Truth is an idea that so completely resonates with you that it motivates you deeply, causing you to aspire to new heights, drawing the highest and best energies from the very depths of your being.

America was founded on such a truth. It was a truth that has never been proven in any scientific sense. It was simply the phrase, "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and are endowed with certain inalienable rights."

Why did we accept this as our American truth when it had never been scientifically proven? The answer is simple: It resonated so powerfully with us that it motivated us to make it true. Millions have died for this truth. Millions more live daily and fight to make it true for themselves or others.

Truth is not something you find and swallow like an aspirin. It is only truth to you when it reverberates and echoes around at the core of your being.

We should never concern ourselves with the truths of others, other than to respect their right to hold them. It must resonate with us to ever be a truth in our life.

As we start this new year, the best thing we can do to ensure our success and happiness is to crystallize into ideas the highest truths we will live by this year.

A truth like "all men are created equal and are endowed with certain rights" energizes and empowers our lives because of its transcendent scope. It is so much bigger than us. It is bigger tthan a large group of us. It is powerful because it can move anyone to greatness.

Anything you can conceive as a spark of motivational truth can transform your life. I saw an alcoholic go from eating out of Dumpsters to a positive and productive life by learning that he could write great songs. The truth that he could write and perform his songs and impart blessing and hope to other people has continued to motivate him to stay sober for over 20 years.

It has caused him to grow and expand his wings as a songwriter.

We are not parrots. We should cease hunting to adopt the packaged truths of others. How much better to seek those transcendent thoughts about ourselves that move us to our core.

There is a place for religion in our lives, but the thing that will take us to our highest actions and pinnacles is a truth about us that is bigger than our own selves. Just as a nation needs to adopt a soaring idea like "all people are equal and are endowed with certain rights," we need to see the highest and best in ourselves and reach for it -- to make it a personal reality.

A woman grew up in a family afflicted with tuberculosis. In middle age, she was struck with the disease. Getting ready to die, she heard a lecture in which the speaker said one sentence that stuck with her: "You are a child of God and do not inherit disease." It resonated with her so powerfully that she repeated it for weeks and slowly but surely regained her health.

In 2012, let us find those ideas that echo deep within and motivate us to be more and to do more.

Email Dalton Roberts at DownhomeP@aol.com.