Truth.

Why do we lie? I understand some of what compels us to lie, but why do we make that choice?

Okay, I’ll start…when I was a kid, I lied to avoid getting my tale whooped by my pops. As a teen, I started adding those lies that helped me sound way cooler than I actually was. In my young adult life I decided to add the lies that helped to preserve the feelings of people I cared about. Oh yeah…I can’t forget the lies that would help me get the things I wanted. As time rolled on lying became easier for me. It wasn’t until I was well into my adult life that I became aware of the actual impact of my lies. I then quickly realized that my awareness alone was not enough to get me to mash the breaks on lying and roll back the years and layers of lies I had been telling.

A group of researchers at University College London and Duke University actually conducted a study to see what effect, if any, lying had on our brains. The researchers observed the amygdala—this is the area of the brain that is responsible for detecting fear and helping us prepare for emergency events. The study revealed that when the participants lied they initially felt terrible. However, as they continued to lie over and over again the amygdala showed less and less activity. The reality is you don’t get better at lying, you just feel less bad about doing it. This means you can become fully desensitized to the lies you’ve told while the realities of their impact are mounting all around you. We’ve got to find a way to re-engage with truth.

Look, we all have made poor choices at one point in our lives. Some of the lies we’ve used to cover things up, in a lot of cases, have led us to a place where coming clean could cause us to lose a lot. At some point we will have to make the decision to continue living under the weight of our lies or free ourselves to live in truth. Gents, let’s practice becoming men who can be held to our word.

#CarryEverything