Integrity & Accountability

Integrity is the condition of being whole and undivided. It is a felt sense of completeness, inner stillness, and quietude. A couple of years ago, I started a practice of 100% no lying, also known as satya. I witnessed the inner turmoil I’d felt for three decades still as the sea does after a great storm. I liked this feeling so much that it was easy to commit fully to this practice.

Accountability is another practice I’ve learned as part of my Baptiste methodology education. Although it can be uncomfortable at first, this practice felt so good that it quickly became incorporated into my favorite mindfulness practices. The essential language of this technique invites you to take 100% responsibility for all of the contributions, regardless of judgement, you’ve made to your current life sphere.

Integrity empowers me to use my voice to ask for support in areas where I am still practicing new skills. I can also acknowledge those who journey with me on this adventure for their patience, love, and grace. Empowered by the accountability to neutralize feelings, thoughts, emotions, and behaviors related to shame, guilt, and failure, I can take a deep breath and recommit to myself.

I am no longer afraid to say yes, to show up, to be seen. I can share my voice to take responsibility for everything I’ve done and not done at any one given point in time, in this now moment. I have the opportunity to begin again and commit to a new behavior, a new way of being, instead of retreating to berating and hating. These mindfulness practices have helped me cultivate a sweet inner peace, an empty yet fulfilling quiet inner space of beingness that feels a lot like heaven on earth.

Integrity is a subtle quality that grows when tended over time. I didn’t notice the sweetness blossoming in my life until I risked losing it. I value my integrity so highly that I am now unwilling to participate in idle gossip in order to belong and fit in. Integrity is the key to joy.

By Zia Estrella; All Rights Reserved @2020