Consciousness is a path to return to integrity. The more self awareness and consciousness that you live your life with, the more integrity you will possess.
Integrity is a word that signifies alignment – to be in integrated with yourself. There is no perfect picture of integrity, as each person will integrate in a different way. Integrity is you showing up as you instead of faking it when you are uncomfortable.
The easiest way to welcome integrity into your life is to be open. Let’s explore why it is important to embrace integrity and consciousness.
Why Integrity Matters
You probably don’t think about integrity when you are out with your friends, or ask how your choices will reflect on your integrity when you make them. Whether your approach to integrity is conscious or not, you are being evaluated on your integrity in every relationship you have.
The trust that people extend to you and the impression they have of you is largely based on your integrity. When someone tells someone else that, “They’re a good person,” they are making a comment on your integrity.
The external perception of your integrity is the answer to whether others trust you, can rely on you and are happy to have you in their lives.
Conscious Integrity
In every choice and habit, you move yourself into our out of alignment with your integrity. There are very few neutral choices when you think about it. Even non-ethical decisions can impact you.
Have you ever made a decision that didn’t resonate with your truth? It could be because it was more safe, more convenient or the easier path, but all such options are unaligned from your integrity.
By choosing a path of conscious integrity, you decide to be aware of the choices that you make and the impact that they have.
A funny thing happens when you make a choice that resonates with you, even if it presents a greater challenge in the long run. There is a sense of relief, sometiems even joy and excitement. Why would this be the case if you signed up for extra work or effort?
The path of integrity is always easier in the long run. Holding up a false front can be exhausting when you do it over the course of months and years. Integrity is easier because it is you being you instead of you trying to be a contrived version of yourself.
Exploring Conscious Integrity
What would happen if you were the same person at home as you were at work? Or if you were the same person with your friends that you were with your family? Sure, these different situations have different social expectations, but should that keep you from being who you are in any of them?
The fastest way to find the X on the map of conscious integrity is to start being you in every situation. Stop putting on your work, family, creative or ambitious hats and spend time learning to be and love the self underneath. Maintaining multiple versions of yourself causes tension and difficulty, but we all seem to try anyway. The multiple versions eventually collide in awkward situations where we find ourselves unable to wear two or more hats at once.
Integrity and being are scary propositions. Opening instead of closing and protecting yourself when you are challenged or unsure is a practice. The rewards are immense though. By being who you are, many of the causes of stress will melt out of your life. Fulfillment will flood in, as the path of integrity encourages you to be who you are.
So will you don your Explorer Hat and enter the jungle that is conscious integrity? The journey is fruitful and inspiring, but not usually easy. I hope to see you there.
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