Integrity

Integrity is one of those words that people say with a sort of slow and quiet feeling. It is a word that has weight and deep meaning for people. Integrity doesn’t mean that a person is never mistaken, never upset or never in doubt. Integrity means that a person is never dishonest with herself. Integrity means that we are true to ourselves. Take a breath with that one.

Each of us has a personal responsibility to live with honesty and integrity. Our honesty with ourselves and with the world around us is nothing less than our truth. As we develop our own sense of what we choose to be, we come to understand what our honour means to us. We come to experience it. Our honour is our sense of our worth as human beings living with intention and awareness. This sense of ourselves is basic to the development of our ability to be in the world, our ability to choose, our ability to be who we choose to be, and to do what we choose to do.

Our honour is both our sense of what is true for us and our commitment to live with integrity in the context of that truth.

Our integrity is the structure that we provide for ourselves; it is that by which we stand as individuals being who we choose to be in the world. We are more likely to wander, flounder, and fail without the strength given to us by our integrity. Our honour and our integrity are constant builders, stone masons building the strong dwelling that is our trust in ourselves.

Yet, it goes even further than that. The world is made up of energy. Our words send energy. Our thoughts send energy. Our actions move energy. Our feelings and frequency create our experience of the energy around us. Our intentions, thoughts, words and actions have consequence in the world. This is always true. There is always a consequence, and it is very real. Our words have power - whether we say them out loud, or think them to ourselves - our words have power. They are imbued with the creative energy of the universe. Therefore, when we speak falsely, when we speak without integrity, when we act and speak, and even think in ways that are not true to ourselves, we do harm. We rip the fabric of the world when we betray our trust in ourselves, or the trust of another in us.

Every time we act with honour and integrity, we enrich our own lives and the potential for integrity of every person on this planet. Every time we act in a betrayal of what we know to be true for ourselves, we bring betrayal into the world. Let me put it another way. If you choose to live in a world of truth, honour and integrity, it must begin with you, or you will not experience such a world. If you choose to live in a world where people are honest, and respect each other, you must be honest, and you must respect others. It always begins with us. That is integrity. That is responsibility.

So, if you choose to do so, state your intention to live with honour and integrity. Think about how you choose to act and speak and be in the world. Think about what you value in others. What makes someone trustworthy in your eyes? What makes someone a person of integrity? Do you deeply believe that you can manifest those qualities in yourself? If you do not believe that you can, why do you not believe it?

I am writer, so I suggest that you write these things down. However, you can answer these questions in any way that you choose. You can do this alone, or with your life partner. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to ask these questions  with your children!

The results of this questioning become your personal code of conduct. If there is an area of ambiguity for you, think about it until you have decided for yourself where your energy fits and where it doesn’t. For example, some people have decided for themselves that it is okay to say something that you know is not true if it spares the feelings of the person to whom you’re speaking. Some people have decided that it is okay to take things that don’t belong to you, if you are taking them from the place where you work, or from a family member. You have to decide what is in resonance with your energetic frequency. No one else can decide this for you. You may decide that it is right to follow the laws of the land, even when they don’t really make good sense to you. You may decide that it is right to follow your own conscience at all times, even if that means going against the laws of the land, or the decisions of law-makers.

The questions that you ask yourself may never be completely answered. The thinking that you do on these issues may never be fully completed. This is an on-going discussion you are having with yourself. It engages your responsibility, your pragmatism, your realism and your idealism. As you learn, experience the world, and become more and more the person whom you consciously choose to be, your thoughts and feelings about these issues will probably change, at least a bit. It is a fascinating process though. It will never bore you; I guarantee it!

Once you have come up with a sense of what you choose to radiate to the world around you, you can begin to make decisions about how you intend to act. You may decide that you will never speak an untruth. You may decide that you will show respect to all people, no matter their age, their race, their religious beliefs, or their status in society. You may decide that you will give to those less fortunate every month. There are many decisions that you can make. Each time that you do, you are becoming more consciously intentional in your actions in the world. You are becoming more and more a person who lives a life of principles, your own principles. These are qualities of integrity.

Integrity means that your behaviour, including your words, of course, is consistent with, or integrated with, your beliefs, values and frequency. These beliefs, values and your frequency state are things that you are more or less conscious of. By consciously making decisions about how you intend to be in the world, and then making a commitment to actually, consistently practice being that way, you become a person guided by your own essential self. You become a person of honour and integrity. You become the person whom you choose to be, since the decisions about how you will act in the world come from within you.

As you practice acting in ways that are consistent with your decisions about how you will be in the world, you will encounter challenges. You will encounter obstacles, barriers, and temptations to deviate from your own chosen course. It can be as simple as feeling tired and stressed, and so unable to behave as you have chosen to. It can be as complicated as struggling with conflicting feelings, conflicting thoughts, or the pressure to conform to the beliefs and actions of someone close to you. It is not always easy.

An essential part of this, which will help you as you continue, is your growing consciousness of who you are and who you choose to be. Cultivate awareness. Watch yourself.

Integrity is more than honesty. If we have integrity, we are fully integrated. We are in unity with ALL that we are. All of the different parts and pieces of ourselves are held in one integrated self. Our beliefs, feelings, fears and longings, our thoughts, words, and actions - large and small - are all consistent with one another. There is no internal conflict dividing us. There is no contradiction in our living, our livelihood, and our expression of ourselves.

In integrity, we are always true to ourselves. Our actions are true to our values. Our spoken words are true to our beliefs, consciously held because intentionally explored. Our choices reflect our truth, revealed to us as we listen to ourselves and give ourselves the allowance, acceptance and compassion that we deserve as human beings.

As well, there is a rhythm to our lives which is sacred, as everything is sacred. Integrity asks that we listen to our bodies, which move to the rhythm of our deep selves and of the wolrd. The body is our expression of spirit in the world. Being true to self means listening to the messages that come through our feelings about what happens, feelings that pulse in our bodies, feelings that express our frequency state. When we do this, we respect the truth about ourselves and the sacred rhythm of our lives; we come closer to true integrity.

I believe that all of us understand the essence of integrity. Taken to the farthest reach of its meaning, integrity challenges us to live our ideals. It challenges us to follow our true feelings, our most deeply held, heart-felt knowing, and our purest passions. The quest for true integrity asks of us that we learn never to deny ourselves. It challenges us to consistently honour our truth, even if doing so makes us unpopular, or opens us to criticism.

Sometimes, our own truth is unpalatable even to us. Sometimes, facing our own truth is very challenging, even when we do so in the privacy of our own quiet and darkened rooms. Choosing to live with integrity is choosing to consistently respect our own truth, honour our own feelings, and act in accordance with our own values. It is easy to see from all of this that the practice of living with honour and integrity is a lifelong practice. It is a continuous progress toward our own truth.

Only when we are clear and confident, with the clarity and confidence born of living with honour and integrity can we truly tune our frequency to joy.