honesty | David M Masters

Lack of Transparency and Honesty Affects Counsel and Growth.

What if someone has come to you for help, and you’re doing your best to help them, but they are not being honest and open in the process? Why might someone withhold important information? Engaging in counseling or spiritual work without being open and honest can stem from various underlying motivations and psychological factors.

Why might someone feign therapeutic effort while withholding truth?

Fear of Vulnerability:

Some individuals struggle with deep-seated fears of vulnerability and intimacy. Opening up in therapy or spiritual settings requires confronting uncomfortable emotions and exposing one’s innermost thoughts and struggles. Fear of judgment or rejection may lead someone to present a façade of progress while concealing their true feelings or experiences.

Avoidance of Painful Truths:

Facing painful truths about oneself or one’s circumstances can be incredibly challenging. Individuals may engage in counseling or spiritual practices to seek validation or relief from distress without confronting the underlying issues. By avoiding uncomfortable truths, they attempt to maintain a sense of control over their emotions and protect themselves from further psychological distress.

Desire for External Validation:

Seeking validation from others is a common human desire, and some individuals may engage in therapy or spiritual work primarily for external validation rather than genuine introspection and growth. By presenting a curated version of themselves, they seek approval and affirmation from their therapist, spiritual leader, or peers without fully engaging in the transformative process.

Social Expectations and Pressure:

Societal norms and expectations can also influence behavior, leading individuals to participate in therapeutic or spiritual activities due to external pressure rather than genuine motivation. Family members, partners, or cultural influences may encourage participation in counseling or spiritual practices to address perceived shortcomings or fulfill societal expectations.

Why Might Someone Maintain a Secret Relationship?

Maintaining a secret relationship with someone and maintaining full disclosure to another individual can be an indication of underlying issues such as:

Conflict Avoidance:

The individual may avoid conflict or confrontation by keeping the relationship secret from those who might disapprove or have a stake in their personal life.

Desire for Secrecy:

They may derive a sense of excitement or thrill from keeping the relationship clandestine, finding novelty or satisfaction in the secrecy itself.

Lack of Commitment:

Secret relationships may indicate a commitment or investment deficit in the relationship or with the individuals involved.

Emotional Unavailability:

The individual may struggle with emotional intimacy or commitment, preferring superficial connections or relationships that can be easily compartmentalized and kept separate from other aspects of their life.

Understanding these motivations can address underlying issues and foster genuine growth and transformation.

The Importance of Transparency

In the matrix of human relationships, the intersections of allegiance, transparency, openness, honesty, dishonesty, withholding, and lying permeate the grid with profound implications for personal growth and transformation. Whether in intimate partnerships, professional dynamics, or therapeutic settings, navigating truth and disclosure shapes our development trajectory.

The Foundation of Trust:

Trust lies at the heart of every meaningful relationship, nurtured through transparency and honesty. In therapy, the client-therapist relationship thrives on a foundation of trust. When individuals withhold truths or engage in dishonesty, they erect barriers to the therapeutic process, hindering their growth. The safe space of therapy demands honesty to explore vulnerabilities and challenges, paving the way for healing and transformation.

The Impact on Intimate Relationships:

In romantic relationships, honesty is the cornerstone of intimacy. When one partner withholds information or deceives the other, it erodes trust and undermines the foundation of the relationship. Secrets and lies breed resentment and distance, impeding personal and relational growth. On the other hand, open communication fosters connection and allows for mutual support and understanding, nurturing the growth of both individuals.

Professional Dynamics and Ethical Conduct:

In the realm of work, honesty and transparency are essential for maintaining ethical conduct and fostering a healthy organizational culture. When employees deceive their superiors or colleagues, it disrupts teamwork, undermines productivity, and erodes trust within the workplace. Conversely, a culture of openness and honesty promotes collaboration, innovation, and personal development, as individuals feel empowered to express themselves authentically and contribute to their fullest potential.

The Role of Support Systems:

Beyond professional and romantic relationships, the support systems we cultivate play a pivotal role in our personal growth journey. Friends, family members, counselors, and mentors serve as sounding boards, offering guidance and perspective. When individuals are honest and open with these significant players in their lives, they invite constructive feedback, support, and encouragement, facilitating personal growth and self-awareness.

Therapeutic Disclosure and Transformation:

In therapy, the act of disclosing one’s deepest fears, desires, and struggles is transformative. When individuals courageously confront their truths and share them with a trusted therapist, they embark on a journey of self-discovery and healing. The therapeutic process provides a sacred space for exploration and growth, guided by the principles of honesty, transparency, and trust.

Allegiance, transparency, openness, honesty, dishonesty, withholding, and lying are intricate intersections in relationships and personal development. Embracing honesty and transparency fosters trust, intimacy, and growth, while deceit and withholding create barriers to connection and transformation. Whether in therapy or everyday interactions, cultivating a commitment to truth and openness is essential for navigating life’s complexities and realizing our full potential for growth and fulfillment.

How to Deal with a Dishonest Client

Discovering deliberate withholding or outright lying can present significant challenges for helpers, counselors, therapists, priests, or friends who are deeply invested in their clients’ wellness and growth. Responding to such behavior requires careful consideration, balancing empathy, boundaries, and the therapeutic relationship. Here’s an expanded spectrum of responses, along with their potential implications for both the client and the helper:

1. Compassionate Confrontation:

Approach: The helper addresses the dishonesty directly with the client, expressing concern and offering support to explore the reasons behind it.

Implications: This approach acknowledges the behavior while maintaining a compassionate stance. It encourages honesty and accountability while preserving the therapeutic alliance. If the client is willing to engage in open dialogue, it can foster growth and insight.

2. Setting Boundaries:

Approach: The helper establishes clear boundaries regarding honesty and transparency in the therapeutic relationship. They communicate the importance of trust and integrity.

Implications: Setting boundaries reinforces the therapeutic structure and emphasizes the importance of honesty in the healing process. It sends a message that dishonesty undermines the effectiveness of therapy. However, if the client is unwilling to adhere to the boundaries, it may lead to resistance or termination.

3. Exploring Motivations:

Approach: The helper seeks to understand the underlying motivations behind the client’s dishonesty, exploring any fears, insecurities, or relational patterns that may contribute to it.

Implications: This approach fosters empathy and understanding, acknowledging the complexity of human behavior and providing an opportunity for deeper exploration and insight into the client’s internal struggles. However, uncovering the root causes of dishonesty may require patience and persistence.

4. Non-Judgmental Support:

Approach: The helper maintains a non-judgmental stance, expressing unconditional acceptance and support for the client regardless of their behavior.

Implications: This approach prioritizes the therapeutic relationship above all else, emphasizing empathy and compassion. It creates a safe space for clients to explore and examine their feelings and experiences without fear of judgment. However, it runs the risk of enabling continued dishonesty if boundaries are not reinforced.

5. Referral or Consultation:

Approach: The helper seeks guidance from colleagues, supervisors, or consultation services to address the complex dynamics of dishonesty in the therapeutic relationship.

Implications: Consulting with peers or supervisors can provide valuable perspective and support in navigating challenging situations. It ensures that professional expertise and ethical considerations inform the helper’s response. However, it may delay immediate resolution and require additional resources.

6. Termination of Therapy:

Approach: The helper considers terminating the therapeutic relationship if the dishonesty significantly undermines trust and effectiveness.

Implications: Terminating therapy may be necessary to maintain ethical integrity and protect the well-being of both the client and the helper. It sends a clear message that dishonesty is incompatible with the therapeutic process. The potential impact on the client’s progress and support systems should be considered carefully.

7. Continued Support with Monitoring:

Approach: The helper continues to support the client while closely monitoring their honesty and progress in therapy.

Implications: This approach balances compassion with accountability, offering ongoing guidance and support while emphasizing the importance of honesty. It allows for the possibility of repair and growth within the therapeutic relationship. However, vigilant monitoring is required to ensure the client remains committed to the therapeutic process.

The response to deliberate withholding or lying in therapy requires a nuanced approach that considers the complexities of the client’s motivations, the therapeutic relationship, and ethical considerations. While maintaining compassion and empathy is essential, helpers must uphold boundaries and integrity to foster genuine growth and healing. Each situation may require a tailored response based on the client’s needs, the severity of the dishonesty, and the helper’s professional judgment. Ultimately, the goal is to create a safe, sacred, and supportive environment where honesty and authenticity can flourish, leading to meaningful transformation and personal growth.

Lie of Omission and Truth

Just as deceitful as right out telling a lie, is the lie of omission, where you actually refrain from saying anything, as an alternative to blatantly lying.

If you feel your personal exposure is too great to be honest and lying feels like too extreme an option, you might opt to initiate a deception by omission, to deceive by saying nothing. And if you do, a peculiar thing seems to take place. In most cases, even if with the best intentions, even though you have said nothing, people who have lies of omission between them tend to drift apart.

You can justify to yourself, “Well, at least I didn’t lie,” but the consequences are dire, if not worse than outright lying.

By withholding the truth, you also withhold vulnerability, love, and connection. Any authentic connection which may have existed between two individuals where one or each harbor lies of omission continues to erode until nothing is left.

Not being able to live life as an open and honest individual could very well keep you from achieving your highest and best, from having all the desires of your heart. All the life to live that is your divine birthright withheld from you as you practice deception by withholding.

Oh, you may have some degree of success as measured by your peers, but true love, joy, and happiness will remain elusive experiences and expressions in this life.

A deep connection between two individuals includes celebrating each individuality, understanding that no two people are identical, allowing and honoring those things that make each of us unique. That means that there will be times when we experience separation having different past experiences, differing points of view, and moments of uncomfortableness, as we are equally vulnerable and honest which strengthens the relationship.

No one can tell you what is true. Only you can know what truth at any given time is, for everything you believe is true. You know it. You can feel it, and you must find a way to express your truth. You should be able to attract those who are willing to listen to those things that are important to you without judgment, and you likewise in loving reciprocity.

If you are honest, you are true to and honest with yourself, then you can speak your truth with integrity and honor, which can (and should) make you vulnerable. Being transparent and honest leaves you at risk of being disagreed with, challenged, attacked, or left wide open for haters to exploit.

Honesty can include the truth in general, as follows:

Question: How are you feeling today?

Honest Answer: Okay, I’ve been better, but seeing you makes me feel better right now.

You can give an honest answer to most anyone, but vulnerable answers are best saved for only those people who you can trust with more intimate details of your life. You have vetted them, and you quite convinced of their trustworthiness.

Vulnerable Answer: Okay, I’ve been feeling like I’ve let my family down because I could be making more money and giving them a better quality of life, but I’m working on my attitude and trying to find other ways to show them how much I love them.

Some things are best kept in private, while others can be shouted from the rooftops, and if you have promised a friend to be discrete with the sensitive details of their life, by all means, do so. Unless you are a priest, you may be lawfully compelled to testify under oath, but in the absence of such a court order, honor your friend’s request and keep it to yourself.

To trust your friend means you believe that your friend will keep those things which you have shared in confidentiality will remain safely guarded by your friend, and your friend believes you to be trustworthy in kind.

Honesty Dishonesty and Lies

Honesty means telling someone how you think or feel about something knowing that there may be at risk of disagreement from the recipient of your honest statement.

To the degree that you can be honest plays a big part in your ability to be trusted. While honesty can be a one-way street, alternatively “trust” is a two-way street. We are honest with someone, then step back to review how our honesty was received, responded to, or revered it was. Based on the results, we determine if someone can be trusted or not.

If we can be open and honest with others, we are promoting our trustworthiness. Over time we can gain people’s trust by representing ourselves as being honest. Vulnerability and honesty build trust.

Why would you lie?

Fear of hurting someone’s feelings
Fear of retribution or punishment
Fear of not being accepted
Fear of risking your reputation
To protect yourself
To protect someone else
To defend yourself or someone else
To bolster your image or the image of someone else to others or among the community
You want to present yourself as on par with someone else
You are communicating with someone with whom you have little or no respect
You want something from someone, but do not have anything of equal value to trade

And potentially a million other reasons why you might lie, though the reason you are most likely to lie is due to fear or some perceived threat. Fear can be disguised as many things, and hiding behind a shield of fear can prevent you from having all the best things this life has to offer.

You lie because lying is an effective tool that protects you from discomfort or pain.

There is a huge contrast between being honest (which makes you vulnerable) and lying (which protects you).

When you are dishonest, it implies that you cannot trust the person you are misrepresenting yourself to.

You are afraid they will misunderstand or hurt you. Alternatively, you may fear they will not like what you have to say or might get their feelings hurt by your being honest.

When you lie, there is the hopeful expectation that your deception will not come to light. But for most of us, lying comes with some form of guilt. A part of us desires to be open and honest in all things, so when we lie, we feel bad or at least, regret not feeling safe enough to tell the truth.

Often if you have negative habits or addictions, you are likely to lie to present others from seeing your weaker side.

It is exceedingly difficult to feel safe with someone who you cannot trust.

What about the lies you tell yourself?

What does your lying to yourself say about your relationship with yourself?
Do you trust yourself with your most intimate details?
How about when you think, say, or at out in some way that is not congruent with who you really are?
Do you lie to yourself to cover up or justify your indiscretions?
If you want to feel competent or confident, are you apt to lie to yourself to make yourself feel better?
Is it possible to be truly open and honest?

If you have lied about a thing in the past and felt uncomfortable for doing so, you will experience a great sense of relief from being able to tell the truth, to essentially “come clean.”

Vulnerable and Honest Director’s Cut

Up ’til now, you’ve seen the theatrical version of your life. Maybe it’s time for another look at this work for the new expanded, vulnerable and honest director’s cut.

If you desire to grow and expand into the best version of you, you need to take a look at what lies beneath the surface. Like a tree, the condition of your soil, the vastness of your root system and vital nutrients (fertilizer) all contribute to what is realized topside. Beneath the surface is the dirty work of self improvement, exposing our vulnerabilities.

Tracing our hidden root system with honesty and transparency can be frightening, looking the ghosts and demons of our past in the eye, studying our less than honorable moments and connections, opening old wounds, administering healing is the deep work.

Let’s face it, no one’s perfect, especially me. But this digging deep, working with the fragile infrastructure of my life, helps me to take out the trash and preserve, honor and cherish the antiquities that I treasure, more precious than diamonds. Left buried and un-treated these hidden wounds fester, leading to disease, deterioration and death. Tending to them openly and honestly, risking the sensitivities or our most vulnerable self allows us to turn them into energetic nutrients encouraging massive new growth, expansion and the juiciest fruit you’ve ever imagined.

This no-holds-barred approach to the deep work helps us find the beauty in what we may have discarded or buried as trash, while maximizing the nutritional elements of each buried experience that otherwise promotes rot and decay. This work allows us to look back at less than favorable moments in our lives with gratitude and joy.

We all are imperfect; yet hold ourselves to unbelievable levels of perfection, often punishing ourselves for missteps and failures. An honest review, looking at our darkest moments, broken dreams, betrayals, denials, punishments (of ourselves or others), denials, sacrifices, suffering and despair can be the most difficult work, but little else is so effective. On the other side of this work is an embracing of life as it is, with all of its jagged pieces, which if held in the light of love, sparkles like diamonds in the sky.

We live in a world with a forced set of parameters that are all imaginary. We are raised and forced to believe we are restricted by limitations imposed by nothing more than invisible self-policed thought processes, effectively imprisoning our experience in this life. These life restraints are challenged and the chains broken as we are set free to explore our untethered possibilities.

When you are able to break open all those tender wounds and face your demons with vulnerability, you can endure the entire process and look back with a sense of frivolity. After all, from an alternate high perspective, someone, somewhere, our higher self or God is looking at all this from a completely different point of view. And from this perspective, we are able to see things as they are and even laugh at ourselves as if watching a slapstick comedy.

Being able to find the humorous moments in the tragedy of our life can be as easy as changing the soundtrack. The background music can change most any scene from dark drama to lighthearted comedy. When you are able to look back on those moments, with respect, honor and a smile (if not a full on laugh), you are finding joy in a life that is. This is the key to true and lasting happiness.

Lightening up and loosening our restrains, allows us to find the joy via our newfound lighthearted approach to life. There is no need to make life so hard.

Aren’t we all in this together? We are all just actors playing parts in each other’s life teleplay.

Though some are born with an innate ability to play out their parts, most actors have trained and honed their skills, to learn how to take a fall without hurting themselves. It takes the same skills of agility and strength to be a death-defying stuntman/stuntwoman or a physical comedian. The soundtrack determines whether we gasp in fear, or laugh our ass off, watching the scene play out.

You’ll be surprised how much valuable story line was left on the cutting room floor. You can re-edit the theatrical version by filling in between the lines, enjoying new camera angles and changing the soundtrack in your Director’s Cut of your life.

Get ready to approach life with a new sense of vigor for all the fun that lies ahead on your enlightened journey.

Love Lies Why Lovers Lie

Why Do Lovers Lie?

When you enter into a committed relationship, an evolution takes place. As time goes on couples experience a metamorphosis as each of the participants grows and changes interdependently. Though they may be “one flesh” in the utmost romantic sense, they are still separate individuals both trying to do the best they can with what they have.

The only thing that truly bonds a couple together is the level of integrity and trust they have one for the other. If we can trust impeccably, be open and honest, we have the main ingredients of a highly successful and long lasting love life together. For if we do not have trust, what do we have?

As each lover evolves, there may be moments in time when they may be out of sync with their counterpart. What then?

Do you say, “This isn’t working for me; see ya,” as you depart with little concern for the former mate left behind?

Or do you lie and say, “I love you. Everything’s okay. You mean the world to me, nothing could come between us.”

Relationships are hard and no matter how we try to establish hard and fast rules for relationships, it is nearly impossible to have textbook answers for every conceivable scenario. We, as human beings, are far too complex for that.

While there are liars who selfishly lie to the extreme (we call them pathological liars) without regard to others (even if it appears to not be necessary to lie at all), alternatively we are talking about compassionate liars cohabitating in the space somewhere within the bounds of love.

While being totally open and honest are vastly important in relationships, being too open and honest can easily render a relationship null and void. Sometimes in a long term romance, the ability to lie is not only warranted, but may be a necessary component of romantic survivability.

Indeed, a long-term successful and loving relationship between two people consists or a delicate balance between truthfulness and deceit. Just ask any individual alone and off-camera who is part of a successful couple that has enjoyed a state of relationship bliss for many years what is the secret to their long-standing love affair? The answer (if conveyed honestly) will reference the delicate balance between truth and lies.

Why lie in a loving relationship?

For the sake of the big picture, in a selfless effort to preserve all that is sacred in a relationship, the occasion may (and often will) arise when the importance and reverence for the relationship exceeds the need to assert an opinion, fact or truth which might cause harm to the sacredness of the couple’s bond. Thereby justifying a bit of tale-telling to ease past what might have been a difficult situation that may have compromised the relationship or led to its dissolution altogether.

Let’s assume for a moment that the emotional spectrum of a relationship spans from love and acceptance on one end and anger and judgment on the other. Lovers often balance delicate of critical issues by where the consequence will end up on this spectrum. The unbridled truth may end up putting the relationship at risk by hurling it all the way into anger and judgment, while a love lie might not put the relationship at risk at all.

We learned this method of mitigating emotional-charged relationships in our youth. Where the truth may have sent our parents into a fury-filled emotional outburst with negative results, a little lie would sidestep the darkness and pain of disappointment and or impending punishment, and all was well.

I’m not saying it’s wrong or right. No two relationships can possibly be compared and everyone needs to find their own way. These types of “love lies” for the most part will go by completely unnoticed, except in the instances where the deception is interrupted by the otherwise naïve other lover. If we are honest, we would all admit that we do this to some degree without intent of malice.

In fact, we may tell a love lie because we love, honor and respect our mate so much, that we might do or say anything in support of the other and increase our love one for the other, even though our heart may not be totally vested at that particular moment in time. In most cases the love lie goes unnoticed and a greater love prevails.

When the one of the lovers discovers a love lie unawares, the couple needs to address the issue of the existence of this kind of deceit within the relationship. Each couple will have their own unique strategy for dealing with these types of inconsistencies.

The hardest road of all for a couple to attempt to maintain is that of complete and utter honesty regardless of the feelings of the other lover. In some cases this can work, but it takes a unique chemistry between two individuals who can manage such a relationship for long.

This is the emotional high road that if navigated correctly, with love and tolerance, without anger or judgment , we simply accept things as they are and allow each other to be without taking the unbridled truth personally or as an assault to be defended against.

For the rest of us, we try to set and manage boundaries for truth and honesty and believe that our love will survive the test of time, if we truly honor and value each other and the relationship as a whole.

See you at the Soulmate Wizardry event.

Truth and Consequences

Once you get to a point in your journey when you are attaining a level of personal integrity, you also begin to gain a desire to be open and honest – which is a good thing – but it doesn’t take long ‘til you find that telling the truth and being totally honest can come at a very high price.

Being totally honest is an authentic urge as you continue to grow as being true to yourself makes you want to be truthful to others also. One would think that since being brutally honest with yourself would indicate that being brutally honest with others would be just as effective. Yeah, not so much.

The more radically open and honest you are the fewer people will be attracted to you. Unless your goal is to completely isolate yourself from society, then you might consider tempering your honesty with a snippet from the Hippocratic Oath, “To do no harm.”

Otherwise, an unbridled purveyor of truth might be considered as arrogant, self-centered, antagonistic, whacked (crazy) and possibly deserving of being safely locked away in an asylum. To counter public opinion about the truth you desire to share, simply being considerate of others can be a highly effective approach when applied to communication that might otherwise be difficult or hurt someone’s feelings.

This is a skill wielded by the savvy therapist, to be able to challenge the patient with contrarian ideas in order to break a particular pattern, without approaching the idea from a full frontal attack. Some empathy in this situation will go a long way. Consider the person you’re involved in the conversation with, use a bit of imagination and try to put yourself in his or her shoes. How does it feel to be that person, in this moment, with respect to the life he/she has lived up to this point?

Keep in mind, you want to tell the truth without overawe and do no harm in the process.

Simply taking a moment to observe your breathing, connect with your heart, thoughtfully and purposefully setting the intention to effectively and sincerely communicate heart-to-heart prior to sharing will help to set the tone for a potentially abrasive interaction.

To avoid the pitfalls or consequences of being blunt, a more ‘round the bush approach may be a more affective tactic, especially if you would like to avoid alienation, desiring a more positive outcome.

As you become more open, honest and intimate your thoughts in a sincerely truthful manner, you find increasing feelings of satisfaction, joy and fulfillment from this advanced perspective. Your whole outlook begins to improve, as does your lifestyle, you live a healthier and enjoy a longer lifespan.

If you can learn how to honestly tell the truth with respect and honor for the life and perspective of the recipient, you will be respected as an authentic person who speaks with authority and integrity, while being kind and sensitive.

The more you do it, the less intimidated you are about sharing and the more courageous you become about intimating important details to others.

When your kindness predicates your sharing honestly, you come from a place of love and compassion and people with whom you are interacting feel as though you care about them, when the very same information would have been rejected and you shunned, without first setting your authentic intention.

Still, there will be times when even with the best intentions and efforts, your honesty will be rejected, but that says more about the state of the receiver than you. Some people cannot handle the truth and build protective walls around themselves to disallow any ideas that may seem incongruent to them.