Integrity

In today's society, integrity is severely lacking. Period. Relationships of convenience come and go; people propel forward with little consideration of the ones they are stepping over in their path. Hurting souls cry out for help and we walk on by, figuring they deserve to be where they are and deserve to remain there.

Wikipedia reveals integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy, in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue. As such, one may judge that others "have integrity" to the extent that they act according to the values, beliefs and principles they claim to hold. (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Integrity)

Have there been times in your life where maybe things weren't going your way? Down on your luck? Made you made some mistakes that left you with a sense of condemnation or shame? What turned it around for you...was it a person of integrity that remained there with you without judgement, maybe was inconvenienced by you, went against the grain to defend your honor but still remained "in the fire" with you until things settled and corners were turned?

Or maybe there was a time you could have taken the easy way out; bowing to the current instead of swimming up stream; making a tough judgement call even though many said "you didn't have to do that"; looking out for YOUR best interests instead of the interests of others?

In this day and age of overwhelming media connectivity, we are quick to discard people, passions, and honesty for self-gain. Life isn't a snap shot...it is a large canvas painted with all of the trials and victories we've endured. Living with integrity shouldn't be a moment to moment decision but a way of life. Doing the right thing isn't easy but at the end of the day, when the house is quiet, and the sky is dark, your head can lie on a pillow without regret or the sense that you could have done a little better with your day.

Integrity is something people see in you, your words and and your actions. Are you a person of integrity?

Maybe, the most inspirational video ever . . .

It is never too late

"The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing" - Albert Einstein

I turned 37 in February. It was a bit of a shock to me. 37. I remember skydiving at 25...jumping out of that plane...embracing what the next 25 years would bring, soaring fourteen thousand feet above sea level. And now, a "fortnight" of years later, I am fully engaged in the American rat race, running after a four year old son and enduring a sassy seven year old daughter (in which my mom never fails to remind me the apple doesn't fall far from the tree).

37. I remember thinking at 25 that by 37, I'd have my masters degree under my belt, and be steadily working towards my PhD. I'd casually work part time consulting, simultaneously preparing my award winning thesis, enjoying my late thirties, amidst shuffling 2 or 3 perfectly behaved children between dance, soccer and play dates. Oh the life!

Well, I'll spare you the details of what 37 has actually become, but I will share this. I don't have my masters, and the only PhD I could possible work towards is one in the art of bribery of young children to just behave for five flipping minutes and eat what's on their plates!!

The point of this reflective moment? Well, honestly, I have been inspired. My drive, my spirit and my "inner fuel" has been ignited! Pshaw on you 37! Average life expectancy of an American woman...80.2 years(new results from the cdc website published 5/2011). It is never to late to live the life you desire for yourself.

Where you are at this very moment is a summation of ALL the choices you have made throughout your entire life. Whether they were great choices or bad choices, you made them and you are living them out. "What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us." - Anonymous

Maybe a masters degree was more of my parent's dream then my own...and who needs an award winning thesis anyway? But regardless of where you are, or where you've been, or where you THINK you are going to end up, it is never to late to live out a dream that has, for whatever reason, remained dormant within you. "When our actions do not, our fears make us traitors." - William Shakespeare (Macbeth)