11:11 Waves Blog 31: Integrity

Every Monday, I share 1 question for you to contemplate, 1 idea from me, 1 quote from others, and 1 inspiration for us.

This week’s topic is: Integrity

Over the last few months, I have enjoyed diving into etymology and refreshing my Latin and Ancient Greek language skills. Etymology is the study of the origin of the words and it’s a great way to enhance language understanding, empower philosophical reflection and discover new truths. As part of this exploration, a word that I have been thinking a lot about is integrity. Integrity comes from the Latin word “Integer” which means whole and complete. Integrity is living in complete alignment with all the parts of your being: your soul, your heart, your body, your mind, your true self and your shadow self (ego-persona).

One Question for you

When you are whole and consistent, there is only one you.

Discuss the question here.

One Idea from me

Integrity is the choice to stay true and grounded to your own personal truth. A bit like the origin of the word etymology itself which derives from the Greek word “étumon” which stands for “true meaning”, integrity is our core self, who we are underneath all the beliefs-systems, societal structures, cultural and historical influences that impact us and get in the way. In our modern world, we are so used to living from this constructed beliefs-system which determines how our life is going to be expressed, what is acceptable, what we are capable of, what we identify with and ultimately builds our ego-persona. But our own personal truth can be very different from the belief-systems that we have internalized and that rule our ego-persona. So, living in truth means discovering what the “truth” is for ourselves and honoring it by listening to it, aligning to it and acting upon it. This week I am sharing a practice for you to explore your relationship with integrity, discover your own personal truth and consider how you can live in alignment with your own personal sense of integrity more of the time. In the next seven days, I encourage you to carve five minutes a day to explore the following questions:

Day 1: How do you understand integrity? What is your personal definition of integrity?

Day 2: In what way your definition of integrity has been influenced by social, cultural and historical perspectives? What does this mean for you?

Day 3: Note some examples of when you have practiced integrity and how it has served you and when it has been problematic. Why? Based on these experiences, what is your current relationship with integrity?

Day 4: Integrity is living the truth through your actions. What is your truth? Complete the sentence: I stay true to myself by…

Day 5: Think about a recent situation. Did you honour your truth? How? Did you stay in your integrity? How? What are the situations in your life in which a part of you is being sacrificed?

Day 6: Integrity is choosing courage over conform, choosing to practice our values rather than simply professing them. Integrity is a choice. What actions can you take in order to grow and live in alignment with your truth?

Day 7: Take few minutes to read all the notes you captured during the week and jot down three new discoveries you made about yourself, two take-aways and one action you will commit to.

One Quote from others

“We can't live out of alignment with our own personal sense of integrity and feel good about ourselves at the same time". Teal Swan

One Inspiration for us

This week I am sharing a link to Etymonline, an online etymology dictionary. This free resource is written and compiled by Douglas R. Harper and describes the origins of English-language words. The dictionary includes over 50,000 words, their root word in Latin, Greek, Old English, French etc. and it traces the evolution and changes in interpretation and meaning over the years. I hope you’ll enjoy researching words and learning their true meaning as much as I do!