Slippery When Wet's blog: "honesty"

Honesty in the world today seems diminished as a value. In the past we had phrases "a man's word is his bond" and a person could be shot for lying. Today we see students cheating on exams and big lawsuits against individuals and companies for fraud, theft and the like. Honesty starts with ourselves. If we can't be honest with ourselves then naturally we can't be honest with others we deal with. We hear the phrase "know thyself". How many of us truly know ourselves? Do we take the time to delve into what we like and what we don't like, do we "value" honesty and truth? I really wonder. I am finding I don't know the answer to many questions about myself that i used to take for granted. I also wonder how much my subconscious mind is keeping from conscience mind. I need to understand myself before I can work with others about my needs and wants and also about my foundation of how much I really value truth. My success and failures of late have taught me I am lacking in this fundamental understanding. I am taking time to try to figure this out.

Once we face the honesty question within ourselves we can begin to apply it to our interactions with others. Let’s talk Fu. So many on here show themselves and portray themselves in a certain way that most of us know is bs. If we can’t show others our true self then what will they think when the find out the truth. Isn’t it all a massive waste of each others’ time? We lie about our age, we modify our pics, we pretend we have or are more or less than we actually are which speaks of deceit and lots of other unpleasant things. Suppose we actually get together based on these false premises. We cause hurt, damage ourselves, and ultimately there are no winners. WTF were we thinking!????!!??

We need to transform ourselves, but most have intense difficulty making this change. Our patterns of behavior have evolved over a lifetime and we become more set in our ways.

To improve humankind, ourselves, and enrich the lives of those around us we should strive for change even if it hurts which it will until it becomes our normal mode of interaction. Try just doing it with one conversation, instant message, or other message type. It will feel painful and may generate some tough feelings, but the long term value far outweighs that which we may feel in the short term. Keep in mind what we do then also impacts future generations thru our children and others.

Then as individuals pay it forward so to speak we can influence companies which are after all run by individuals and reflect their values.