Honesty = Freedom!

Honesty

–

freedom from deceit or fraud.

Honesty = FREEDOM!  It's as simple as that. There are different types of honesty, but all honesty starts with the self. A lot of the obstacles we face in life are self-created through the inability to be completely honest with ourselves first. We try to convince ourselves of things we WANT to be true.

“She loves me.”

“I am going to win eventually.”

“I will make it there on time.”

“I am ready.”

“I am not afraid.”

“Everything will work itself out.” (This actually is a truth, but I'll touch on that in a post on acceptance.)

“I will change.”

“I don't have a problem.”

“I am in control.”

“I can do it alone.”

“She doesn't have a clue what I've been up to.”

"I am not doing anything wrong.”

These are just some of the rationalizations we use everyday that usually leave us unprepared for what we have to face.

Being able to be honest with others starts with being able to be completely honest with ourselves first. When we are able to do this, we FREE ourselves from the constraints of fear and the enormous amounts of energy it takes to try to convince ourselves and others of things that are not truthful nor beneficial to us. 

Okay, breathe. Now reread that and give yourself a minute to paraphrase it in your head.

Ready?

The cause of dishonesty is fear. We deny things out of fear. We fear people's reaction to the truth. We fear the solution to the problem. We fear being labeled. We fear having to make changes to ourselves and our practices. We fear being wrong. We fear injuring others. We fear the appearance of weakness. As humans we fear everything. It's a survival instinct. Without fear, we would probably find ourselves in many life-threatening predicaments.

The problem arises when we have fear that is not rational, such as the fear of everyday decisions and their consequences. When we are dishonest with ourselves, we ultimately try to convince others to believe what we WANT to be true about ourselves. When we do this, we lose the respect of those who are able to see through the deceit and we send the message that “I don't think you're intelligent enough to know that I am not being truthful with you.”

That's some elephant you're inviting into the room!

Being in denial about something creates an obstacle to personal growth and deprives us of opportunities to make changes to ourselves that would ultimately make us better people. When we are directly dishonest with other people, we deprive them of the right to make an informed decision about the situation at hand. We do this to manipulate their decision for fear of what that decision might be. When we shed this fear and are simply honest with others, we are FREE to face what lies before us without any obstacles and with a clear conscience. FREE yourself of the fear that causes dishonesty and the negative energy that it generates! Be honest with yourself and then be honest with others.

 

Now, for some of you, this is enough information to cause that “Aha!” moment to happen, but there are others that will need the issue of trust to be addressed also. Luckily for you (and thanks to a person I met recently), I'm feeling some kind of way on the topic at the moment. So “trust....” Coming right up!

Was there a time when you realized that it was so much easier to just be honest about something? What was the "Aha!" moment that gave you the freedom to be honest?