Iqra Rasheed Sial
Lying is a Horribly Destructive Habit that leads to painful consequences. When we choose to lie, we choose to suffer. It is a pretty common behaviour and a really big problem found in people. People lie to get out of trouble either that or to get something they want or to feel justified. Even the smallest white lies can cause money, break trust, impact relationships or worse. It can also affect your choices. “I’m not upset that you lied to me; I’m upset that from now on I can never believe you”. Sometimes we tell a lie to escape punishment. Sometimes we tell fibs so that our friend or sibling does not get into trouble. Some children tell tall tales to impress others and appear cooler, richer or groovier than they really are. Some seek attention and sympathy by lying. Some evil geniuses can even create stories to set friends against each other or get others in trouble. It is a major sin in Islam to speak lie and is heavily condemned in Islamic ethics and is considered as ‘Root of all Evils‘. In a Hadith, Prophet Muhammad indicated that a believer cannot be a liar, He was asked that: Can a believer be a coward? He (PBUH) said yes, Can he be a miser? He said yes, Can he be a liar? Prophet replied No, a believer cannot be a liar How your lies are affecting your life: It is addictive ones you start lying and getting out of trouble you’ll get used to it. You’ll lie for even the littlest things. You’ll get so used to lying that for example, if your friend asks “what phone do you have?” You’ll automatically reply, “an iphone”, even though you don’t have one and you want to make a good impression. No matter what the reasons for evading truth are, the habit of telling lies can be a very destructive personality trait. Liars get caught eventually and in this modern world there are just too many ways for someone to find out the truth. It will impact relationships, break down trusts and will cause emotional pain. It is important to avoid hurting those you love and care about by lying to them. Be honest and be truthful. Tell them about your feelings or what have been happening around with you. Share your thoughts and ask for suggestions but don’t lie and get your self wired up. lying can cause stress and inner conflicts. Stress actually harms your brain and body in many ways and since we do it everyday, our stress level shoots and that is not good for your health. How to avoid telling lies: Now that we have seen how harmful lying is for our peace of mind, let us try to find out ways how to avoid telling them in the first place. Make Yourself Accountable: Sometimes it feels tempting to do things if we think we’ll be able to get away with it or no one else will ever know. How will you feel about that decision later though? Be accountable to yourself whenever you speak, and make sure you tell the truth, even if no one will find out that you lied. Be honest with yourself about why you’re lying as well-what do you hope to accomplish? What is your end game? What is easier in this situation about lying versus telling the truth?Stop and think: Remember what happened to the boy who cried, “Wolf!” Keep on reminding yourself that truth has a way of coming out in the open. Once you lose people’s trust, you lose the power to be heard by others, because they will stop listening and believing you. Be realistic about what you promise to others: Deliberately broken promises are lies that lead to broken hearts. If you promise to do something and never intend to follow through, that is a lie. Additionally, many lies begin as a way to cover up the fact we can’t possibly do everything we promised we were going to do. Be honest about what you’re capable of doing, admitting to yourself and others your limitations, and you won’t feel a need to lie. Commit to a life of honesty, at all costs: Telling the truth might be horribly uncomfortable for you, but you’re starting to walk down a path of honesty and integrity, turning yourself into the person you desire to be. If you don’t know the answer to a question, don’t lie and make something up. Say, I don’t know. The freedom of the truth will be liberating. Decrease Stress: For some people, lying can be a stress reaction. You may have been in a situation where you felt so overwhelmed that you could not think straight enough to feel like you could come up with a good answer, and the result ended up being a lie. Lying serves to take the pressure off in this way. Sometimes, people genuinely do not even realize they’re telling lies if lying is an almost automatic reaction to stress. In these types of cases, someone else might be calling to your attention that what you said was untrue. Learn some healthy methods to identify and cope with stress could help this type of lying. Practice: Practice makes perfect literally applies to almost any situation. With lying you should probably practice telling the truth in some of the smaller instances. This way when you find yourself in a pickle, you’ll be prepared to truth your way out of it.
