The Way of Integrity: Finding the Path to Your True Self by Martha Beck is a huge affirmation of my journey.
Her definition of Integrity.
"...the word comes from the Latin integer, which simply means "intact". To be in integrity is to be one thing, whole and undivided."
I love that our true nature is to be intact.
Here are a few highlights at the beginning of her book.
"You're trying to act in ways that don't feel right to you at the deepest level. When ever we do this, our lives begin to go pear shaped. Emotionally, we feel grumpy, sad or numb. Physically, our immune systems and muscles weaken; we might get sick, and even if we don't, our energy flattens. Mentally, we lose focus and clarity. That is how it feels to be out of integrity."
"And, because our true nature is serious about restoring us to wholeness, it hauls out the one tool that reliably gets our attention: suffering."
"Integrity is the cure of unhappiness. Period."
"Of all the strategies and skills I've ever learned, the ones that actually work are those that help people see where they've abandoned their own deep sense of truth and followed some other set of directives. This split from integrity is almost always unconscious. The people who experience it aren't wicked; in fact most of them are perfectly lovely. They strive to cooperate with every rule for living they've learned from their respective cultures. Which is a terrific way to run your life if you like to look good and feel bad."
This book will be on my top ten list of non-fiction books.
The best part of the way to integrity is that we get to be ourselves.
We get to feel what we feel, and to act accordingly.
When our intention is to live intact, we use our insides as our guide.
Truth and seeking it out is what will bring us peace.
She does talk about the pain truth can cause; but how it often is more painful to live not fully intact.
When I was discovering so many ugly truths, I used to say brilliantly tragic. The brilliance would come after the darkness of truths that were so opposite of what I believed to be true.
There are many things we don't want to truly know; but when we are brave enough to live in harmony with all truths, we actually become happier. It seems like an oxymoron - but it was true in my experience.
I highly recommend this book.
The Way of Integrity, is the way to happiness.
The pure joy of living life as your whole self.
