Your Personal Truth: A Journey to Discover Your Truth, Become Your True Self, & Live Your Truth: Master Your Mind, Revolutionize Your Life, #13

Your Personal Truth: A Journey to Discover Your Truth, Become Your True Self, & Live Your Truth

Copyright © 2021 by Issac Robledo.

All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the author. Brief passages may be quoted for review purposes.

Disclaimer

Although the author and publisher have made every effort to ensure that the information in this book was correct at press time, the author and publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause.

This book is not intended as a substitute for the medical advice of physicians. The reader should regularly consult a physician in matters relating to his/her health and particularly with respect to any symptoms that may require diagnosis or medical attention.

The views expressed are those of the author alone and should not be taken as expert instruction or commands. The reader is responsible for his or her own actions.

Adherence to all applicable laws and regulations, including international, federal, state, and local governing professional licensing, business practices, advertising, and all other aspects of doing business in the US, Canada, or any other jurisdiction is the sole responsibility of the purchaser or reader.

Neither the author nor the publisher assumes any responsibility or liability whatsoever on behalf of the purchaser or reader of these materials.

Any perceived slight of any individual or organization is purely unintentional.

Special Bonuses

For purchasing this book, I would like to give you three special bonuses:

1)  An exclusive eBook that is not accessible to the public. It is called Searching for Truth: 17 Questions to Separate Fact from Fiction. This is an actionable and practical guide that will help you see more of the truth and stop falling for the lies that are all around us. With this book, you will gain a mental toolkit that will help you to perceive reality as it is. In order to make progress at anything, first you have to acknowledge reality.

2)  A list of I. C. Robledo’s Top Book Recommendations. Readers often ask me for ideas on what they should read next. This list contains about 300 of the most insightful books I have ever read. The titles are organized conveniently into these categories: Learning & Mastery, Psychology & Sociology, Personal Development, Business & Entrepreneurship, Biographies, History & Politics, Philosophy, Science & Health, and Literature.

3)  A guide called Step Up Your Learning: Free Tools to Learn Almost Anything. If you have ever struggled to learn something, now you can discover free tools and resources to help you make rapid progress on your goals. It is essential that we learn something new every day, as this is one of the most critical skills that we possess.

You can collect these special bonuses right now or by typing this into your web browser:

Mentalmax.net/EN

How to Read This Book

Through my experience writing many books, I’ve realized that most people struggle with applying what they read. We tend to read something, set it aside, and forget about the lessons. To help you make lasting progress in your life, I’ve included thought-provoking questions to reflect on at the end of each chapter. And I’ve also included activities to help you apply what you are learning.

To get the most value from this book, you should answer the questions and perform the activities. I put a great deal of time and attention into making sure that these would help you. They are just as important as the rest of the book.

As another tip, give yourself time to work through Your Personal Truth. Take the time that you need to make sure you understand the lessons. The process of growth and learning will take what it takes—if you are in too much of a rush, you may miss something important.

For those who prefer to read speedily, you may do that on your first read-through. You can then go back through the book more slowly, answer the questions, and do the activities on your second reading.

Regardless of how you choose to read, you will need to do the work to grow as a person. This book or any book can only be a tool to help you get there. But the real work comes from within.

An Introduction to Truth

If you seek Truth, you will be alone forever. You will not have the conversations you long for. You will feel out of place in this world. You will stand as a red spot against a pale sky (And a beacon on the vast horizon).

— Kapil Gupta

When I was 16 years old, my cousin Salvador asked me, What do you want to get out of life? I thought for a moment, and I said, Truth. Truth is what I’m after.

I’ve been searching for the truth for quite a long time, and it has not been easy to find. The quote above by Kapil Gupta is the most precise quote I could find about what it means to seek Truth. If the passage scares you, that is okay. The truth can be scary. We must be brave nonetheless and pursue it wholeheartedly for ourselves. The fact that you are here reading this now demonstrates that you are ready.

Despite the ups and downs and twists and turns of my truth-seeking experience, I have learned great lessons along the way that could offer a road map to Your Personal Truth. This book will help unlock your journey and path that you must take to get to your truth. I will discuss my journey, but this is just to give you a hint as to what you may find on yours.

A core truth of mine is that we all have our own Truth. For many of us, this truth manifests as our own Tao—meaning a path, road, or way. Our truth becomes our way of life, which is why many of us can become so offended or upset if someone contradicts us. We take it personally because we have adopted certain ideas as being entirely accurate and irrefutable and as a part of ourselves. When you refute my core truths, you are denying me and hurting me. This is how we tend to feel, anyway.

Of course, some people will say that there is truth and falseness—and there is nothing in between. In theory, this seems reasonable. But in reality, there is so much that we do not know. There is no clear way to prove that something is true—we just collect more evidence to support an idea. But if one particular piece of data does not line up with the expectation, what you thought was true can be proven false. Often, our truths haven’t been proven wrong yet.

Truth seems to depend on the time scale. Is a specific fact valid for a month, a year, decades, centuries, or millennia? Given enough time, the situation tends to change. What was true becomes false. Or what was false becomes true. For example, humans exist. You can look at yourself or those around you and see that this is obvious. But did humans exist 100 million years ago? No. Will they be here in another 100 million years? I would guess not, at least not in the same way that we exist today. The Truth that humans exist is limited by the period that we are looking at, which may be the case with countless other ideas.

If someone claims to know it all or have all the answers, this becomes problematic. In many cases, we may just hold different perspectives on an issue. Many of us will strive to find one single truth that will explain everything, but all we have in the end may be multiple points of view. You have your Truth or Tao, and I have mine.

Think of it. What types of perspectives do you tend to hold?

Keep in mind that mathematics offers a perspective. Someone’s story or personal experience provides another view. Different authors on a topic provide different perspectives and approaches. But not all viewpoints are created equal. Some may have more support behind them than others. Still, they are different ways of viewing the world.

I see many truths in this world—many ways of seeing, believing, and perceiving. But when I was younger, I had this illusion that I must pursue one single truth. There was the Truth, and that was all. It had this holy, noble feeling, but where is the evidence for a single truth? It would be simpler if there were just one truth, but in reality, there may not be a single fact in existence for which the whole world would be in agreement. Of course, a world of many truths sounds complicated and inelegant—we don’t want to accept it, but this is a practical reality. I can have my truths, and you can have yours.

To elaborate, as a personal truth, one person may see the world as mostly happy. Others may see it as sad. The happy person smiles at everyone and sees that most people he comes across are also happy. The sad person goes around frowning at everyone and sees that most people he comes across are sad. The truths that we hold end up creating the world around us.

Our truths hold immense power. The ones we choose for ourselves tend to become our reality, the more that we believe in them. Everyone I know believes in money. And so, money holds tremendous power and is as valid as anything else. But if I find a remote society that doesn’t use any currency, they will laugh at our paper money and tell us it is worthless. For my community, money is real and valuable. For another, it is as true as a child’s imaginary friend.

I speak of truth here as depending on how much we believe in an idea or on our perspective, and this isn’t the Truth we were brought up to understand. Truth for most of us is a matter of what is a fact and what is not. But I say that the facts depend on us, especially when dealing with our own lives, social dynamics, life choices, and values or beliefs.

When dealing with ideas personal to you, qualities unique to you, and your life perspective, you get to choose your truth. No one can decide some matters except for you.

Who will better know the truth of your life than You?

I am not saying that my truth is the sun exists, and perhaps someone else has an alternative belief. I say that maybe one person’s truth is that we all need to love each other. Someone else’s truth could be that we all need to love our closest family members and friends and not worry so much about the rest. Which one is true? It depends, as we will all have to select such truths for ourselves.

Laws, science, and mathematics can only answer the most direct and obvious cases of what is true and false. We must figure out our truth for all the gray areas or all the uncertainties of life. It just so happens that these uncertain parts of our lives can make up quite a large portion of life itself.

The real world will not provide us with an easy and direct path toward truth. You must decide that some things are true for you, and others are not. Suppose there is a lack of evidence for something that you used to believe. In that case, you can search for more evidence to see if there is another truth that you had perhaps not considered.

Some readers may be thinking that some things are a matter of belief, others are perspective, and others are truth. And that is fine. But my view is that there is a point where all of these things can fuse into one. I can get to a point where I understand something about myself so firmly that no one else on the planet could tell me otherwise. No one else could be a higher expert on who I am than me. And perhaps I could reach such a point with other things if I focus on them, learn about them, speak to experts, test out ideas for myself, and so on. There is a point where I can arrive at truths that others may refer to merely as beliefs. And I am okay with that.

I’m never going to figure out a truth that will convince the world. But if I can find the truth that convinces me, and I aspire to the highest standard of truth, then isn’t that good enough? Doesn’t that mean something?

Let’s consider another example of what it means to search for a Personal Truth.

If I am interested in peace, and I learn all about peace, and I practice peace, then what will happen? Perhaps I get to a point where every single thought and action with me is peaceful. Then we can say that peace is my truth. In that case, someone comes to me and says I am a fool; there are wars, domestic abuses, gun violence, and so on all over the world. Then I tell him yes, that is the state of the world, but not the state of me. My state is peace, and peace is my truth. I have become the embodiment of peace.

But his life has become all about violence and frustration, and he smacks me in the face because he disagrees with me. When this happens, many people may question how peaceful they really are. But this situation would just be a test of how much I truly am at peace. I could redirect his attention to the birds singing and the kids laughing and tell him that there is peace waiting for him too. Or I could slap him back, but of course, that would shatter all of the peace I had created for myself.

If I spend my life struggling to find peace, and then I finally get there, and no one can take it from me, then my truth has led me to peace. This is Truth because it rises beyond the idea of perspective or belief. It becomes my life at that point.

Ultimately, this book is about asking yourself:

What matters in this life?

What is Your Personal Truth?

Facts that are well documented, such as the names of body parts, are not in question here. Look those up in an encyclopedia if you wish. But the truths that will guide your life, or keep you up at night, or lead you to your life’s purpose are the ones that will matter the most to us in the end.

Your Personal Truths will be the ones that you work for, that are tested personally, that cost you a piece of yourself, but which give you so much more in the end. We will learn them through trials and tribulations. For example, when you thought you could go no more, and another obstacle presents itself. Yet, rather than slip and fall, you muster up some courage and strength and prove that you are better than you thought. This is when you learn new and profound truths that mean something.

Now, allow me to tell you how my truth journey began, as my cousin Salvador helped me embark on this path.

At just 16 years old, I realized that I needed to seek truth, but I had no idea how to do it. I had no road map, and I thought I did not have a guide. But my first guide was Salvador. One of the best thinking tools we all have is just in asking the right questions. I’m not sure how much longer it would have taken me to realize my life’s purpose of seeking truth had he not asked me that straightforward question: What do you want to get out of life?

Now, I can see that many people in my life guided me along in finding my truth. Interestingly, the people who helped me never insisted that they had the one right way to show me. Usually, they showed me their perspective, way of thinking, or even the questions that kept them up at night. In some cases, I have seen people’s truths in the way that they lived their lives. They are profoundly hardworking at something that matters to them. They are delighted and fulfilled with their lives, or they help everyone they can.

The truth is in everything that we do every day. To