In "Exercise -- Honesty For Better Clarity," you learned how to correct your exaggerating and lying tendencies.
After correcting your own dishonest tendencies, you probably noticed that you are more prone to believing and trusting others now than you were before.
Formerly, you doubted everything that you heard, because you yourself could not be relied upon for factual information.
It was a natural assumption that other people were the same.
Now that you have become honest, you assume others are likewise.
When you discover they are not, you have to deal with it.
To spot a liar, body language is the key -- red spots on the cheeks, fidgeting posture, clenching of fists, vocal stress or quivering voice, nervous laughter, a tapping foot, an exaggerated effort to appear casual, etc.
all can depict dishonesty.
Also, adding too much to a story or taking charge of a conversation to distract or divert you can be telltale signs of lying.
Mostly though, the eyes are the windows to the mind, the character, the habits and the soul of a person.
Beware of excessive shifting or downcast eyes or eyes that you intuit to be untrustworthy, cruel, crafty, sarcastic, revengeful or hateful when you fully look into them.
If you've learned to see auras, you'll notice a greenish-yellow streak shoot through a person's aura when he tells a lie (review "Exercise -- Aura Seeing").
The need to be right and not take the responsibility to be wrong is so strong in some people that they will even invent whole conversations that never took place just to say, "I told you so.
" Liars have many subconscious reasons for lying, and some liars no longer can tell the difference between truth and lie.
Normally when a liar is exposed, he still maintains his lie in a struggle not to have it openly revealed.
As an exercise, the next time you catch someone lying, blame the cause of the episode on a nameless third party.
This has a marvelous effect of allowing the liar to save face, and for you to achieve what you want without too much anxiety.
Your son denies leaving his bike in the driveway, but he'll put it away without a fuss if you say it must have been one of the neighbor's kids.
The mechanic didn't replace the spark plugs he charged you for, so blaming the mistake on his 'anonymous' helper will get them replaced properly without any trouble.
The liar suspects that you know he lied, and calling him a liar would not get what you want done.
People have to correct their own lying tendencies.
This exercise simply allows you a technique of dealing with such people.
Psychologically speaking, if your first impression with a person revolves around something he thinks you are wrong about or lied about, it causes any further statements from you to be regarded with suspicion.
First impressions of being a truth teller have the same effect.
Whenever a person makes up his mind about you as a truth teller or a liar in the beginning, he is loath to change his mind afterwards, because it would mean he was wrong about you.
People rarely like to admit they are wrong in such matters.
This is also at the root of most difficulties in interpersonal relationships.
People tend to put out good impressions in the beginning of a relationship, even if it is a false one.
Partners that swallow a false impression are very reluctant to change their minds afterwards, and they will tend to defend their position tenaciously.
It simply is too tough an admission for most people to admit they were wrong.
Consequently, whenever you meet someone for the first time, always maintain honesty and seek some common boundary of accord that you both can agree upon.
After the person has made up his (her) mind about you as a factual truth teller, all your future statements will be accepted with that same faith.
This can often be used constructively in giving lectures on controversial subjects.