It’s annoyingly true that we all have the tendency to hear what we want to hear and disregard the rest. Likewise we see what we want to see and turn a blind eye to that which we find difficult or unpalatable. It’s all to do with following the path of least resistance.
The problem is that the truth will always be the truth and a lie will always be a lie. Perception sits between those two extremes.
Reality is set. It’s individual interpretation that becomes the shape-shifting tool of choice.
Everything we have seen, heard and experienced has brought us to this point in time and the mindset that directs us.
The person we are today differs from the person we were yesterday and we have yet to meet the person we will be tomorrow.
It’s in that atmosphere that the seeds of self-doubt can be sown. Accompanied by self-evaluation, that can be valuable. Hand-in-hand with self-criticism it can be a psychologically destructive force.
It’s when we take something that we know to be the truth and attempt to present it as a lie that we walk a very dangerous path. The same can be said of any attempt to reshape a lie as truth.
So much of what we experience demands a reaction…and, often, it can call for an answer. Answers are not always easy to find and they can change with time and circumstance.
Mental anguish is a by-product of any attempt to sidestep the responsibility we have to ourselves to know what we believe and why we believe it.
Honesty – with all the angst and pain that it can bring – will always be the best policy.
Gary Bentley Counselling 