Sometimes we’re told an awful truth because the person doing the telling loves us and wants to be authentic and honest. However, and here’s the BIG BUT:
“Honesty is an important part of authenticity. However, there's a distinct difference between being brutally honest and being truthful with others.
In her 1994 book "The Dance of Deception," psychologist Dr. Harriet Lerner distinguishes between these concepts. She states that honesty can sometimes represent our uncensored thoughts and feelings, while truth requires tact, timing, kindness, and empathy with the other person.”
(Source: James Manktelow, MindTools.com, Authenticity Being True to Yourself)
I truly appreciate these two distinctions because sometimes people use brutal honesty as just another way of being passive aggressive, in other words, blurting out uncensored thoughts without tact, timing, kindness and empathy with the other person.
oh, oh. am I guilty?
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