Honesty with a loving touch

[Namaste]

Rather than framing it as being honest/dishonest, perhaps think of it as STS/STO.

Go deep within and be honest with yourself first. Are you being blunt as you believe that 'honesty is the best policy' and will charge your own spiritual development, or are you *absolutely genuinely* doing it to help them?

Sometimes the 'truth' isn't needed. Sometimes someone who is in a negative spiral (a specific emotional state) needs some words of encouragement to help lift them up and out of that state. Otherwise the 'truth' can seem too far away, and only add to that negative spiral of thought. This can be done without being blunt, it can be done with tact and care.

This mantra/notion has helped me enormously:

"I wish to part a conversation or meeting with another self having them feel better than before we met"

Helping the emotional state is more conductive to the person themselves finding 'truth' than 'slapping' them with the 'truth'. If you always leave people feeling better about themselves or the situation they are in, you've been of positive service.

A prime example being Jehoshua (Jesus) - he didn't 'slap' people with truth in order to teach. He was unconditionally loving and accepting of others and their situations. He taught by example and used parables to protect the free will of others, giving them the opportunity to seek truth within themselves.