For the last five days, I've been in an all-day meeting with myself, reflecting on the purpose and principles that will guide my expanding business. It's rare that I take time to lift up to this level of altitude, so I'm savoring every minute of it. Yesterday instead of my usual weekly review I did a bi-annual review. The questions that are appropriate for a higher level review are completely different from the questions I rely on for a quick weekly scan and cleanup. It's similar to how you wouldn't think of using paper towels to power wash your entire house. Different tools for different depths of work, and different frequencies of evaluation. The power of coming up to higher altitude at appropriate times is the opportunity to discover deeper and more interesting awarenesses.
In recent months, the word integrity has been churning around in my mind. As I prepare to immerse myself in a 28-day professional seminar, I am reminded of the crucial lessons I learned about integrity and agreements when I first took Insight I. A decade ago, it was fundamentally life changing for me to understand the power of honoring my word with my actions. It felt like a radical shift to know
experientially that being in alignment with what I said, even on a microscopic level, had a positive impact on all of my relationships.
As I'm coming close to the completion of my studies at USM, I'm also doing some self-consulting to integrate what I have learned from this tremendous program. The benefit that I expect will be the most lasting and rewarding is my strong and solid intrapersonal relationship, my relationship with myself. I've always been a communicator, a friend, a giver, a daughter, a sister. But to know myself and trust my own guidance, without wavering, is a gift worth the price of admission on its own. Fundamental to establishing this solid sense of myself has been keeping my agreements, and honoring my integrity.
I came across this tidbit on integrity and thought it was worth passing on:
"Sometimes we forget how powerful our words are, and we use them haphazardly or unconsciously, creating expectations that are never fulfilled, leaving disappointment and distrust in our wake.
On an even deeper level, there are promises we may have made to ourselves that we don’t remember because they have slipped into our unconscious..."
Continue reading from DailyOm
I particularly found that last sentence insightful. It's not that we intentionally break our agreements with ourselves out of spite. More likely disregard seeps in when we're not looking. So the key is to keep your eyes open. Be aware and awake enough to know what your agreements are. That's the value I have found in reviewing my action lists, in review my projects, in staying on top of the communications flowing in and out of my inbox and voicemail. All of that meticulous care is in service to knowing what my agreements are so that I can keep them, as pristinely as possible. It's much easier to renegotiate the commitment if you know what it is, objectively and clearly. I've been pleasantly surprised to find how easy it is to maintain my strong sense of self-trust just by being willing to renegotiate, instead of outright breaking an agreement. It takes a simple conversation with oneself to add another brick to the foundation.
Take heart in knowing that your word is powerful, and take care in using the power tool.