You know the type of thing I’m talking about:
Don’t trust anyone who doesn’t like dogs or children.
The wife is always the last to know.
The passive voice should not be used in effective writing.
A home-cooked meal is always better than one eaten in a restaurant.
You can always save money by doing it yourself.This is the list I came up with on the spur of the moment as I started writing this post. You can think of many others, as can I. A truism is an unexamined assumption that has attained the status of a universal truth. (That’s my definition, anyway.) Because these statements are accepted without question, they get in the way of logical thinking and often interfere with what would be the best practice. They are happiness busters.
Several years ago, for example, right after we moved to the Denver area, we were invited to attend a series of classes using videos from Focus on the Family’s series The Truth Project. Okay. We were up for that. The sessions were being held across town at my in-laws’ church, and they were on a weeknight, but we decided to go. We met in a cozy room at the church, complete with sofas, a fireplace (as I recall), and a conveniently-placed TV. The venue was far removed from the traditional dank church basement. We met there for the first one or two classes and were perfectly happy.
Then the trusim kicked in: “It’s always better to meet in a home.” It’s more, well, homey. So someone (I’m not sure who) decided that it would be better for us to move out of our nice, convenient location and trek much farther south, having to travel for the last mile or so on a dirt road, to meet in a . . . barn. The people who owned the property were out of town but were willing to let us use the barn, which (to be fair) they had set up for meetings. It had seating, mostly folding chairs, and a TV, located up high on a cluttered set of shelves complete with a lot of Westerny-looking knick-knacks (the dusty cowboy boots were a real touch), and a small kitchen. One of my most vivid memories of the place (not including the dusty cowboy boots) is of our first evening there, when it took just about forever to figure out how to make the DVD player work. The place was big and echo-y, dusty and bare. It was about 100 points lower on the homey scale than our nice room at the church. It wasn’t even a home, actually. But because it was on someone’s property, and someone else had gotten the bright idea for us to meet there, and because it’s always better . . . , well, we were stuck. As I recall, our family didn’t go to many of the sessions. For several reasons, including the barn, we decided that it just wasn’t worth the effort. Too bad, really. The videos were well made and interesting, approaching the idea of a Christian worldview with a number of techniques. Instead of enhancing our experience and encouraging our attendance, the adoption of the truism was a factor in turning us away.
What truisms are lurking in your brain, disguising themselves as truths? How are they interfering with your life and your happiness?