honeypig

What Happened When I Stopped Lying. | elephant journal

I found this article interesting, thought some of you might like to take a look too.

IWalkTheLine

Its good she tells the truth, she sounds annoying though.

FireSprite

I completely agree with the points she's making - how freeing it is, how much we don't even realize we ARE lying via exaggeration or omitted details, how it dominos in life when people come to expect this from you, etc.

My friends have had a simple, long standing rule for many, many years: Do not ever ask Fire a question unless you are fully prepared for the truth. You have to be ready for the answer & know that it won't always be what you want to hear.

At 5, DD acknowledged it too, when my sis was having some fun needling her with some outrageous stories. "Auntie? I'm going to ask you about this ONE more time because then, I'm going to ask my mom & she. won't. lie. to. me. Are you SURE this is true??"

There are enough lies & misdirection every day in this world, I don't need to create space for it in my every day life or accept it just because it exists "out there". That comes down to the smallest levels too - like calling things what they really are & not playing semantics to make something more palatable. (or acknowledging when I am doing so & owning it)

honeypig

I could not agree more. I also think you're right about how we don't even realize we ARE saying something untrue many times b/c that's just how everyone around us acts, so we do the same. Yet another situation where it could make a big difference to pause a moment before speaking and think about what I really mean/want/think rather than the knee-jerk thing I'm about to spew out from force of habit.

And yes, it does seem to take people by surprise to be told the truth rather than a throw-away phrase that everyone says by rote, but I think that's a good thing, in the long run...?