Training congruence in your system.

We’ve all felt it: the subtle inner tug when our words don’t match what our body knows. Maybe you say “I’m fine” but your chest feels heavy. Or you declare “I believe in myself” while your jaw tightens. That incongruence is felt internally — only we’re often better at detecting that in each other than in ourselves.

This edition explores why incongruence is more than a gap between our perceived self and ideal self—it’s a signal in the body. A psychobiological cocktail of indicators that the body is telling the truth, even when our minds spin stories or convincing narratives that don’t quite match reality.

What if we could design new truths by being better self-lie detectors?

Take a 5 Minute Break…

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Your body is a natural bullshit detector.

Humans have always been natural lie detectors. 
Evolution wired us to detect incongruence for survival. Long before machines, our survival depended on reading micro-signals: a quickened breath, darting eyes, sweaty palms, or the slightest tremor in voice so we could know who to trust. These subtle physiological markers showcase the patterns of stress and incongruence our bodies can’t help but reveal. You can feel it when someone is lying: their nervous system sends signals faster than words can mask them. Even without blatant lies — but wishful thinking — the incongruence between belief and reality is palpable. This is just as true when we lie to ourselves even with the best of intentions: our bodies hold the truth, even when our minds resist it or don’t wholly believe it to be true (yet). The gap between what we say and what we actually believe is where incongruence lives — and where our deepest misalignment with reality begins.

We built a machine to catch the myriad of signals people try to hide.
The polygraph was invented in the early 20th century by psychologists and inventors not to detect lies directly, but to record the physiological markers of stress during questioning that would indicate an incongruence between what is being said and thought. A polygraph does not expose liars; it measures heart rate, respiration, blood pressure, pupil dilation, galvanic skin response, and micro-muscular tensions — the subtle shifts in our biology that often accompany deception or story fabrication. Essentially a prediction machine! What made the polygraph revolutionary was its ability to amplify what humans already sensed but could not always prove objectively: the body’s betrayal of the story the mind wanted to sell. And of course became helpful in a myriad of use cases from espionage to investigations to recruitment.

As machines take over our various prediction abilities, our own sensorial literacy is dulling. We stopped paying close attention to the micro-signals that once kept us alive and more deeply connected in tribes, families, and communities. The art of seeing through incongruence — of noticing a pause too long, a smile that doesn’t reach the eyes, or the fleeting tightening of a jaw — has atrophied in a world that privileges digital messages over face-to-face presence. Yet, the capacity is still there. It’s built into us. And reclaiming it might be one of the most important skills in an age of AI, when the ability to distinguish signal from noise — in others, and in ourselves — will determine not only our discernment, but our integrity as it becomes easier to hide in the noise.

The most important form of lie detection isn’t spotting it in others—it’s catching ourselves. The real fracture happens when the stories we tell don’t match what our bodies believe. When we say we’re “fine” but our breath shortens. When we declare certainty but our gut clenches. This gap between language and physiology is the truest lie detector of all: the silent markers of inner incongruence that we work hard to cover with appearances. And why hopism, wishful thinking, and empty affirmations widen the gap between lack of proof and desire to be seen a certain way.

Self-deception then continues to erode alignment. Over time, the body registers the mismatch as stress, fatigue, or emotional turbulence. We start buying into our own bullshit and coming up with more excuses or elaborate narratives of justification. Learning to listen inward—to pick up on our own incongruence signals—may be one of the most powerful acts of personal integrity. To shift from hoping to believing to knowing — with signals so strong, our reality begins to shift. Because the more we believe our own words, with a felt sense in our experience, the more capacity we have to embody the realities we want to create.

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Converus: detecting lies from the eyes.

While polygraphs have long been criticized as bulky and unreliable, a company called Converus has been pioneering next-generation lie detection. Instead of relying on subjective interpretation, their EyeDetect® technology measures involuntary pupil dilation and subtle eye movements to assess credibility. The test is fast (about 30 minutes), non-invasive, and up to 86–90% accurate in peer-reviewed studies.

The core innovation lies in removing bias from the process. Eye-based metrics provide cleaner data streams than sweating palms or nervous fidgeting. It’s future-forward because it hints at where lie detection is heading: lighter, faster, less about “catching criminals” and more about helping humans reveal their truth.

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Signal: training coherence and creating a clear signal for your desired future.

A portable lie detector—not for interrogations, but for sharpening your signal.

• Signal is like a “congruence machine”—a pocket-sized ally to train inner honesty, embodiment, and alignment with what you know to be possible.

• A smartphone-based congruence app that uses your device’s built-in sensors (camera, microphone, HRV wristband integration) to capture physiological markers when you speak.

• Record reflections, goals, or difficult truths—and Signal feeds back whether your body is aligned or resistant to what has been spoken. Training you around the bodily stress response cues that need more attention and presence.

• Reading subtle cues like micro-expressions, voice tremors, HRV shifts, and pupil dilation, the app reflects where you are inconsistent and likely lying to yourself, misaligned with subconscious beliefs, or not fully embodying what you are saying.

• Integrated into Signal are micro-coaching protocols: breathing resets, somatic awareness prompts, or reframing practices to bring words and physiology into harmony.

• Over time, develop the capacity to create a ‘clearer signal’ around who you are and what you want — closing the gap between weak signs of hope and strong signals of your wish fulfilled.

When language and physiology converge, something powerful happens: we stop leaking energy into self-deception and start living as whole, coherent beings.