Question #2

Here is Question #2 of Wesleyan Spiritual Practice - Am I honest in all my acts and words, or do I exaggerate?

As a society, I think we exaggerate a lot. If you want a certain type of reaction, you have to exaggerate, or else no one notices.

I'm sure sometimes I exaggerate. When my kids are doing something annoying - I probably exaggerate the extent of their annoyance - I want the mom sympathy vote.

My husband sometimes accuses me of exaggerating time - I have what he calls "chronic time urgency" - so I am constantly exaggerating how little time we have. Hey, I don't like to be late.

I exaggerate my husband's short comings - using words like "always" and "never" - I know I do this a lot. Sometimes, in the moment, it "feels" like always, and never... but in reality, that is not the case.

Sometimes I exaggerate my attitude. I get depressed often - but I don't want to show it if I can help it. Usually you know if it's popping through, it's because I have exaggerated the happy attitude too much, and it has become exhausting to keep it up.

Sometimes, when things are going bad - I can exaggerate the awfulness.  Sometimes, it really is a bunch of stuff going on all at once - like yesterday - I swear it was one bad thing after another. And sometimes it's not a lot of bad stuff, but I might exaggerate it a little because I'm feeling so horrible - I feel I have to justify why I feel that way. 

Why is it that I always over exaggerate the bad - and not the good.  I don't think I have really over exaggerated the amount of money I donate to any charity or cause - maybe because I am ashamed at how little I do donate. Some people, I suppose, my feel that guilt and exaggerate the amount. I think if I did that, I would feel even more guilty. I have to be honest with myself - because I know that in turn is being honest with God. No one else is going to know if I have exaggerated or not - but God will.