Liar Liar Pants on fire!

"Liar Liar pants on fire" ...What do you do when you know someone has lied to you? Here's one side of this sticky quandary. Or are you the deceiver? wantonly or innocently letting your tongue lead the way down a difficult, stressful path.

"As popular as the saying has become....—and as satisfying as it is to chant or say—“liar, liar, pants on fire!” is not the most intuitive of phrases. Although people’s pants do sometimes catch on fire, this correlates more with carrying around accidentally explosive materials than it does with truthfulness. Meanwhile, the vast majority of liars make it through life unscathed by this particular fashion catastrophe. The mystery of the phrase’s origins is compounded by the fact that several of its more popularly reported etymologies are, in fact, lies." source link

Of course, it depends on the situation, the person & how you know they have been telling "porkie- pies."

Thanks Johnathan Zapiro.

Often attributed to political promises (or ADHD); lies can be an attempted escape from some kind of trouble - seemingly.. and perhaps a crude sarcastic way of getting around the actual truth without it being pinned on you.. Diversion is a tactic of liars!
However, unfortunately too often lying is a product of neglect, depression or avoidance and can be a subtle (or not so sublte) cry for help.
Some of you may remember a term when we were sending our "extra cash" to teen suicide charity Papyrus. This was in direct response to a real-life situation. Lying is sometimes the bit before this tragedy and can be a lifeline, so if you spot it don't ignore it, but be careful, and get help.

But in reality, people are brighter than you think, your body language can give you away every time.

Pop "body language- lying" into google and you will get 223,000,000 options to look at; This is a very well-researched subject. Your body will tell your audience muuuuch more than your voice will. Youtube has a great video of lying Clinton.. classic!

The newspapers have branded every politician as a bare-faced liar, but we must remember that this "life" project is a work in progress. Nobody is free from delusion- unless they are enlightened that is, or are leading a Dalai Lamma-like existence.

I read this, this morning to the "Sun salutes" and "Time to pause" attendees. A little slice of wisdom from "The Wheel of life" by Kulananda;

"The Buddha never condemned craving, aversion and delusion as sinful. They are simply a part of the way things are, a part of the way we are, but, he said if we wish to escape from suffering we must first free ourselves from their bonds. This is not easy, for the three poisons lie at the very root of samsara"

[ Samsara= The wheel of life= our lives.
Centre of the wheel of life= Greed, Hatred & delusion as represented by the snake, the cockerel and the pig]

This pic is for sale on Etsy btw.

We all have our dark secrets to contend with and to be honest, I have found truthfulness [Satya] to be one of the hardest of the Yamas or "personal observances of Yoga" (Patanjali's Yoga Sutras) to practice because it starts with being truthful with ourselves;

When in a silent retreat a few years back, even the voice in my head was making stuff up!
"Katie, you need food to feel better.. sneak into the kitchen & have that honey on toast and it will ease the pressure" What a load of rubbish! It just made my waistline a little thicker and my mind has a good laugh at me! It actually made things worse, so even silence (or toast) isn't the answer! Aahhh!!!!

So; there's being truthful with ourselves,
with others,
Being in receipt of a lie,
or noticing someone else lying to themselves
-or to others.

But if you clicked the link on "Satya", you will have read that Satya isn't just about lying..

Here's a snippet, relating back to your Yoga mat...

"Practising asana with Satya in mind can be very similar to applying the first Yama ahimsa to our physical practice. How many times have you ignored or pushed past an injury or limitation just to get into that yoga posture? Even if it’s only staying in a challenging pose a few breaths more than our bodies really needed to, it’s this dishonesty with ourselves that can often cause physical pain…. "

Thanks, cat yoga  by Sam Hart. Nudge to Lizzie.

There are no simple answers to this, but know that your Kula, or Sangha, your family & friends have all been there and I know personally, that it is a huge relief to talk things through with people I trust.
In whatever way it is affecting you Satya is a brilliant practice and has led me to some amazing insights, people and practices. (and continues to do so.)

So don't kid yourself, help yourself.
(And perhaps take stuff in newspapers with a pinch of salt.)