Honesty With Ourselves and Others

***Apology: I know that I promised to post these each Monday, but I was vacationing in Hot Springs, Arkansas, over the weekend, and I didn’t have a stable internet connection. I also meant to make this post on Tuesday during my first day back at work, but work found me traveling across the lovely state of Oklahoma, so again no connection to the internet. I have really appreciated the fantastic comments I have been getting with this series, so please bear with me and any technical difficulties! 😉 ***

This is my eighth post in a series, where each Monday (if possible) I will post about a point of reflection or insight that I will use to reflect and meditate on during the week. In order to make it a bit more focused and interesting, I will attempt to do this with topics beginning with letters from A to Z. I have often found that having a specific topic to reflect and/or meditate on during the week really lends itself to interesting insights and growth, because you not only have several days to reflect and meditate on the topic, but you have several days to put any lessons and insights that you discover to work in your every day life. For those that follow me on Twitter (@JasonLivingNow) I will try to write updates as the weekly topics come up during meditations, moments of reflection, or just during everyday life. To view the current and previous entries in this series, please visit the: Reflections and Insights A Through Z section.

H= Honesty With Ourselves and Others: Honesty is a crucial element of any relationship, including our relationship with ourselves. Externally, honesty is crucial because if we cannot trust the word of another, then trust can never be a part of the relationship, and without trust the relationship will always be full of turmoil. Internally, honesty is a crucial aspect for personal/physical/spiritual development, because in order for any progression to be made, we must be honest with ourselves regarding any internal issues, feelings, or obstacles that may hamper our progression.

Many people laugh when I tell them that I am a stickler for honesty, especially given the fact that I am a practicing attorney. However, I always remind people that my profession is really about finding out the truth of a matter, so that it can be justly and efficiently resolved. Without honesty, I cannot do my job, and the justice system as a whole cannot do its job. I have always made it a cornerstone of my legal practice to be honest with my clients (sometimes brutally so, but it is my job to tell them the truth, not necessarily what they want to hear), as well as in my dealings with opposing counsel. This has worked to my advantage, because I have gained a reputation as a “straight shooter”, because I wont pursue a case unless I actually have a case to pursue. I refuse to lie or fluff in order to build a case. Period. This has allowed me to quickly settle many cases with opposing counsel, based largely on my reputation alone.

In my dealings with my friends, and in my personal relationships with my wife and family, I also try to be as honest as possible, and I expect others to be open and honest with me. This allows my friends, family, and I to avoid many of the turmoils that too many relationships experience. This doesn’t mean that we are perfect, but when issues come up they can be aired in the open, resolved, and then moved on with, rather than burying them beneath the surface to fester.