Recently, I had the great pleasure and honour of attending a PostSecret event in Calgary. After being a voyeur of PostSecret for nearly 6 years, I have been eagerly waiting for the opportunity to meet the founder, Frank Warren.
For those who are not familiar with Post Secret, it is an ongoing worldwide community project whereby individuals are free to create and decorate a postcard with a secret included. New secrets are posted every Sunday and it certainly is one of my weekly rituals. Some secrets are inspirational, some sad, some disturbing, some funny… but through it all, we can find something to relate to most of the times. A fact that we’re not as alone as we may think and that we are not the only ones that feel *that* way sometimes, or *this* way… So what has flourished is certainly a community of acceptance.
Myself, I have never submitted a postcard to Frank but have certainly identified with a lot of secrets that have poured through the website over the last 4 years I started reading them.
The night was filled with laughs, tears and compassion. Frank shared secrets that publishers refused to publish in the books. He also shared some beautiful insights into what secrets are and opened the floor for audience members to share their secrets. I was certainly touched more than once that evening.
Secrets
We may feel that sometimes they are just too dark, too “unlike” us, too shameful, too odd… so we bury them away from others in our lives and from ourselves. Frank mentioned one thing that really stuck with me…
The word, secret, in Hebrew simply means… Come closer.
Come closer to the truth, to your truth and to yourself and others in your life. Knowing that you are surrounded by acceptance, love and understanding. Sharing secrets, it can be such a scary thing but after it’s done… it’s quite cathartic… quite liberating.
Trust your story… free your secrets.
