The opposite of honesty is deception \u2014 or lying. Lying is equally bad whether you are deceiving others or yourself. When you lie, you delude yourself into believing what you\u2019re saying. You start digging a hypothetical ditch, even if with an infant-sized spoon, that will keep getting bigger over time. You confuse yourself, confuse others, lose credibility and put yourself in harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The worst type of lying we practice, in order to deceive, is when we lie to ourselves. We start messing around with our concept of morality, right and wrong, as well as our dreams and desires. Times that I lied in order to do something that I knew was wrong, I could feel <\/em>it. My inner core warred and rebelled against what I was mentally committing to doing because it was in contrast to who I really am.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I look back on it, every time I lied (that I can recall) I was trying to excuse or misrepresent my own shortcomings or to compensate for something. I was trying to pursue a sinful desire that would only, at best, produce temporary pleasure. Lies I told were often due to a lack of effort, positive morals or thoughts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other times, I was convincing myself I wasn\u2019t good enough or able to do something my heart was really set on. Lying or presuming I knew something I didn\u2019t really know was the easy path. This discouraging thought manifested itself in ways that I couldn\u2019t possibly perceive at the time. It set me back by delaying the pursuit of my dreams. It took away my ability to take chances that my heart was willing to take but my mind was blocking me from taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its temptation, ease of use and false promises, lying gets us nowhere in the end. We stay right in our own tracks or much worse, go backwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n