One Door Closes...

Happy Christmas, folks. See you in the New Year.

...and Make Me Listen

Oh, let me hear Thee speaking,
In accents clear and still,
Above the storms of passion,
The murmurs of self-will;
Oh, speak to reassure me,
To hasten, or control;
Oh, speak, and make me listen,
Thou Guardian of my soul.
(verse 3 of 'O Jesus I Have Promised', lyrics by John Ernest Bode)

How Can I Tell If You're Lying?

Would the world be a better place if people always told the truth?

I would assume so, but it would be such a different world. For example, we would be under no illusions as to what people truly thought of us. And that, I'm sure, would be very eye-opening.

So, how can you tell if someone you know is lying to you? Or even exaggerating one aspect of a situation in order to encourage you to think in a particular way? I would call that a 'half-truth' - and these are the things which make it all the more difficult to work out what is fact and what is fiction...

Reading up on the topic lately, I discover that science has presented us with a whole host of ways to tell if someone is being honest with you. A myriad number of verbal and non-verbal cues that are said to be dead giveaways, based on research and practice. Whether they work in all circumstances - or indeed at all - I'll leave up to your own studies...

Apparently, you can tell if someone is telling a lie if:

• Their story lacks something - a fabricated story will be incomplete or merely strung together - for example, it may have 'too much middle and not enough beginning and end'... liars will also tend to use sentence fragments while speaking, while truth-tellers tend to speak in complete sentences. 
• They make overuse of eye contact - they used to say that liars won't look you straight in the eye. They say the opposite now. According to psychologists, liars tend to maintain more deliberate eye contact than those telling the truth. They are aware of the old saying, and try to 'bluff it out'. Additionally, a recent piece of research revealed that a liar's eyes will blink more slowly when they’re telling a lie, and then the blinking speed will increase up to eight times faster than normal after the lie has been told. Not sure if that's true - you'll keep a sharp eye out for this!
• Their body language often gives them away - someone who is lying to you may breathe more heavily as they speak. Their bodily functions are still reacting, and would affect their heart rate and blood flow. You may also need to watch their hands - a speaker may cover certain “vulnerable” body parts when they are lying. Or maybe they are just nervous...
• You can histen for the excuse - liars tend to rely on negative outside forces as excuses ("I’m late again today because of the traffic"), whereas truth-tellers are less likely to do so. 
• You hear the 'bells' - Follow your instincts! Have you got a little 'warning bell' going off in your head? Trust it. Often our instincts for determining whether someone is lying or telling the truth are fairly strong. God gives some of us pretty good means of picking up 'non-verbal cues' which can guide us well...

Why have I blogged about this today? I've got a couple of situations in my life at the moment where I'm increasingly convinced that the person or people concerned simply aren't telling me the full story. I'm not comfortable. The warning bells are going off - however I'm not sure if this is total 'spin' or just the embellished truth.

Lord, please give me discernment.