ASPIRATIONAL ACTIVITY By Elizabeth MacGregor
Elizabeth MacGregor is a regular contributor to SideOne, following a successful career in education.
The lies and misconceptions we tell others and maybe ourselves “Why yes, I practise yoga, and have been meditating
inspiration for many years. The Pilates ball may take
all my life. Just don’t ask me how often, or what time
up a corner as well.
of day, or what type of yoga.”
Why do we lie, or is it actually lying? Perhaps a better
“No, my baby never cries during the night. Perfect
description is self-deception. According to research
child. How do I know about that show that is on most
conducted in the early 2000s, we all partake.
nights at 3 a.m.? Oh, lucky guess, I suppose.”
Stephen Diamond, in Psychology Today, Nov. 3, 2008,
“I rarely eat sugar, fried food or meat. Yes, I have
reports that “we dismiss certain facts incompatible
practised careful eating all my life. What is the best
with our myth of ourselves in favour of other less
place for soft-serve? Oh, I like Dairy Queen.”
threatening and more corroborative ones. We twist
The above statements easily roll out of one’s mouth, onto a plate of other lies and misconceptions that
the truth. And we become convinced of the veracity of this twisted truth.”
believe.
HER GRANDMOTHER DIED THREE TIMES
Yoga and meditation might have been part of one’s
three times in the five years that I worked with her.
we tell others about ourselves and may even half
life in our twenties, but has been asleep in our closet, along with the mat, the foam blocks and the
I worked with someone whose grandmother died This convenient untruth gave her long weekends to travel when a day off required an excuse. I would
