Integrity is something we all like to believe we have yet it seems to be in short supply and much of that is to do with the misconception of what it actually means.
Yes it means honesty and a strong moral and ethical standard but it goes further than that
it’s defined as a “concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one’s actions”
The key point that is often overlooked is that these thought systems need to be backed up by consistent action. You need to put your money where your mouth is, day in and day out regardless of whatever else is going on or whoever is watching.
Acting with integrity requires conscious awareness, to be aware of your own actions and how they reflect your beliefs. Integrity comes from the Latin Integer which means whole, not fractured. When living with consistency of truthful thought, beliefs and action you are whole.
Discovering and developing integrity is part of our journey of development and enlightenment, so don’t beat yourself up if you realise that you do not always act with integrity. The fact that you have been able to bring your awareness to this fact is huge and the first step on the path to self -discovery and actualisation.
Belief that we act with integrity whilst not actually acting with integrity is a common condition of a duality. We are so disconnected from everything we fail to see the bigger picture and therefore notice the inconsistencies. We are led by the ego that says nothing to see here, you act with integrity so no need to check all is good. We have a disconnect between what we say and what we do and that often remains unconscious to us. We have a disconnect between what we say, do and feel emotionally. Acting out of alignment with our true soul essence hurts us in so many ways but when we can’t join the dots and see what is really going on we project the cause of that hurt outwardly.
There are no sub clauses or exceptional circumstances with integrity, it either is or it isn’t. Something is either whole or it isn’t. You can have fractions or the ingredients of integrity but until you bring it all together with action you don’t have integrity but fractions are better than nothing and you are working your way there, just be aware of that. If you don’t think you have anything to learn then you won’t learn anything.
Acting with integrity is tough to begin with, it requires vigilance, becoming more aware of ourselves, checking our own behaviour and ensuring consistency, developing conscious awareness in each moment and breaking our habits. This means effort and energy and with today’s lifestyle and pressures it can easily slip into the background.
Here is an example of integrity from my own personal perspective.
Several years ago we were all rocked by the revelations that Jimmy Saville had been a long term sexual predator whilst working with the BBC. Now I believed that the BBC knew about this and covered it up , at the very least, there is so much more to this story but we can’t go into that now.
So I believed that the BBC was implicit in this and as such this triggered my moral code, this was not right, this was not acceptable. That was step one, my thought processes were in line, step two I sat with this and really felt it, this was coming from my heart centre, so I was emotionally in line with this. Step 3 follow this through in action, if someone you knew had committed these acts you would remove yourself from them, you would not support their actions or be involved with them
Well I had already done that, I had spent several years working on unplugging energetically from all of these duality paradigm institutions such as banking, media and politics. When we are being fed by these institutions we are plugging into them and giving them our energy, we are literally sustaining them, we not only allow them to exist we facilitate them. (a great book by the way is Unplugging the Patriarchy, by Lucia Renee, an awesome woman and kickass mystic)
I didn’t even have a tv so all good, I am acting with integrity.
Wrong! And that realisation didn’t hit me for a couple more years. Although I didn’t have a tv I was still paying my tv licence, to the BBC, secondly I watch Netflix and many of these programmes I enjoyed were made by the BBC. Oh no I thought, what have I done, it was if I had accidently eaten a chicken nugget. I cancelled my tv licence and said goodbye to some favourite shows and instantly felt better for it, I felt whole and I knew then I was acting with integrity.
I cannot find the BBC unacceptable until there is something good to watch, I cannot fully withdraw my energy if I am sending them my money each month, that is not acting with integrity. Not being aware of what I was doing makes no difference, the fact I simply forgot about the direct debit makes no difference, failing to do either one of those things meant I wasn’t acting with integrity.
If I am abhorred by their behaviour yet it goes no further than an emotional trigger reaction or a mental concept, then I am not whole. My actions complete the circle and that is integrity.
So think about the things you believe, that you find unacceptable and against your own moral code and then see if that is reflected in your actions in a consistent way, if not do something about it.
Acting with integrity benefits you and the whole world, it maybe something small but the energetic impact is big.
Becoming whole is our mission in life, being whole requires integrity.
Integrity is more than just thinking the right things or having an appropriate emotional reaction it is carrying that through to its natural conclusion. Otherwise you are contributing to the problem and keeping yourself locked in a cycle of being incomplete, forever searching.
So to apply this to the example I gave earlier, Jimmy Saville was able to get away with he did for as long as he did as it was in part covered up by the BBC. People there didn’t act with integrity, they may have thought it was wrong, felt it was abhorrent but they didn’t act, they may have felt powerless but that doesn’t matter, they did nothing about it so they enabled it to happen. They may have only been a small cog but they still damaged themselves and others by not acting in integrity.
The BBC were able to get away with the cover up as they were not made accountable, they were not hit where it hurt, their profit line. So they rode the storm and knew it would pass. I contributed to that, I enabled that by not withdrawing my energy and my money fully from them. I was damaging myself by not being whole and I was contributing and facilitating something I knew to be wrong.
When we act with integrity it benefits everyone, even though sometimes you may feel your actions are harsh. When we stand in our truth the energy is incredibly positive and high vibrational which benefits everyone.
Most people have been conditioned to be people pleasers and to get their identity and self worth from the opinions of others and this is what often stops people from truly being in integrity. Say for example you have a friend that goes out drinking a lot and is always palming their children off with others. This is not the way that you bring up your children and it goes against your own moral code, you find it unacceptable behaviour. Now you don’t need to fall out with your friend, or get them to see the error of their ways but you do have to stop validating them.
You have to stand in your own truth, which means saying no if asked to look after the children. If they ask your opinion then be straight with them. Even the little things are important like loving their facebook posts when they are out drinking, if it goes against your principles then don’t say anything, don’t put your energy there, All of these things are tough, you want to be nice, you want to help but really you are just enabling the situation to continue and creating some funky energy for yourself too.
Habits are also very difficult to break and can block you from acting in integrity, take becoming a vegetarian for example. Many people are genuinely heart -broken at the practices that go on within the beef and chicken industry, they feel it is so wrong and would love to save those animals, yet they continue to eat meat eggs and dairy. We don’t need meat and dairy to survive, the opposite in fact but we have been conditioned to need meat and the habit of eating meat spans our lifetime so it is a tough one.
The point here is not that you are a bad person if you don’t act in integrity but it is that you are damaging yourself, to have integrity is to be whole and to be less than whole hurts. When we are hurting we either direct that outwards or turn it deeper inwards and the cycle is a downward one.
When we become more aware of ourselves, our thoughts emotions and actions we are on our true path of self- development and one step closer to being truly whole and that is why we are here.
So acting in integrity is a tough one as we all think we do it but very few actually do. But as I said this is not a negative, it is our reason for being here and is part of our development journey.
It’s all about developing and expanding our conscious awareness, that is the meaning of life!
Lots of love and laughter Michele xxxx
