“Excuse me, I don’t think that is correct.  I think you missed something, the total should be higher.”

“I don’t think so.  Oh wait, you are right, I missed the sweater.”

The cashier then adjusted the total as she rang up the sweater.

“Sorry about that.  Thanks for telling me.  I could lose me job over that.”

“You are most welcome.  It just seemed a little lower than I was expecting.”

“Most people only tell me when it’s too high, but never when it’s too low.  Thanks for your honesty.”

“Well, I figure if I’m going to tell you when it’s in my favor, I also need to tell you when it’s not in my favor.  That’s just the way it works, and it makes me feel better when I’m truthful.”

“Have a nice day.”

The lady then gathered her bags and left the department store.

Ω

Sometimes in life it’s easy to conveniently forget who we really are.  The universe may provide little tests for us to see if we waver on our integrity.  Sometimes we let our integrity conveniently take a “back seat” while we enjoy the unexpected “benefit.”  However, our true essence of who we are and what we believe, needs to always be there.  We cannot pick and choose when we will live up to our own expectations and when we will conveniently put those expectations to the side.

When you decide to live a life with integrity it is evident everywhere in your life.  In your relationships, you provide the truth that is necessary and expected by the other party.  We do not conveniently let little “white lies” sneak into the relationship just so we can avoid an uncomfortable situation.  We also live our relationships with the trust that is implied in the relationship, and never waver in breaching that trust.

When we live a life of integrity, we bring it to our career.  We have a “relationship” with our employer and our employees.  Again, like a personal relationship, it is built on trust.  Even the smallest thing that would breach that trust is never considered by someone living a life of integrity.  The same is true with the implicit trust placed upon us in our relationships with our customers and our vendors.  There is no room for letting even the little things that most likely will never be noticed to breach our integrity.

Living a life of integrity means that we have an implicit trust with our government.  We understand that we pay the taxes that we owe to our government.  Again, there is no room to waver on our integrity even when we know a breach would never be noticed.

Living a life of integrity means that we have an implicit trust with ourselves.  We know who we are, and what we stand for and believe.  We allow ourselves to alter our beliefs without guilt or recourse, for we know that our beliefs change with our experiences and our own personal growth.  We understand that our beliefs may have originated from our lineage, but with time we build our own beliefs.  We know when we are doing things to ourselves or our bodies that is not congruent with our essence, and will not let anyone convince us to go against our “essence.”

Living a life of integrity can seem to be difficult at times.  Times when an extra few bills in our pocket might seem to make our lives a little easier.  However, the reality is that the universe rewards integrity many times more than those few bills that we may receive in the short-term.

InspiraCard

Let go of the temptation to stray from the core of who you are, and let the chips fall where they may.  When you leave your integrity in tact, you will survive any storm that may creep into your life.

Written Thu May 8, 2014 7:42 – 7:56 AM MT