Integrating Integrity

by: Linda Mackenzie

I want to take you on a journey into the land of integrity. Integrity puts your power of thought into positive action. It actually affects and effects positive change for ourselves and everything connected on Earth and the Universe.

An integral component to the success of our current evolution of consciousness, it is timely and important to maintain integrity to actualize the concept that we are greater than ourselves and here for the greater good of all. The “ME” generation is over and the “WE” generation has begun. Integrity helps you take the “ME” to “WE.” It supports the “WE” with honor and respect.
So hop on board this integrity train - your trip is about to begin.

Striving For Wholeness

We’ll visit three stops in the land of integrity and coincidentally there are three meanings of the word integrity in the dictionary. The first meaning states: “the quality or state of being complete; wholeness; entireness; unbroken state.” Now doesn’t that sound grand and isn’t that what we are all striving for, especially for ourselves and all things on the planet?

In the “ME” generation the world was all about the individual. “How can I get a good relationship, better health, more money, cool career,” and the beat goes on and on and on. It was all about “ME”. However, in the “WE” generation the world is all about conscious connection. Where once we were striving to maintain wholeness for ourselves we are turning to wholeness for all.

Let’s stop for a moment to enjoy the scenery and I’ll let you in on a little secret. We are always whole in every minute of every day and we are always exactly in the right place we are meant to be. We don’t always recognize this because of the brain’s thought-striving mechanism built up of past programming by our family, society and our early experiences.

In actuality, too much thought becomes addictive and can create stagnation of the spirit. It’s like the dog chasing its tail. Thoughts seem to lead to more thoughts which keep the mind busy, which causes missing the wholeness and completeness of the Moment. Here’s another secret - the Moment is all we really have. More importantly, too much thought delays action. Action is a great mover and director of energy. Action is a true form of manifesting who we are and what we want for ourselves and everything on the planet. To take this one step further positive action produces and returns positive energy to all of us.

There Are No Negatives

To realize that there are no negatives in life and we always get what we need (not always what we want) are freeing thoughts that enable us to let go and live life entirely in connective wholeness. “Negative” situations and circumstances are just opportunities for growth. The sooner you recognize the lesson and take action, the sooner the “negatives” become positives. So when something you perceive as “negative” happens ask yourself, “What is this experience trying to teach me?”

When you complete the total lesson you’ll never experience the same “negative” –EVER AGAIN! However, if you only learn part of the lesson, the same lesson will come back to you over and over again, albeit in a slightly different way, until you learn the lesson completely.

Lessons are similar to Truth they will nag you until you accept them. Just consider life lessons as part of the school to Enlightenment and be ready to keep learning because the lessons never stop even when you get to the other side.

One way to complete a lesson is to take action - Stop doing the “negative” things that bring in the “negative” energy towards you. This includes your thoughts, words, deeds and actions. You have the Power and Free Will to do this. On a side note, although taking no action is still an action, it holds your energy “in place” and stops your movement so it is usually better to take some kind of action in most situations.

Sometimes there is a lesson that you just can’t seem to shake but you can still take action to minimize its “negative” effect. For example, I had a tendency to worry all the time. How did I conquer this trigger point of diversion and waste of energy? I learned to be consciously aware every time a “worry” thought came into my mind and then I consciously “let it go” which immediately brought me back to Wholeness. It now takes me less than 2 seconds to dispel the “worry” thought and it works every time. It’s time to board the integrity train for our second stop.

Turning the “ME” to “WE”

The second definition of integrity is: “the unimpaired state or quality of anything; perfect condition; soundness.”

One of Life’s greatest gifts is change. It is always constant. Just when you think things are all right something changes. During these times it helps to remember that change is cyclical - what goes up, must come down and then goes up again. Learn your lessons, take action and you can have an effect on the energy of change and get through the “down” times faster.

However, when you are on this ever constant sea of change, and concentrating to develop wholeness to get yourself to that perfect condition don’t forget the bigger picture. We are all connected. If you are just in a world about “ME” you can never attain anything but a short-lived, transient feeling of wholeness. This is because you are not integrating integrity accurately. For it is only by being part of and doing our part in the world for the greater good of all, that we can attain true wholeness.

Remember we are in a perfect condition and part of the whole in every moment. Concentrate on the positive whenever you get into a “ME” state, that will help the “WE” of the planet by default. We all can be working activists for positive change and activate positive energy out to the world - just by living a happy, healthy life honoring and respecting all things.

Sweeping a street joyfully is just as important as being a country’s President. No one is more important than another. We all have value. We all contribute to the whole. There is a grand plan and we are already part of it. So forget about materialism and its all about “ME”. The only thing you take with you when you pass over is the love you give and the love you receive. The “WE” gives you an unlimited opportunity to give and get more love and positive energy for yourself and the planet. It’s the “A” ticket ride, which means we are at the last part of journey – so let’s board that integrity train and go to our last important stop.

The Distinction between Right and Wrong

The third meaning of integrity is: “the quality or state of being of sound moral principle; uprightness; honesty and sincerity.” This is an important part of integrity. We all know the difference between right and wrong. It’s that inner voice that constantly screams at you “Be in Truth!” Sometimes you are willful and ignore that voice which then gives you more lessons and “negative” opportunities until you embrace truth and do what’s right. Sometimes, there may seem to be a subtle distinction between right and wrong – but you always know deep down what is right. When you make the right decisions you feel good and there isn’t any doubt or queasy bad feelings. Using your Free Will in integrity to choose and act upon what is right gives you real power. It helps develop your character into one that others look up to and sets you apart from the “ME.”

Let Truth Ring

Using integrity to follow Truth leads you on the right spiritual path 100% of the time. Both Truth and love resonate and stimulate positive energy on the planet that effects positive change. Being truthful and in integrity makes you walk your talk. It makes you trustworthy. Imagine a world of trustworthy people saying what they mean and doing what they say. Honest people who energetically support each other on spiritual, mental, physical, emotional and even financial levels. Sincere people not concerned with their egos, material possessions or power but who are proudly being who they are with respect for themselves, and all things. Wow! What a world that will be.

Acting in truth and with sincerity in whatever you do, gives you the gift of freedom from hypocrisy and helps you to be whole and complete without effort because there is nothing artificial.

So the journey is over. Hope you had fun. Remember take responsibility of your thoughts, words, deeds and actions. Walk your talk with integrity in every area of your life. This can change the world to become a better place but it starts with you getting out of the “ME”, embracing the “WE” and integrating integrity.

Play Your Free Square

by Victoria Moran


In the game of Bingo, every player starts with a bonus: the free square in the middle. Because everybody gets one, nobody thinks much of it, but the free square is just as valuable in winning the game as B-7 or O-69.

We have "free squares" in our lives, too: talents, abilities, and inexplicable aptitudes that make certain things almost effortless. Maybe we can sing, or we're good at math, or children warm to us and listen when we talk. But when someone comments on our free square, we tend to say, "Oh, that. It's nothing." Because we didn't work hard to get it, the same way a player doesn't have to perform to get a free square on the Bingo card, we undervalue what may be our most serviceable attribute.

Without the benefit of our free square - or squares; you can certainly have more than one - we run ourselves ragged trying to be something we aren't. We work diligently to fit our round pegs into square holes, or to fit our round selves into the media's angular ideal. When we recognize and appreciate our own free squares, though, we can see that the key to our success and fulfillment is inside the person we are, not the one we think we're supposed to be. We can use, trade, barter, and build on the assets that are inherently ours to flesh out our lives with other good things that don't come so easily.If you're unclear about your own free squares, answer the following questions: Is there an area of your life - even one you may have regarded as insignificant - in which good things tend to happen repeatedly and automatically? Do you have an aptitude for something that seems so natural you can't understand why other people struggle with it? What do you get compliments about? How would you finish the sentence, "I've just got a knack for..."

Your answers may indicate that you, like my daughter Rachael, have a free square for money. This child has always had an affinity for cash, both acquiring it and hanging onto it. When she was only three, she once interrupted a grown-up financial discussion to say, "If I had a savings account that was drawing interest, I could make you a loan."Or, like me, you may have a free square for meeting people. I constantly run into people who are helpful, fascinating, and sometimes famous. I meet them on buses, in cafes, riding elevators. It just happens.Perhaps you, like my friend Francesca, have an uncanny penchant for winning things. Since I've known her, she's won a fax machine, a Ford Escort, and a trip to Disney World. What she doesn't win, she can usually get wholesale.Once you identify your free squares, play them by using what's easy to help you with what isn't. When Francesca won that fax machine, for instance, she had been unsuccessfully looking for work for several weeks. She thought about selling her prize - she could have used the money - but Francesca is a woman who takes her free squares seriously. She decided that the universe wouldn't have supplied her with this techno-toy if she wasn't supposed to use it. To try the thing out and see how it worked, she faxed her resume to some personnel directors. Her top pick responded and hired her.The next time you think you might not have what it takes to get the kind of life you're after, enlist the help of your free square. Your particular gift may not look like what you need at the moment; Francesca's fax machine didn't look like a job offer either. Use your free square. Let it work for you. Be proud of it and grateful for it. Bingo!

-excerpted from Creating a Charmed Life: Sensible, Spiritual Secrets Every Busy Woman Should Know by Victoria Moran (HarperSanFrancisco).

Victoria hosts "A Charmed Life" on Healthylife.net, live at 9am PT, 12pm ET 4th Wednesday of each month.

Waging A War Against Cancer Vs Healing Your Life

by Bernie Siegel, MD

Mother Teresa, when asked to attend an anti-war rally refused, responding to those requesting her attendance by saying, "But if you ever have a peace rally let me know and I will attend." We are not killers, consciously or unconsciously, and yet when you listen to the language of medicine you hear words like; poison, blast, kill, amputate, destroy, eliminate, assault and more. Unfortunately doctors are not taught how to communicate with patients and so our words and the words given to patients to read induce negative side affects. The words are coming from an authority and have an hypnotic influence. They tell you all the things which can go wrong but do not tell you what can go right. So wordswordsword are swordswordswords. Yes, they become swords which can kill or cure as a scalpel can. If we told patients that their treatment was therapeutic and then explained there were side affects but they do not happen to every patient you would go home with a different feeling and option then being told all the side affects and none of the benefits. When given placebos patients have had their hair fall out and tumors shrink because they were told that is what would happen.

We also have to remember that all the side affects of cancer are not bad. There are blessings to be found in every curse. When accepting your mortality redirects your life and helps you to heal your life and find the ability to love you will understand what I mean.Dave, a Quaker and friend of mine with cancer, went to see his oncologist. His oncologist said to him. "I am going to kill your cancer." Dave answered, "I'm a Quaker. I don't kill anything." And he walked out the door. Dave lived for twelve years doing alternative therapies. I do a lot of work with drawings and imagery and tried to get Dave to think of his immune system as soldiers or police cleaning out the cancer but Dave could not work with those aggressive images. His drawing shows his white cells carrying his cancer cells away. He wouldn't hurt anything.

When we focus on waging a war or fighting a battle versus healing our lives and bodies we are interfering with the healing process. Another patient I know had a large mediastinal tumor and she was told by someone to image her white blood cells as dogs eating it up. Nothing happened. One day she shared that she was not comfortable being aggressive and saw her tumor as a block of ice with God's light melting it and then it literally began to melt away.I also see in these drawings people showing God as the source of radiation therapy and in the operating room, or holding them in the palm of His hand while they receive a bone marrow transplant. Studies show these patients are more likely to survive and have fewer side affects. I have also seen the horrendous side affects of radiation upon a woman who said, "When they put me in the room and shut the door it reminded me of the gas chamber in the concentration camp I had been in."
When our minds and bodies are involved in a battle and a war our response is one of protection. That means we are prepared to run for our lives as our blood is diverted to parts of our brain and bodies which help us to escape. Stress hormone levels are elevated and immune function is suppressed during this time.

When we are involved in healing and see life as a labor pain of self birthing then the side affects are diminished and our body is reprogrammed to grow and heal as the stress level is reduced and immune function enhanced. What impressed me years ago and has kept me involved in mind body work is learning from the people who don't die when they are supposed to.Women live longer than men with the same cancers and so do married men compared to single men. The reason is not female hormones and sleeping with them but their relationships and connections. I knew a mother of nine who said, "I have nine kids and I can't die until they are all married and out of the house." Twenty three years later her ninth kid left home and her cancer came back. It amazed me that she could do that but sad that when she wasn't a mother her life had no meaning. What I want everyone to do is find your unique, authentic self and not live a role or a life imposed upon you by others.

This is a person who was living each day and not involved in avoiding dying. They accepted their mortality and lived meaningful lives. How many of us truly do what feels good for us to do and are capable of saying no to things that we do not want to do?When you heal your life and find peace of mind your body gets the message too. Everything I am saying is scientific. We are capable of genetic changes and spontaneous reversals just as bacteria, viruses and plants do to resist antibiotics, vaccines and environmental changes. Our genes become active in response to the internal environment. Most women with a gene for breast cancer do not develop it. Twin sisters with the gene for breast cancer do not both develop the disease. The sister more likely to do so is the one who internalizes her anger and spends her life pleasing her parents and everyone else.

We are changed internally by the way we act. If I put you in a play, as an actor, I can enhance your health in a comedy and damage it in a tragedy. I know two patients who tired of their therapy, went home with extensive cancer and "Left their troubles to God." And their cancers disappeared. No wars just peace.

So go and find what is right for you as treatment for your disease. If you are afraid of dying then do everything everyone suggests. If it is doing what is right for you and what brings you peace then go with it and know you will have fewer side affects when you decide which labor pains are worthwhile and of your choosing. I meet people who hate vegetables and would prefer chemotherapy as treatment so they can enjoy their meals at home with the family. The choice of the road to healing is yours.

Remember we all die some day and if you do things to not die you will be very bitter when you get to Heaven. The way to beat cancer is related to how you live your life and the experience and what you teach others. None of us will live forever. Death is neither a failure nor losing the battle though again, the way most doctors talk you would think it is.

Listen and Call-In with your questions to Dr. Bernie Siegel's "Mind Health Matters" HealthyLife.Net Radio Show 1st Tues. Every Month at 9am PT Toll Free at 800-555-5453.