There are a number of prerequisites for Joy. Some things can completely block Joy. I call them Joy Killers. I can’t list them all, only some of them. But I hope that will give you a clear idea what type of culprits I am talking about, so you can recognize them on your own and weed them out from your life.

One such nasty Joy killer would be taking the weight out of your words. Words that you speak are part of yourself. If your words are something different than the real you, then you are in trouble.

Being true and reliable makes you strong. Lies make you weak.

I remember a story by J.F. Cooper about a young white man who was raised by Indians. He was taken hostage by another Indian tribe and “sentenced” to death. He said that he had some business to settle before dying and promised to return. And he was allowed to go, and he returned, too. Because he had left with them his Word. And that was not even questioned. They knew how important were the words they spoke. It did not even occur them to put to doubt the man’s promise, or for the man to act differently than what he had promised.

Imagine how many million tons of paperwork would be rendered useless on the Planet, if people only valued the words they are speaking! But we lie and feel miserable, and the more miserable we feel, the more we lie.

You can’t change the World. But there is something that you CAN change, and that is your own attitude to the words you speak. You should always, always, always speak only what you really mean and always keep your promises. We should keep our promises even if it puts our life under threat.

Lying destroys our integrity. If we lose our integrity, we lose everything. No Joy can visit us. We lose the ability to love. Apart of that, it usually has an effect also on our health.

Ailments and viruses start visiting us more and more often. We run to the doctors, but they can’t help before we restore our integrity. At the very best, they can give us only some temporary alleviation.

Lying eats up all our strength. Some lies from a distant past can be haunting us for lifetime.

If we lie, we are liars. If you lie, you condemn yourself to a life together with a liar from whom you even can’t run away because that liar is yourself.

Better take the measures and restore your integrity. And from now on, put full weight in every word you speak, always mean what you speak and always keep what you promise.