Use This If You Want True Happiness
True happiness can be yours and it can be long-lasting.
You don’t need to be stressed out and miserable, or “losing in life.”
The trick is to know the rules of the game. When you know the rules of anything you can then stand a chance at winning.
Just as you would learn to play rugby or netball well if you wanted to succeed, you need to learn the rules for happiness.
Then you can really do something about it.
Understanding integrity well is one of those things you need to know.
WHAT IS INTEGRITY?
What does it have to do with life anyway?
For a start, living without a guilty conscience is much easier when you understand integrity.
Making decisions in life is easier too.
It is a powerful thing.
Revolutions have occurred because of this 9 letter word.
Marriages have thrived, without it marriages have dived.
INTEGRITY: Adherence to moral principles; honesty within oneself.
When you know something is true and you have the courage to stand by what you know is true, this is integrity.
Example:
DY is walking down the street, mentally scrolling through what she is going to do this coming weekend when she notices a boy of about 5 years standing next to a mailbox, crying.
Should she continue on, thinking about that shopping list she needs to get done? Or should she stop and see if the kid needs help?
What would your conscience tell you?
Nothing?
Something?
For many of us, we have been brought up to care for kids. It is very often a natural instinct to protect and defend young ones – our growing future.
It is a principle to live by, according to our cultural or familial values.
Moral principle: A rule to live by related to human behaviour, especially the distinction between good and bad or right and wrong behaviour.
So, hopefully DY would use judgment and look. If there is no adult carer coming to see to the child, she would make sure he is okay.
Judgment is important when it comes to integrity.
Integrity is key to living a happier life when it comes to making decisions.
Food for thought.
With integrity it is all about what you personally know to be true, honest and right. This would include knowing which moral code for you is true, honest and right.
Time to look a bit further into morality now.
Moral, according to the dictionary, is adherence to moral principles; honesty.
To get a clearer understanding of moral, moral principles should be understood well.
Moral principles are codes of good conduct that have come about through the desire of societies to succeed, not fight endlessly or be overcome by other cultures, or fail.
With the existence of different religions, various political beliefs, individual purposes and priorities in life, there needs to be points of agreement that will help us to live safely, happily and be able to get along.
Moral codes give us what the group has agreed is right and wrong behaviour.
How Do Moral Codes And Integrity Fit Together?
LM’s co-worker just returned from the management department.
Her downcast face tells him that things didn’t go well.
There is a piece of paper in her hand.
LM glances at it and realise it is a written warning. He is curious and at the same time a bit puzzled.
After some minutes she opens up to LM. The warning is for failure to get reports in on time, twice.
Odd. LM knows for a fact she had done them both times – handing them to the main receptionist to pass along, as per procedure.
This doesn’t make sense.
LM also happens to know that this receptionist is a bit of a stirrer, has said a few subtle yet nasty remarks about his co-worker.
Something’s not right. It’s at this point that conflicting thoughts may enter LM’s mind.
This is where integrity comes in.
Do you do nothing, mind your own business so no trouble comes your way?
Say something to your co-worker about the receptionist?
Say it to your boss?
Having a lack of integrity in this instance would show if the decision was to do nothing at all.
WHY? You may be wondering.
Well, to put it very simply: How would you like to be treated if you were in their shoes? This is one of the golden rules to live by.
Integrity is honesty.
It is as much honesty with yourself as it is with anyone else.
HOW TO HAVE INTEGRITY
The first steps to having integrity are to understand what it is and to genuinely want to have it.
Remember that integrity, by definition, requires moral principles to base your decisions on.
You may not realise it, but you will already have some form of moral principles.
They may not be the best set of moral principles to live by, then again perhaps they are.
Moral codes have existed for centuries. What suited one century, one culture or one generation may not suit another.
Take smoking as an example.
A couple of generations ago this was totally acceptable human behaviour. You could even smoke in the confined space of an aeroplane!
Over time the harmful effects of smoking became known, in many places it then became “bad human behaviour” to smoke in enclosed spaces, to smoke around kids etc.
Having integrity includes having clarity on what the moral principles are that govern your own life, your family, your culture.
In this fast-changing and very inter-cultural world you can expect to find in your lifetime certain morals will change.
Therefore, the ability to judge well is necessary.
When integrity drops out, it can greatly affect your well-being.
You promise your partner that you’ll be home in time to cook dinner, before they need to go out again. You’ve finished work but are still talking to a friend there. Time is ticking by. You know you should leave, or you won’t have dinner ready on time, but you still keep talking.
Deep down you feel bad about breaking the agreement with your partner. One time might not make much difference to your thoughts or attitude.
A build-up of several or lots of lots of instances where integrity was violated can though.
Maintaining Integrity requires discipline.
For many, discipline is tough to keep up. Work out what will help you to keep it in. Things like messages of encouragement on the fridge door, setting aside time to read over your moral code, getting family on-side with understanding and following the morals established can help with discipline.
LACK OF INTEGRITY EXAMPLES
Unfortunately for him, he fails a drug test. He loses his job.
His deliberate violation of an agreement with the construction company, his dishonesty and his loss of employment does not make his immediate future look too bright. What are his chances of being trusted by his next employer?
The construction company put the rule there to protect the employees, the reputation of the company and the survival of the company itself. It was for the best for everyone.
XX only seemed to think of himself.
Not much integrity there.
Miss Y knows that when she eats too much wheat it affects her moods and she gets tired too easily. In the back of her mind she has the slight idea that she may have an allergy but has taken no steps to find out for sure.
She doesn’t like to be as volatile as she is with her family but to her mind, the fact is that bread is such a comfort food and it is so easy to throw a sandwich together or put a slice in the toaster when you are always in a rush.
It is a lack of integrity when someone doesn’t take care of themselves, doesn’t seek medical help when necessary. Your ability to focus and to function does affect people around you.
For some it can also be a lack of integrity to be so moody with family.
J.S’s parents are elderly. They are unable to support themselves properly with their savings. His father falls ill and there are medical expenses to cover which his parents can’t afford to pay and still continue to eat.
Lack of integrity would be to not do what you could to honour your parents. JS.s’ parents likely did their best to provide a decent home, food and education that helped him to get to where he is today.
Lack of integrity leads to misery. In the end nobody gains from it.
Have you ever asked yourself,
“How can I know what integrity means for me?”
Or
“How Can I change my life and be happy?”
Instead, is it that you know someone you feel should be asking themselves these questions?
Getting either of these resolved is going to help, putting more control into areas of life that – if the questions above are being asked -in all likelihood need it.
GOLDEN RULES TO LIVE BY
Do unto others as you would want others to do to you
Love Thy Neighbour
These are a couple of the more famous golden rules.
There is Murphy’s law – the humorous take that if something can go wrong, it will and usually at the worst possible time.
How many times has that seemed to be the truth?
To keep integrity in, you need to know your golden rules.
There is a straightforward, common sense guide available which gives a very good foundation for integrity that can be used by anyone.
21 golden rules to live by are laid out in an easy to understand, easy to follow manner that leave no doubt as to what integrity is about.
These golden principles have been able to be thoroughly defined because of the author’s innate understanding of daily life problems and solutions brought about from over 40 years of helping people and his researches and discoveries into what are the foundations of true happiness.
“One can feel at times like a spinning leaf blown along a dirty street, one can feel like a grain of sand stuck in one place. But nobody has said that life was a calm and orderly thing: it isn’t. One isn’t a tattered leaf nor a grain of sand: one can, to greater or lesser degree draw his road map and follow it.” – L. Ron Hubbard
- Non-religious, which means you will find no conflict with your faith.
- This guide WILL tell you how to be happy which means you won’t have to second guess your actions anymore.
- Printed in over 114 languages, so that everyone has the opportunity to find real answers.
- To date it has been made available in 170 countries – showing its popularity and worth.
- All 21 principles written clearly and simply so that you get the information you need to achieve maximum results.
If you would like to find out more about The Way To Happiness book then you can go here:
https://www.bridgepub.com/store/item/the-way-to-happiness-paperback.html
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