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How To Stop Lying To Yourself
We take what we would like to believe and end up deceiving ourselves. Here’s how to get honest with yourself.
Lying is difficult because we have to overcome our fear of getting caught. Thus, a majority of us are afraid to tell poker-faced lies to others. But when it comes to deceiving ourselves — we have somehow mastered the craft.
Humans are susceptible to self-deception because they have emotional attachments to their beliefs. They start identifying themselves with their set of beliefs. One deceives oneself to trust something that is not true as to better convince others of that truth. When a person convinces himself of this untrue thing, they are far better placed to mask all the visible signs of deception.
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool.” — Richard Feynman
For someone like me whose job and passion revolves around lots of reading, both text…