Telling It Like It Is

One of the rules we are all told as children is that we should always tell the truth. We’re told it’s the best thing to do, and warned of the problems and troubles that result when we lie.

As for me, I accepted this rule, but I did not always follow it. (Maybe I’m not alone in this?)

We have all told the “social white lie” when asked if we like a person’s outfit, or the color of the walls, or the food at a party. I challenge anyone to tell me they’ve never told a “blatant” lie. And I’m not here to judge anybody, including myself.

Over the years, I’ve thought about the concept of the “truth”. I’ve come to believe that there are two types of “truth”. One type of truth is something that’s seen or heard and can be verified by a third person (an “external truth”). The other type of truth is an “internal truth” that is from the first person point of view.

Our culture advocates us to tell the truth about what is happening around us, to “tell it like it is”. If we frame what we see or experience in a more favorable light or give potential reasons for why a person behaved a certain way, we’re accused of living in a fantasy, or being in denial. We know the media is supposed to “tell it like it is”, yet different outlets tell different “truths”.

Nowadays I tend to tell the gentler truth, the more generous truth. I also frequently say that I will not comment, because nobody knows the “truth”. I recognize that I don’t have all the information about what led up to the situation, and I don’t know the background and motivations of the people involved. Anything I do say about a situation is also affected by my own point of view and past experiences. What I see will not be the same thing another person sees. We’ve all had the experience of witnessing an event and making a judgement about what happened only to find out later that the person involved had completely different intentions and we did not see the truth.

I also believe in telling the truth as you would like it to be. This is telling the “internal truth” about who you are in the best of times, and what abilities you have to make changes in your life and the lives of those around you. That’s a truth worth telling. If you tell that “internal truth” often enough, you begin to believe it and act on it. Eventually it becomes an “external truth” that others can see.

How about you? Are there other types of “truth” that you’ve experienced? Have you thought you knew the truth and later been proven wrong? Do you tell yourself the truth about who you are and what you can do? Leave a comment!

Until next time, remember… We are all magnificent.