“Just How Truthful Are You?”

Michael Bugeja
 

1. Keep a weekly journal of all the white lies, half-truths and falsehoods that you say or indicate to others. Without violating your own privacy or the privacy of others, summarize them incident by incident, item by item. Under each incident or item, briefly note the immediate, future or possible consequences of the lie.

2. Keep a weekly journal of all the white lies, half-truths and falsehoods that others say or indicate to you. Without violating your own privacy or the privacy of others, summarize them incident by incident, item by item. Under each incident or item, briefly note the immediate, future or possible consequences of the lie.

3. Keep a weekly journal of times when you wanted to tell a white lie, half-truth or falsehood ... but caught yourself and told the truth or declined to answer the question (doing so in a polite, discreet, or otherwise appropriate way). Without violating your own privacy or the privacy of others, briefly summarize these incidents and items and note the immediate, future or possible consequences of telling the truth.

4. Look over your notes from each of the above exercises. In a journal entry, note any conclusions you can make about each exercise and share what those conclusions tell you about how truthful you actually are.