Oftentimes I find myself asking “who am I?”
Throughout life, I have been presented with this notion that somehow and somewhere I am supposed to find myself. This is a recurring theme in music, books, film, and even social groups. Being a student of philosophy, I find this notion very interesting. I am, always here, yet somehow and somewhere, I am supposed to find myself? How can the sun find light that it is the very source of? How can the ocean find water that it is made of? Now I understand what the saying is implying - that throughout life we discover more about our feelings and desires that lead us to a stronger sense of self. I think this is true for most of us, including me. But lately I wonder if it’s simply about finding or more about creating…
I intend to impart on you a lesson through this post, which has become the ground beneath my feet when life starts to shake. Integrity. As with most things in life, integrity also manifests itself in a nature of duality, inner and outer. I will be introducing both the internal and the external manifestations of integrity.
What is integrity?
Integrity is creating your thoughts around your beliefs, expressing those thoughts honestly, and then acting in accordance with those thoughts and words. Basically, it’s being honest with oneself about what is right. Not what we want or need, but about what is right. Not about what is expected from us from others, but about what we know to be right. Following through in words and action about what we know to be right is called integrity.
So, how does it work?
Let’s say my girlfriend and I are considering having a date at 7pm. Now let’s say I have a friend who also asks me to hangout at 7pm. Now let’s say I have work that I’m behind on. The internal is to understand my properties and make that choice. The external is to communicate with both my girlfriend and friend that I have work to complete before doing anything. Then I have to plan my work, and work my plan. After I finish my work, I can let my girlfriend know when to have a date and let my friend know when to hangout.
Let’s change this scenario a little bit, let’s say I told my girlfriend a time to meet BEFORE doing the work. And as I’m doing the work, I realize I’m unable to meet her because my work is not finished. This doesn’t mean I’m a bad person and I’ve made a huge mistake - remember, integrity is NOT morality. All this means is that I must communicate. Communicate with my girlfriend as soon as I know I won’t be able to meet on time. That’s all, nothing more or less. Being in integrity does not mean I’m good or bad, it just means I either did what I said or I did not.
Let’s ask again “who am I?”
As I find myself more and more in this journey of life, I also create myself using integrity. We have the free will to choose who we want to be in life, and with integrity we can create that life. So to wrap it up -
Integrity is being aligned with our thoughts, words, and actions.
We make choices internally based on our values.
Then express those choices through communication.
Follow through with action.
Use this to CREATE who you want to be in life, while you continue finding yourself.
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