Why should honesty be the best policy? To answer that question we have to ask ourselves another. What good has lying done to anyone? Let me rephrase that last question. What good has lying done to anyone other than yourself?
If you've paid attention to my other posts, I frequently talk about how we are here in existence for each other. If we abide by that principle then we should always be looking outward instead of inward at ourselves. This is a difficult task for most because we live in a me me me society. However, the answer to the question, "what good has lying done to anyone other than yourself," still remains the same. It doesn't do anyone any good, including yourself.
Whether we get in trouble or not by the actions we do, lying about them intensifies the consequences. Integrity is our core foundation to ensure we're honest. In order to take ownership of our actions we have to uncover our roots of integrity and build ourselves upon that as a foundation to our daily lives.
We live in a dishonest world. A world riddled with disinformation, liars, cheaters, and other dishonest people. Most of the time dishonesty is used for personal gain, while other times it is used just for pleasure. We grow up believing that you should just look out only for yourself in order to make it in this world. It's easiest to be dishonest when the rest of the world is.
A continued life of dishonesty only makes us and those we're dishonest with grumpy, angry, hateful, sorrow, etc. We also distrust others more when we believe the rest of the world is dishonest and we follow suit. The reason for this is that our negative actions eventually fill us with negative feelings because we have something called a conscience. It's also exhausting in keeping up with little white lies that eventually will run us down.
Just because we live in a dishonest world, doesn't mean we should follow suit. For the sake of your happiness and the happiness of others, honesty is the best policy. Sometimes honesty hurts, but the relief of being honest is better than the weight of a dishonest burden. Others may be upset by your honesty; however, you walk away with a clear conscience and they can have two choices: be upset at you and hold a grudge or resolve their upset feelings and have a respect for your honesty.
Remember, you are responsible only for your actions. Sometimes the truth hurts and sometimes it can ruin friendships. However, friendships should be built on honesty and if they're not, then the friendship wasn't strong in the first place.
Image: IBEX.Media / Adobe Stock
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