Confusion and dishonesty.

Bad habits.  Poor choices.  Careless deeds. 

Confusion permeates so much of what we think, say and do.  We often find ourselves acting out of impulse, our behavior not driven by intention as much as it is driven by what we did yesterday and the day before. 

Amidst all of this confusion we find moments when discerning wisdom dawns.  We have moments when we can see clearly.  There are times we find ourselves in a gap between the clouds.  We are able to see our shortcomings, see where we have strayed, see what we could have done better. 

There are moments when the truth reveals itself.

In that moment, we have an opportunity to be honest with ourselves.  We have a moment of clarity to reflect, to examine and to change.  Our own discerning wisdom creates a gap in which we can leave behind confused habit patterns and neurotic behavior.

But often in that moment we lie to ourselves.

We shift the blame.  We minimize the damage to our self-image.  We protect ourselves from failure, from being wrong.  We do our best to avoid the irritation of whatever our wisdom is revealing to us.

We preserve our dignity out of dishonesty.  And the wheel of confusion turns...