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Live with Integrity
“Have the courage to say no. Have the courage to face the truth. Do the right thing because it is right. These are the magic keys to living your life with integrity “W. Clement Stone
The basic and most important thing to build a life with good character is to being true to yourself and that is called live with integrity.
Most of the people have heard about live with integrity many times but few people really know about it
This is because Everyone knows about Live with Integrity but very few practice it
But why is it so?
Because since they don’t practice it, they have not understood the real benefits of it.
Live with Integrity is the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles. Simply said, it is about doing the right thing but in practice it is not that simple to always do the right thing.
It consists of key aspects such as knowledge of what is right, courage to stand by what is right and execute what is right.
There are multiple situations in life when it is not easy to make the honest and right decisions but right knowledge and understanding can make things much easier.
Let us understand with an example
Your son has turned five years on the day of train journey. He now requires a ticket for train journey which was not required so far.
Now what will you do?
Will you buy a ticket or not since no one will come to know about your son’s true age.
You may also think it is an opportunity to save money and one day does not make much difference as anyways you were not paying for this ticket yesterday.
So, you did not purchase the train ticket and train journey started. Now Ticket checker came and he asked for the ticket for your son. You said in front of him that he is less than 5 years old.
So, son is not eligible for the ticket.
Since age wise, it cannot be made out and no one is carrying the birth certificate you had convinced Ticket checker and he has gone away. You feel satisfied that money is saved.
In all this episode when it was not such an important thing to Live with integrity and focus was on saving money, one important thing was missed out.
It was about your son and what was going on in his mind looking at all this.
Your Son will come to know that my father is dishonest and result will be that he will also become dishonest or will stop respecting the father.
It is very big price that is being paid against the money that was saved on the ticket.
One right step probably could had made much bigger impact on you and your family life
Similar to this example, there are many more such cases where to save some money, integrity was compromised on day in day out basis without understanding its larger impact on life
Integrity is best checked in small activities on how they are done rather than big things
Now let us understand through another example,
Suppose, you work in a factory and there is a rule to register the attendance after changing the uniform.
Now, on one day you are late and if you punch after changing uniform then money will be deducted.
What will you do? You may first punch as anyways will be working full day and few minutes does not matter.
Then will change the uniform.
Okay. So, see the impact of this.
A habit has been created which will always try to take a shortcut action to achieve the end objective.
This ingrained habit will raise its head every time whenever such a situation will be faced and integrity will be lost or will take a beating.
So, what are the benefits of living with integrity? And is the effort worth the results?
It is amazing to understand the practical aspects of integrity which are not thought about before and it was bedazzling as well
Live with Integrity is a quality which if practiced will elevate the personal standards and transform life towards goodness and greatness. It is the base of a life well lived.
A person with strong moral compass will not do a wrong thing and will also guide the family and society on the righteous path.
Nature is driven by law of karma. As you sow, so shall you reap.
Good deeds reap good rewards and so on for bad deeds.
Sharing another of my real-life example and how I realized the power on integrity early on
It was month of May and summer was its peak
There were no refrigerators at that time and water was stored in earthen pots to cool it.
Water was fetched in the morning from nearby small water reservoirs and stored.
One such sunny afternoon I felt thirsty and went to kitchen to take the water.
I tilted the pot to take water inside the glass.
But due to heavy weight of pot it slipped from my hand and fell down and pot broke into few pieces.
I got fearful of the reprimand if caught.
So, I cleverly arranged back the pieces and placed the pot back at the original location as if nothing has happened. I came back from kitchen and lied down on the bed.
Now, my heart was beating fast and I was sweating as what will happen when someone will figure it out
In the evening, grandfather called everyone in the verandah and asked who broke the pot?
Now I was in a fix on what to do.
Should I tell the truth or a convenient lie that I don’t know
Somehow, I gained courage and said that I have broken the pot and immediately felt relieved
My grandfather was pleased and he appreciated me for telling the truth.
He said I saw you arranging the pot in the kitchen and kept silent and wanted to check what will you say.
He congratulated me for passing the test.
I learned that speaking the truth is easier way than trying to hide the facts
Avoid creating actions or conditions which necessitate telling a lie.
It will allow you to live in peace
I also decided to be careful next time and have not broken a pot since then
Person who follows the path of Live with integrity has a confidence and lives a fulfilling life. Life will be much less stressful. Our body follows the laws of nature and actions in alignment in nature bring peace to mind.
It explains about the importance of integrity in our life. I wonder how important integrity is and so many people are living life without its knowledge and awareness.
Live with integrity can be implemented in practice by starting with one simple routine activity which is supposed to be done the right way but is not being done today.
What you do at red traffic light when on one is looking at you?
You simply jump the red light because road is clear and no one is looking at it and there is no risk as well.
So, never cross the red light even if no one is watching.
Once you start practicing, slowly your mind and body will start doing the right things and that will also be reflected in other activities.
This is one but there are also other examples where you can practice integrity. They are :
- Avoid telling a lie as much as possible.
- Self-declare income from other sources and pay income tax on it as per govt rules
- Work with full commitment at workplace as you are being paid for it
- Don’t take credit which is not yours and give to others where it is due
After doing activities on a set pattern, it becomes a habit and then mind automatically responds once the event is triggered. Once you are enlightened with Live with integrity wisdom experience, it will open your eyes to an entirely new world.
” Live with Integrity is truly tested not when everyone is looking at you but when no one is looking at you “- Anupam Shrotary
Thank you for reading the article Live with Integrity and LIVE POSITIVE LIFE. New post is published on 1st and 15th of every month.
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Also read
Be the Strong Leader you Deserve to Be !! (7 Essential Traits) – Anupam Shrotary
Live with Integrity
