It’s the dog days of summer, and you’re looking for a good topic to share with your friend as you embark on a walk. You’re seeking “light” conversation.

There’s already been too much talk about LeBron James and his son, Bronny, who just signed a $7.9-million contract. Was it nepotism or gratitude for the legendary dad who has given so much to the game and, more recently, to the Los Angeles Lakers? Who cares?

Another possible topic is the state of academia, particularly Ivy League institutions. Between campus riots, paid activists, the breakdown of law, and even deans at Columbia caught in antisemitic text threads that cost them their positions, there is a lot to probe. Have universities lost their shine for good, and will new education models emerge? Again, it is not light, and the summer is not a good time to consider our universities.

The idea then hits you: Secrets.

It’s possible that recent news events subliminally spur you to the topic. Unfortunately, this means there is a high risk that the relaxed conversation you seek turns political. It doesn’t take much for that to happen these days, whether it’s an innocent trip to buy groceries and gas up the car or the migration of our population, leaving certain states for others. Every topic has the potential to rankle.

Even still, the nature of secrets feels like a rich topic. Don’t we all have them, and is that bad? Is there some way to evaluate and categorize secrets?

If you’re drinking Coke while reading this, you’re benefiting from one of the best-kept secrets ever. Almost no one knows the recipe for this gazillion-dollar brand, which makes me wonder how they’ve managed to keep it so. Maybe our agencies could learn a thing or two.

On a more serious note, it turns out that we all have secrets — actually, a lot of them. On average, we carry 13 secrets at any given time, five of which we don’t share with anyone. The secrets we keep to ourselves are typically about emotional infidelity, extra-relational thoughts, romantic desires, violating trust and outright lies. Then there are the secrets we share, which more frequently focus on finances, social discontent, ideology, mental health and drug use.

Keeping a secret can be healthy and appropriate. Dr. Courtney Glickman, founder of the Collective Healing Center, suggests we view secrets as having the capacity to “preserve relationships” or “spare someone’s feelings.”

The type of secret being kept may affect how we judge it. A classic view is that there are four types of secrets: Sweet, essential, toxic and dangerous. Sweet secrets tend to be fun surprises. Essential secrets help define boundaries, such as a family’s private language. Toxic secrets are used to hide information that is shameful or a crime, such as having a secret relationship or addiction. A dangerous secret puts someone at risk, whether due to illegal activity or impaired judgment.

Sweet and essential secrets would be judged far differently than dangerous and toxic ones.

I recently read Caroline Fraser’s “Prairie Fires” about the life of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Ingalls is not just the pioneer girl who survived blizzards, starvation, Indian wars and the Dust Bowl. Her stories are romanticized versions of life that she didn’t experience. After the Great Depression, when Ingalls became almost penniless, she wrote her mythical account of homesteading with her series of “Little House on the Prairie” novels to survive financially. She was in her 60s, and it worked. She became famous and wealthy.

It wasn’t until Fraser’s biography that the real story of Ingalls came out. Her story is one of grit, hardship, a family constantly on the move for someplace better, and her daughter, Rose, besieged with mental illness and with whom she had a tortured relationship. There were many secrets buried in Ingalls’ life.

I can’t help but consider the topic of secrets in the modern era when we are fed stories that often belie the truth. I will choose “secrets” for my walk with my friend. I will lead with a quote from Robert Frost.

“We dance round in a ring and suppose, but the secret sits in the middle and knows.”

We will go right in the middle and see what we can discover.

Jill Ebstein is the editor of the “At My Pace” series of books and the founder of Sized Right Marketing, a consulting firm.