Posts Tagged ‘honesty’

“You are the handicap you must face. You are the one who must choose your place.” – James Lane Allen

A private journal is the best platform for telling the truth. If there is no risk for prying eyes or rendered judgment, then we should be free and full with our truths, right?

But what if a person’s truth is really not the truth? What if their beliefs of reality have drifted so far over the edge that it has landed in a sea of delusion? Whose truth can be trusted?

Emily Dickinson wrote, “Tell all the Truth but tell it slant,” but isn’t this a given. We have no choice but to the season the truth with our perspective, preconceived notions and beliefs. What if the truth is so tainted with bitterness, denials, excuses, etc.? Can this truth be trusted?  

Perhaps our search for real truth relies on the diplomatic cliché, “there are two sides to every story.” We then can take an educated guess that the truth lies between these two sides.

“Someone once asked me what I regarded as the three most important requirements for happiness. My answer was: ‘A feeling that you have been honest with yourself and those around you; a feeling that you have done the best you could both in your personal life and in your work; and the ability to love others.’” – Eleanor Roosevelt