Letting Your Hair Down

“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything”    ~Mark Twain~

It takes a tremendous amount of energy to put on airs and keep a stiff upper lip every waking hour.  Japanese and Brits are often similar at that level.

When someone asks:  “What do you do?” and you haven’t worked a flyspeck in six months in your given profession, mechanical engineering, do you respond:  “I’m a freelance engineer”?

When someone asks:  “Do you like your job?” and you have been complaining about it to everyone in sight for the last few years, do you respond:  “Oh yes, I just got a promotion.  My work is very interesting and challenging”?

When someone comments:  “You have a beautiful family.  You must be so proud of them all!” yet you are a few heartbeats from divorce, do you respond:  “Oh yes, I guess I’m quite fortunate”?

===================================================
I DON’T CARE IF YOU ARE LAZIEST PERSON WHO EVER
DREW A BREATH
If you just can’t get yourself to do what you need to do,
if your willpower and persistence always seems to fizzle
out, then check out the new paradigm in personal growth.
===================================================
A lie is a lie.  The difference between a white and a black lie is minimal because the effect is the same.  It is meant to deceive or distort reality in order to put yourself or another in a better light or avoid conflict.

If we are hungry and decline food from a donor simply because we don’t want to be impolite or disturb the person offering, then we will likely starve to death.  Food is basic and absolutely essential for our survival.  Good form would be totally foolhardy in such a case.

We must somehow learn to be comfortable in our skin, no matter how embarrassing a situation or admission may seem.  To sweep our true emotions under the rug and concoct a story to fool others is like drinking a slow-acting poison.

If you have no job, keep asking and looking.  Don’t look like a dog with its tail between its legs.  The greater shame is living in a state of denial.

When someone asks whether you like your job, why not respond, “It’s paying my bills, but I’m looking for something I can be more passionate about” ?

And if asked about your “ideal” family life, why not avoid dishonesty by at least commenting, “There have been some good moments”?

Good form usually – no, ALWAYS! – detaches you from your true emotions.  And over time, this detachment desensitizes you from who you are in essence and what you have to do to find a modicum of true happiness in your life.

If you are a druggie, a nicotine addict, an over- or under-eater, a kitchen drinker, or work out until you bleed from blisters…then you are your own worst enemy.

I am not saying you should  confess to every person you come in contact with; what I am saying is that the energy you waste putting on airs and juggling lies could be put to better use becoming a person of credible character.

Why not decide to be absolutely genuine from this moment forward.  It won’t happen over night, but it can happen.

Let your hair down.