A person whose words have been shown to contradict his or her actions is one you're better off without. Maybe it's the girlfriend who professes to love you but always misses your milestone moments.  The friend who talks up your being best buddies, but has been caught spreading lies about you. The co-worker who assures you that you can always count on them, but is furtively angling for your job. The truth is that it's not always easy to decipher people's real motives, especially when you don't know them that well. But once you observe on more than one occasion that their actions don't mirror their words, you ought to cast a wary eye.  People can make promises all they like, but if there's no action to back them up, it's evident they've got a penchant for disingenuousness. Don't be too quick to hand over your trust. We are much more apt to do this when the person in question is charming and charismatic.  A rule of thumb to go by: You don't real...

Don't believe everything you hear -- at work, home, or the dry cleaners -- no matter how plausible it may sound. Want to know why? Because rumors and lies spread faster than true facts. You know what they say: A story begins one way and changes considerably with every additional person who tells it. Some people lie outright -- others just embellish details to make the story a tad juicier. We should take everything people tell us with a grain of salt -- and be careful not to disclose private details of our own lives -- unless we're completely sure we can trust them. Unfortunately, people will lie for myriad reasons, whether it's to get ahead at work, feel better about themselves, or put others down. Sometimes it isn't easy to tell when someone is lying, but once I catch them in a lie, I immediately presume them to be compulsive liars who will strike again at a moment's notice. It then becomes very difficult -- if not impossible -- for me to trust them...