My teacher Dan Sullivan says “All progress starts by telling the truth.” Yet I’ve noticed that truth isn’t something people are really interested in. Lie to me and make me feel good about myself is a far more popular mantra.

When you do tell someone the truth I find that they are frequently offended and it often creates a breach in the relationship. Does that mean that we should shrink back from truth telling?

Do you ever find yourself being defensive when someone tells you something that is uncomfortable to hear? Is there any truth to what they’ve said? Is there any chance that feelings of defensiveness are actually an internal mechanism that God gave us (or that we’ve developed) which indicates that we are not in alignment with the truth?

I’ve often found that when someone attacks me and I am fully in the right, it causes me to laugh. However, when I recognize grains of truth in their statements, I feel defensive. So, could it be that defensiveness indicates that we aren’t in congruity with the truth?

I’d be interested in knowing what you think about it.