcast on YouTube here.
We also just completed our third successful round of our 6-Week Guided *Get Over Shit and BE Happy* online course, which was led by our Certified Trainers, Michael Alan Kolb (Mak) and Selina Jung. And if you missed out, our Self-Guided version of this online course in Radical Honesty is ready for you to begin today:
We do have our fingers crossed for live workshops and retreats to return soon, and you can find our upcoming in-person events below. In the meantime, join one of our live online workshops led by Radical Honesty Trainers in both English and German.
Looking for a workshop led in Spanish or French? Let us know you're interested—we have trainers who are eager to teach Radical Honesty in many languages!