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Integrity = Being Your Word
+ Inner Guidance by Laurie Handlers
Coming from a crazy family where people's minds changed like the weather, I adopted the
policy of being true to my word no matter what. Even if the time came and I didn't feel like
doing whatever I had agreed to, I kept my word and showed.
I always wanted people to feel
like they could count on me. I did not know I had huge underlying safety issues so I sought
to enable people to feel safe with me. I figured, if they could count on me (my word),
I could count on them. That should have equaled safe. Right? Wrong!
Then I sought out learning experiences inside of paradigms where keeping your word equals
integrity. For me, I felt I could finally feel secure knowing that I could trust what people
said. After all, if I gave my word, I'd keep it. So, they must be the same.
What was I thinking? People gave their word and made promises all the time.
And they broke their word. Things happened. What, I don't know. I never asked.
I was not concerned with their excuses for not keeping their word. I was concerned with
the fact that their word had been broken. I found myself making them wrong.
I was even sneakier than that. I devalued them and still loved them, but less.
I justified this righteous behavior of mine and had no room for their growth and
development gap.
So were they safe with me? In fact, no. Did I feel safe with them? No.
Then I began studying Tantra. This Eastern philosophy encourages you to embrace it all,
the right and the wrong, the light and the dark. I learned to embrace other's darkness
(breaking of word) and my darkness (making them wrong).
When this embrace empowered me to
come out of the darkness, all of a sudden, I developed a lot of room for it all.
I stopped taking it personally when a word was broken. I stopped being attached to outcomes.
I became more appreciative of the process of transformation and just what it takes for people
to keep their word, other people.
Inside of Tantra, I also became familiar with a powerful process called Latihan.
Latihan is a deep meditation where you go inside and then move following inner guidance.
Some people call this authentic movement. During one Latihan session, I met my life's purpose
staring me right in the eye. I began to listen to my inner voice rather than being distracted
by what was "right" or "wrong" with the outer world.
I have been using this practice for 8 years. It has altered my life and altered my relationship
to integrity and word. Now I follow inner guidance inside of my life's purpose when
I commit to do something. Usually by the time the event comes about, I still want to do it.
I am not merely toughing it out by keeping my word to anything and everything. I am keeping my
word to something I have clearly chosen out of my deep commitment to what I am committed to in
life. I have given up needing to have people count on me above all else and trying to make
them feel safe. I have stopped making them wrong and myself right if things change. I focus on
myself, my intentions and the messages I get from within. It is easy to keep my word and be
with people exactly where they are. There is no more resentment.
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