It wasn’t my finest moment—the adult equivalent of shouting, “Liar, liar, pants on fire!”

…but even more inappropriate.

And in a room full of my peers.

Yikes!

It started innocently enough.

Several weeks earlier, a co-worker took more credit than she should have for a project I spear-headed. To be nice, I didn’t call her out; I didn’t need all the glory.

But by that afternoon, in front of the whole committee, the lie had grown. She’d fabricated scenarios to back up her version and feigned exhaustion from overwork. While she expanded her fiction, my face reddened and my heart pounded loud in my chest.

As her Academy Award-worthy performance neared its conclusion, she lamented, nodding in my direction, that she could have used a little help.

“You didn’t do any of that work—I did!” I blurted, loud enough to reverberate through the tiny room.

Cue crickets.

I looked petty, and I felt foolish.

Ugh.

She’d spun a fictional tale, and it appeared that most of my co-workers believed her. Perhaps she’d even come to believe it herself.

That’s the problem with lies—when a little one sneaks through, we’re compelled to concoct stories to support it, eventually forgetting the truth.

I learned my lesson about the importance of correcting small lies when I hear them.

Unfortunately, it would take several years before I learned the most important truth about lies— the most harmful ones are the lies we tell ourselves.

Like my co-worker, when we lie to ourselves we construct stories that reinforce the lie and eventually we no longer recognize the truth.

Unlike my co-worker’s lies, though—which eventually became apparent— no one is privy to the lies we tell ourselves. So they continue to dictate a false story of our lives and contribute to the negative thoughts that spiral in our heads.

It’s impossible to tell ourselves truthful stories—and combat the negative voices in our heads—when we don’t even realize those stories are based on lies!

That’s why I wrote 7 Ways You Lie to Yourself — Without Even Realizing It, an e-book & reflection journal that walks you through some of the biggest lies we tell ourselves and the simple mindset shifts that can keep them from amplifying the negative voices in your head.

In the amount of time it takes to savor your morning tea, you’ll be well on your way to experiencing relief. Click here to learn more.