Integrity is a muscle. We all have it and we all flex it to varying degrees. If you have found instances in your life when you wished this muscle were a little bigger, you are not alone.
The more you work this muscle, the stronger you become. Overcoming one obstacle may seem overwhelming, but the bigger of a burden you carry, the stronger your muscles get. As you take on one challenge at a time, your integrity muscle gets stronger.
Your confidence grows. Your courage grows. And the benefit of "bulking up" in this regard, is that others will notice.
Just like the muscle-y man that hoodlums and trouble makers instinctively know to avoid, the more you practice standing in your own truth - doing only what feels right to you and exemplifying the best of yourself - the less you will find yourself in compromising situations.
If others identify you as an integrity "weakling," willing to go along with the changing of the tides, willing to compromise your values, or working in arenas that don't jive with you - the more you will find yourself in these situations until you learn the lessons meant for you to learn.
We have several opportunities to flex our muscles every day. Little moments where a white lie would easily clean up a situation, you can take the opportunity to drop a bomb of truth instead. If you speak your truth with love and an open heart, it will get easier each time.
Many of us do not set out to be deceptive, quite the contrary, most of us are acting with good (albiet sometimes misguided intentions). Sometimes we don't act with integrity because it will rock the boat, cause hurt feelings, or we feel that we will miss out on prosperous opportunities. It is really more of a case in conflict avoidance rather than malicious intent. It's easy to go with the flow. Easy to push down those tiny feelings that let you know that something isn't quite right. Eventually, those feelings catch up with us and manifest in bigger ways, and we know we need to change our ways.
Need to start small? Practice saying "no." This is something I still work with daily. If you are saying "yes" while the rest of you screams "no," I can promise you that no good will come of it. If you say "yes" to be kind in the short-term, you do yourself and others a disservice in the longrun.
Practice flexing your integrity muscles. Have courage. Watch it build little by little. Before you know it, you will be a giant.
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