“O, what a tangled web we weave when first we practise to deceive!”

(Sir Walter Scott)

Whenever we deceive others, in order to make things better for ourselves in the moment, we deceive ourselves most of all. The real lie is thinking that by avoiding the difficulty of the truth in this moment we’ve actually avoided the difficulty for all moments.

In reality, every time we lie we invite an even bigger discomfort to visit us in a future moment. And what will we do to avoid that discomfort? Lie again, usually.

–“No, Honey, nothing is bothering me. I dunno why you keep asking me that. I’m fine.”

–“Yes, I got all of my work done. It just needs some polishing up, but it’s essentially finished.”

–“No, I did not say that to her. Don’t you trust me?”

Kicking the can of truth up the road just invites a barrel to roll back on us.

Peace begins with pause,