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Don’t rationalize a lie
Don’t!
What is a lie?
- ‘That was a great dinner’ … hmm, really?
- ‘I’m calling in sick, I’m a bit under the weather.’ … LOL
- ‘I’m on my way’ … Aren’t you? Why are you still in the bathroom?
- ‘On it,’ in response to an email you’re yet to open.
White lies, blue lies, yellow lies, or red; deliberately omitting or embellishing certain aspects while describing an event? Saying the opposite of how you feel so as not to offend others? In whatever shape or form a lie takes, it mostly involves the liar, the truth, the lie, the motive, and the one being lied to — one here used loosely to mean anything from other individuals to corporations to ourselves.
Can we lie to ourselves? We’ll get to that in a bit.
For whatever it is worth, lying is an integral part of being human. It is a skill we develop very early on in life to cope with difficult situations. It is hard-coded into our DNA for survival. Developmental psychologists say that lying is part of natural development in children and it is instinctive for some of us. We don’t have to deploy our full intellect to deflect or make up a ruse. It just comes to us naturally.
