madameblogalot

I found this excerpt in my file and thought it was pretty interesting. I know I am often “deceiving myself”. Usually though, in those cases, I am the only one deceived. How can we so often “see through” others and just can’t see it in ourselves? I think when we deceive ourselves, we are not the only ones hurt by the deception…

By Seth Czarnecki,
QualityHealth News

“Dr. Seuss once said to “be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter, and those who matter don’t mind.” In our favorite childhood fables, from The Ugly Duckling to The Wizard of Oz, there is a prevalent theme: be happy with the person that you are. Even though we’ve been bombarded with this sentiment since we were young, it becomes increasingly difficult to be satisfied with our lives as we age. Life becomes more complicated with heightened stress from work, family, and friends. And inevitably, as stress increases, so does the challenge of being content with the lives we lead.

As sad as it may sound, the truth remains that many relationships—careers, friendships, and marriages alike—are maintained by self-deception. Whether it’s subconscious or purposeful, self-deception works as a mean to an end. As Austin Cline points out in his book Sometimes We Mislead Even Ourselves, the deception of others is often viewed as a moral flaw while self-deception is rarely pointed out. By and large, self-deception, on the surface, has its perks and is rarely revealed as a bad thing.”