Honesty is the Best Policy

Take Radical Responsibility of Your Life

From the moment we are conscious, we hear “honesty is the best policy”. Most of the time, this advice is coming from dishonest people. There isn’t a single man, woman or child who hasn’t lied to someone else. Most of us lie to ourselves, and we do this daily. We lie about how we’re feeling, we lie about where we are in life, we lie to ourselves in order to make ourselves feel better. If you’ve lied(which you have) then you know that it actually DOESN’T feel good to lie, especially not to yourself. Dishonesty hurts. In today’s publication, we are going to look at why honesty really is THE BEST POLICY.

The definition of honesty is to be free of deceit and untruthfulness; it is synonymous with sincerity. The world is already full of deceitful people and practices, dishonest and unaccountable individuals, and we don’t want to be like every one else. If you can’t be honest with yourself, how can you be honest with others, let alone expect honesty from others? Honesty is an act of self-love. Being honest with yourself allows you to take radical responsibility for your life.

Radical responsibility is a voluntary choice to embrace 100% ownership for each and every circumstance we face in life, to face these circumstances not as a burden, but as a conscious act of self-empowerment and genuine love for yourself. The opposite? To rely on blame, shame and guilt to rationalize your circumstance and feelings to keep your ego intact while laying the blame on someone else. Many people take ownership for their wins, but how many are willing to take ownership when it comes to a “loss”? I put loss in quotations because I am not of the school of thought that there is such thing as a loss, if a situation doesn’t work out favorable for me, its a lesson. Don’t be afraid to “lose” or take a lesson, lessons and adversity lead to growth.

What do you have to gain from being honest? Honesty asks you to be accountable for your thoughts, behaviors, actions and mindset. Honesty allows you to see where you are slipping up, where you aren’t placing enough effort or energy. Honesty and radical responsibility go hand in hand, they build upon each other. You take ownership of where you are in life, and realize that it is a result of your action or inaction. But its all on you. This should empower you.

Honesty leads to self empowerment. You are in control of your thoughts, your feelings and actions. There is no outside force that determines your life, it is you. That is true power, true strength. Are you ready to take an honest look at yourself, and take responsibility for where you are?

As a man in this upside-down society, taking an honest evaluation of yourself is the best thing you can do. You are inherently tasked to be honest, to lead with integrity and compassion, to act as if every one of your thoughts and actions can and will make a difference. Take on these responsibilities as a man, and watch your world flourish. An honest man sees where he is lacking, sees where he needs to act from a higher level.

Philippians 4:8-9 ESV

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.