Tag: integrity

2020 Guide-word: Integrity

/ Lanae / Leave a comment Featured

Year of Abundance Project

Guide-word for year: INTEGRITY

Definition [personal] of word: Ability and act of staying in tune with the inner voice of my intuition and of Spirit, knowing and aligning with core values, discerning deeply what it means from moment to moment, choice to choice, to live attuned and to return to attunement whenever mistunement or misalignment is present and known. To be willing for the process of re-attuning, re-aligning, retuning, returning and returning.
Intuition, and intention, attuned and aligned with Spirit, anchored thus no matter the winds and waves and current of this sea of life.

I am the boat, life is the sea
Integrity makes me sea-worthy
boundaries me, sustains me
nurtures me, holds me

Exposition of fuller meaning of this integrity and its application in my daily living:

This integrity is about being true to the deepest truths of my body, mind, spirit, soul. It is about making a vow to be true and to live from the essence of my soul, a congruity between what matters most to me and what is for highest good for all with choices made and energy (spirit) shared.

This integrity is about attunement – to my physicality, my sexuality, my gender identity, my spirituality. Attunement in relationships with myself/Self, others [clients, friends, peers, colleagues, mentors, leaders, family, children, lover], and the Infinite Presence. Attunement on all levels – holistic attunement – physical (or material), emotional, psychological, intellectual, mental, social, relational, spiritual. Attunement with the created world, Creation, and Creator Presence.

Attunement to the way that my desires, perceptions, thoughts, beliefs, views, words, attitudes, actions, choices all intersect and interact with one another, the energy field this creates around me and the way my energy affects others, and where these elements are in alignment with innermost values as well as where they are not. Integrity is acting in the interests of attunement, which means listening to the voice that speaks from the deep stillness at the center of my being, my true Self. This is the voice speaking from Source into the center of my being and is my true voice – not the voice of ego but the voice of soul. If I know myself/Self, if I know this true voice and listen and respond to its direction and re-direction, herein is integrity, and in this integrity, liberty – living attuned and free.

Overarching Vow:  Preserve Presence. Be present with myself, with others, with Presence.

Note of explanation: This is the first installment of my Year of Abundance Project series! With this project, I also included other pieces such as 20 Guide-Phrases for 2020, vision/values and mission statements, etc. But the main part of the project involved choosing a theme to focus on each month, with a guiding intention and encouraging mantra as well as action steps for each theme. So, I will be sharing each month about that month’s focus, progress, and what I’m learning!

Thank you for coming along with me and sharing in abundance!

Own your truth

/ Lanae / Leave a comment

Recently I posted this story collection of three-word sentences on my Facebook page, inspired by a question that asked, what are three words you would tell your younger self? (And as I jokingly mentioned, most who know me know that I can come up with more than three words for almost anything – hence the story collection!!)

You are beloved. You are worthy. You are beautiful. You are whole. You are free. Live in liberty. Live with integrity. Love whole-heartedly. Practice self-compassion. Give yourself grace. Acknowledge your pain. Embrace your suffering. Set aside shame. Be you, authentically. Be you, bravely.

Here are two more three-word sentences to add to that story:  Hold the light. Own your truth.

And that is precisely what I intend to do, not just in this post, in my writing, but in my living and being: own my truth, own the truth. Own the truth so that I can hold the light, be in light, be light.

This owning truth, living in truthfulness, is a moral, ethical, spiritual practice. Actually, it’s a love practice, even a self-compassion practice.

I have been inspired to explore what it means to own my/the truth, to live and practice truthfulness on an even deeper level by reflecting on the yamas, the five moral restraints or principles that form a part of the foundation of the philosophy and practice of yoga.

It seems that there is an image of yoga, at least in some respects, as consisting primarily of poses or postures, physical movements (asanas). And asanas are essential in yoga; but yet, a yoga practice that consists only of the physical aspect is a one-dimensional practice. (Could we say the same about life and living?)

The spiritual practice provides the deeper dimensions, the dimensions that give fullness and rhythm and grace to the movements – to life. These spiritual principles, these deeper dimensions, are not ones that stand in contrast to any faith or wisdom traditions, to any spiritual truths such as those of Jesus. Rather, they are in harmony with the simplicity and universality of the values of love, kindness, compassion, and graciousness.

All of the yamas are beautiful concepts and practices … such as ahimsa, which is non-violence. What does living ahimsa mean on a deeper level? What does it mean to live non-violence, to live love? That is perhaps another post!

However, the yama that is my focus right now is satya, which is truthfulness, the practice of truthfulness.

And no, this doesn’t mean the practice of brutal honesty … which often lacks compassion and tends to wound more than it heals. Wounding is not what honesty, or a practice of truthfulness, is about.

Truthfulness is about healing and wholeness, about compassion and grace. It is about integrity and authenticity, which are intimately intertwined.

Sometimes truthfulness requires silence, sometimes restraint of speech and/or action, sometimes bold words, a voice of grace and passion, in the face of opposition or misunderstanding. All take courage, deep inner courage.

And while truthfulness is about not lying, that is but the surface of it. Truthfulness is about a lot more than not lying. And not lying is about a lot more than not saying false or deceitful things. It’s about not taking liberties with elements of the truth, about not hiding weaknesses, perceived flaws, or mistakes in shame, about not avoiding accountability when you’ve done wrong.

Truthfulness is first an inward practice … truth in the inward parts, in the heart. It begins inside, becomes who you are, and flows out into all that you do … it becomes a constant companion and practice.

Truthfulness begins with letting go of self-deceptions and attachments to self-deceptions. With letting go of denial of truths about yourself. With looking deeply inward and beginning to know yourself, the best you can know yourself, for who you are, who you are becoming, who you are to become … not for who others have thought or said you are, or for who others have said you ought to be or ought not to be.

Truthfulness is a deep, vulnerable form of letting go of pretense, telling the truth about ourselves to ourselves and to other human beings, living the truth about ourselves straightforwardly and sincerely.  Letting go of the shame and the fear of judgment that often causes us to build barriers … and miss out on the connection that comes when we are most real and reach out in that realness to the realness in others.

Truthfulness is a heart and a soul willing to be seen and known, deeply, and to be, deeply … even when there is cost or loss that comes with it. Because the cost or loss that comes with untruthfulness is greater … the loss of wholeness and integrity of being.

But peace comes with truthfulness, with living in integrity and authenticity. Living in the light, holding the light, being light.

And in honor of satya, in honor of truthfulness,  my next post will shine light on a truth that has always been a part of my life story, of my journey toward wholeness and belovedness!