Most of us would describe ourselves as honest and trustworthy. We've learned from an early age that we shouldn't tell lies. Yet, how many of us can go a day without saying at least one untruth?
When asked, "How are you?" do you automatically respond "great" instead of how you really feel?
Do you often make an excuse to not do something rather than tell someone that you just don't feel like it?
How often will you purposelessly not mention something or tell a "white lie" to avoid hurting someone's feelings?
I'm sure you can easily come up with a justification for each of the above. Yet, those justifications come at a cost to ourselves and our relationships. The cost to ourselves is that when untruths become a habit, they prevent us from being authentic. When we don't let ourselves be known to others we limit the richness in our relationships.
So how do we break the habit? Awareness is the first step. Take a couple of days in the coming week to keep track of every untruth or little white lie you tell. Jot them down on a note card or keep a running list on your phoneor computer. Remember that lies to yourself count too!
Next week, when you have this awareness, I'll give you some tips on how to risk telling your truth.
