I like it all, everything in this thread.
But I'd like to encourage people to focus on a related idea, if you feel so inspired.
What conditions would need to be changed in your daily life for you to be able to stop lying entirely?
You see, I'm very lucky because I have this structure. I live with my partner, and he and I have had a 100% honesty policy for the entire eight years we've been together. As long as honesty is tempered from the place of, "I love you and that's why I'm going to tell you the truth instead of being passive aggressively girlie or overly macho and lying about stupid stuff," then everything works fine. We know everything about each other, yet we still have privacy within our relationship to run our respective businesses, do our own thang, etc. I love this. I can't imagine NOT being in a relationship like that.
I also work for myself. Well, I have clients, but there's no reason to ever lie to them, as it's a straightforward relationship of "write stuff; submit it to them; get paid by them." They don't edit my material except for grammatical mistakes, and I have a great deal of freedom of self-expression.
In all of my posts on the many forums I've been a member of, and on my own website, I also have a 100% truth telling policy. That's self-induced. I'm just not comfortable with lying to get an effect out of someone. That's why products that I sell, ideas that I share, etc. all have to be something I truly feel to be in integrity. Then I can honestly share that with readers, from a place of enthusiasm and clarity.
I have a great relationship with my immediate neighbors, with whom I am 100% truthful. Friends, same way. Parents, same way.
But it took a while to get there. Meaning, I worked at my relationship with my parents so we're friends in a really wonderful way at this point in my life. We dont' always see things the same way, but we are 100% honestly supportive and loving of each other.
So, I don't mean to be annoying or overly "birds and willows" with this post. I just wanted to say that it really is possible to live a life relatively free of even NEEDING to lie for all the old, usual reasons of self-protection, self-defense, etc. It has to do with making sure you dont' live in a reality where you are being attacked all the time and feel you have to dodge the truth with people in order to satisfy a dysfunctional client, boss, etc.
I also feel truly lucky and blessed because, other than a few temp office jobs in my late teens and early 20's (which were great learning experiences and very pleasant for the most part) and a few years of working in live theater and bit parts in TV, (which were also really fun and amazing), I've been able to avoid taking a "real" job. Been self-employed, which still has its challenges, but it can also allow you to step into your power and refuse to take abuse from others if somebody's being idiotic, and that keeps your vibration pretty cheerful and "up."
So anyway, back to my question......if you do find that you lie every day, or you feel you have to lie more than you want to.....what would have to change in your life for this to stop? And is it possible to create that, or to perhaps create a greater degree of that, now?
LipstickMystic aka Jennifer