Should You Trust Your Own Heart?

You know you aren’t all that reliable or honest with yourself, don’t you? Come on, admit it. We all lie to ourselves, all pretend that we’re more forthright and reliable than we are. We’re doing good not to be sleazy weasels some days. We hate admitting that, lie even more to cover it up, but the facts are pretty unavoidable.

Now being dishonest with yourself wouldn’t be so bad, but it does make it a lot harder to be honest with others. All that effort to camoflage your lies and flaws carries over into your affairs with others. We act like no one would put up with us if we were honest, but that’s foolish: they manage to put up with us being a shifty weasel! There’s no real reason to assume they would hate us worse if we were actually honest, especially about who we are!

The most insideous problem with your constant dishonesty is that you erode you ability to trust others. If you can’t trust your heart, you likely won’t trust anyone else either! We mostly use ourselves as a yardstick, and when that’s a crooked, unreliable tool, everything and everyone else looks the same. This is why improving yourself and your level of honest interaction is so worthwhile. It also works to keep you from getting your butt beat so often, but that’s a side benefit!

Jack