Today let us just casually discuss some of our casual lies. By casual lies I mean lies that we sometimes do not even consider to be lies. Lies that we just speak at the drop of a hat. Let us take a few examples:

1) I wake up in the morning and am feeling lazy. As soon as someone demands a cup of tea or coffee, I say, I am not feeling very well today to avoid the work.

2) I wish to take a day off in office and I call my boss. When he insists on my coming, I say that I am not very well and I adjust my intonation so that it matches my words and try to convince my boss that I am not really well.

3) I have been preparing for a presentation really hard and am happy about the work I have done and confident about presenting it well. But as soon as someone asks me if I am well prepared, I say, I am very nervous so that I don’t appear overconfident.

4) I am a really good cook and all set to prepare my best meal but tell people that I am not good at cooking and I don’t know how it would come out and express my doubts about my culinary skills so that I surprise them with the food.

5) I have some close relatives at home and when they ask me about whether I am doing well, I say that no we are barely managing and finances are in bad shape just so that they do not expect anything from me.

In all the above cases, it would appear that our lies are very small and harmless. And yes they may or may not be harmless to the other. But today we will not explore if they are harmful to the other. We will only explore the harmful effects of these harmless lies, if any, on myself. The person who creates the thought is the one who is affected by it first and foremost. I create a story in my mind where I am not in good physical health or nervous, or inept or insufficient. I first live my story and experience the thoughts and feelings I create. My thoughts create my reality. So, while I living a certain reality and wish to convince the other person about a different reality, though unaware, I am actually creating that different reality for myself. So, while I am attempting to deceive the other, I am actually making a fool of myself. It is therefore, in our best interest that we don’t think about what is, neither about what we want the other person to think, but rather about that which we intend to create for our own self.