The Truth Satisfies the Soul

Telling a lie or not saying the truth in order to not hurt someone or to hide a reality is something that we have all done at some point in our lives. We’re afraid of hurting other people. We are ashamed by what others may think, and we refuse to show our feelings.

But when we don’t tell the truth or hide the whole truth, something within us squirms. It reminds us that we are not being honest with ourselves. We feel like something is amiss. Maybe it is just as negative to lie as to not tell the truth. Sometimes we hide our real age, or how well we can actually understand a language, or in more important aspects such as our feelings.

The fear of telling the truth

Many times we are sacred of telling the truth out of fear of what others might think, but that motive can make us sink into a foreign reality. It can turn us into someone different than who we really are.

Honesty is one of the basic characteristics needed to interact with other people, and it is fundamental for us to take care of and respect it, for it to distinguish and accompany us in all of our acts and words.

We shouldn’t forget that fear is an emotion that protects us against a potentially dangerous person. But just like any emotion, it can be managed and controlled by us. Neuroscientists have asked themselves if fear is simply a defense mechanism against psycho-social warning signs, which pushes us to forget and hide what we know to be true.

The necessary bravery to tell the truth

Telling the truth is really an act of bravery on some occasions. It means speaking directly from the heart and saying what we are really thinking. We’re not hiding behind false appearances. Being brave means looking into another person’s eyes and telling them we love them, or that we don’t love them anymore. It means managing to make our soul and our heart beat in unison through words that emerge from the deepest part of our being.

When we say the truth, we are baring ourselves before others. We are showing ourselves as we really are, and that can be scary. But it is not possible to hide for long under false layers, under an invented appearance.

If you mess up, ask for forgiveness

We have all made mistakes throughout our lives while trying to protect another person, for example, and have hidden the truth. But in some way or another, the truth always come out, and our mistake is made known. In these cases, ask for forgiveness, be honest and you’ll feel comforted and valued.

Making mistakes is human. It is done unintentionally, and the only thing we should try to do is learn the lesson and prevent it from happening again. It’s about reflecting upon what happened and being honest with ourselves and with others.

The benefits of telling the truth

A study showed that Americans tell an average of 11 lies in a single week. Over 10 weeks they analyzed the answers of 110 people when faced with certain situations.

Half of the people were trained to tell fewer lies, and that group was the one which, according to the psychology professor Anita E. Kelly, showed improvements in their health. These improvements consisted in lower blood pressure and a lower number of headaches and sore throats.

Why do we lie?

Generally, people lie for three reasons: to adapt to a hostile environment, to avoid punishment or to get a reward or win something. For example, sometimes people lie about a professional skill in order to get a job. So they are therefore lying to get a reward. Other times, people lie when they feel attacked, in order to be accepted.

We shouldn’t forget that lies have a direct effect on our self-esteem. We lie when our ego feels threatened or when we want to take advantage of the situation in some way. In this context, lies are a defense mechanism, a weapon used for survival. But in any case, we have to differentiate between the people who feel guilt and remorse, and those who feel nothing at all and even end up believing their own deception.

The truth always comes out

We shouldn’t forget that the things we hide, what we don’t say, will always come out one way or another. The truth always finds a way to manifest itself, because the truth satisfies our soul and sets it free.