The habit of truth telling (#1065)

Just like telling lies, telling the truth will become a habit. Only as opposed to lies, you will always be better for it. My experience with lying was a real eye opener. At first I saw tangible benefits for myself and it made me feel artificially important, however, as time went by the lies began to grow to enormous proportions and I could not keep straight all the lies I had going. As they began to be exposed, the earlier benefits I reaped from lying began to fall away and my friends and family looked upon me in disgust and betrayal. From being popular to being a pariah. The stigma of being a liar also followed me for awhile. I got it, the it that was lying was no good for me regardless of it's seemingly prestigious advantage. Now this is the point where I began to realize that telling the truth was at least honest and didn't necessarily lose me respect. I quit my days of lying, embellishing and omitting truths and began a steady program of just telling the truth in kind and decent ways. I formed a habit of truth telling. I can say that I have not since had many days of being special in my actions or thoughts but when I have they were mine and they were truthful. Sometimes I think lying is more about not wanting to see and live in the world the way it really is. An escapism that has at least some illusion of more than there is. However, as I learned many years ago, living in lies is an illusion and one that is assuredly doomed to failure. Although my life is simple and plain, it is real and has at it's core an honesty that makes me feel good, despite all the chaos and injustice surrounding my everyday experiences. Most important, besides how I feel, is how I act and react to the world and that is the real deal.