Honesty is the best policy. Deviation from the truth is a smear on your integrity no matter what the justification; its a slippery slope. The more you lie (or should I say ‘adjust the truth’) the less accurately you represent yourself, the less others know you, the more likely you are to feel isolated and misunderstood; then its  a short walk to loss of confidence and loss of sense of who you are. Then who knows what you might do to feel better…?   I know that life is not group therapy (sadly!!!) so this is not about marching around saying whatever is on your mind without consequence (by the way in group  therapy there are consequences!) : that would be self indulgent! No, I am advocating the kind of honesty that allows you to be present without shame and for the other person to truly know you.  Its called INTIMACY. This takes self knowledge and of course creates self knowledge too! It takes courage and creates confidence; it means the friends you have actually know you and love you for who you are – gold dust! Take the risk to be honest, recognise your own judgements as you do, and try really hard to welcome the response!