Wired to Lie

Did you know…

that “I cannot tell a lie” is a lie!

It’s Presidents Day in the US. The honorees: George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

When George was a kid, he supposedly chopped down his mother’s favorite cherry tree and later confessed, when confronted, with the famous “I cannot tell a lie” line. Come to find out, a preacher turned bookseller concocted the tale after George died.

Next up: Lincoln…aka Honest Abe. Verifiable historical accounts attest to the fact that he came by his nickname honestly! I feel better.

Our obsession with the virtues of honesty, integrity and truth goes way back.

But…

Research by social psychologists shows that we lie often and as easily as we breathe or sweat! It comes with being human.*

The dilemma: we espouse honesty but we’re wired to lie!

I’ve done major re-wiring to empower my life with the current of truth. But if I said I tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth all the time, no matter what…I would be lying.

So, in honor of Washington’s legend and Lincoln’s legacy I am going to declare this Presidents Day a lie-free day. I will not tell a lie…to myself, or anyone else. No socially nice or socially expedient lies, no little white lies, no lies of convenience or lies of omission, no lies of exaggeration or distortion…nuttin’ but the Truth.

Care to join me?

*Dr. David Smith, philosophy professor, at the University of New England and author of Why We Lie: the Evolutionary Roots of Deception and the Unconscious Mind.

Your Heart is More than a Pump

Did you know…

that Your heart is more than just a little pump…much more!

A colleague asked me to do some heartstorming. The word threw me for a loop. I experienced a mental speedbump while searching to make sense of what she had just said.

Heartstorming? Searching, searching…that must be like brainstorming…kind of?? But using our hearts instead of our heads to generate ideas.

Got me to thinking…

The brain has all the status and clout. It reigns supreme among the human organs. Sits on top, literally! It is credited with being the center of human consciousness, the center of our intelligence, and the source of our power.

But what if it isn’t?

What if the real source of our power, intelligence and consciousness is in our hearts?

Our brain thinks; our heart knows. Our brain judges; our heart loves. Our brain divides; our heart connects. Our brain sees duality; our heart sees wholeness.

In honor of Valentine’s Day this week, let your heart take center stage…

• Give birth to a heartchild to play with your brainchild.
• Harness your heartpower to complement your brainpower.
• Try a little heartstorming instead of brainstorming.

Let me know how it goes.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Arguing with Reality

Did you know…

that When you argue with reality, you lose. Only always!

This potent observation of Byron Katie’s do-looped in my mind this week. Why?

Because I argued with reality. I resisted a situation that was happening. I thought it should be different. Should being the operative word—the first clue that I’d left the world of “what is” for the world according to me.

In the world according to me I indulged my ego, my judgments, my story making and my self-righteous indignation. Even though I knew better, it was seductively satisfying in a perverse kind of way.

But another part of me witnessed my crazy-making with amusement and short circuited my indulgence. I just couldn’t sustain it. I let go of the illusion of being right for the freedom and resourcefulness that comes with acknowledging what is.

In the computer world a do loop structure repeats a set of statements an indefinite number of times, until a condition is satisfied. It took me a few hours. But I finally got it. Katie’s voice stopped. And then came peace.

Maybe next time, I’ll get it more quickly.