Honesty is just an opinion

Greetings:

One thing I learned is that you don't always have to tell everyone everything you think. Yes it is nice to be honest, but honesty is just an opinion. I make a distinction between truth and honesty. The truth is factual and can be proven by scientific methods. Honesty is simply an opinion about what someone thinks is the truth and if you asked the same question to a dozen people you would get a dozen different answers.

In an article by Vicky De Coster on The Spirited Woman's Blog she poses the question "Is honesty really the best policy?" I would say not really. It depends on what you are trying to accomplish and what difference your opinion will really make. Vicky's article is around the question "Do I look fat in this?" I remember I once asked my husband as we were walking out the door to attend an event, "Does this outfit make me look fat?" His answer was really powerful. He said, "If it does what will you do about it?" The answer was nothing but feel bad, there was no time to change and I have no magical skinny clothes in my closet.

I shop with a friend that has the opposite taste as I do in clothing. Whenever I ask her about an outfit I am trying on she replies, "It is you." To this I reply, "You hate it don't you?" And she replies, "I wouldn't be caught dead in it, but on you it looks great." The fact that she doesn't like it doesn't stop her from supporting me in expressing who I am. She doesn't look at the outfit from her point of view, she looks at it from mine.

Honestly, opinions are great but really don't matter all that much. Instead of being honest with your opinion, try coming from the other person's point of view. See things from how they might see them and give your opinion from that point of view. Not always easy but much more supportive.

Here's to taking action

Rachelle