The Way of Integrity: Finding the path to your true self

Integrity is the cure for unhappiness. Period.

When we think, hear, or understand something that’s deeply true for us, our inner teachers rise in us as a delicious, lucid resonance.

This split from integrity is almost always unconscious.

Emotionally, we feel grumpy, sad, or numb. Physically, our immune systems and muscles weaken; we might get sick, and even if we don’t, our energy flattens. Mentally, we lose focus and clarity. That’s how it feels to be out of integrity.

Your true nature loves things for their capacity to bring genuine delight, right here, right now. It loves romps, friends, skin contact, sunlight, water, laughter, the smell of trees, the delicious stillness

But speaking of science, solid research shows all sorts of links between living in harmony with our truth and maintaining good health. There’s a whole field of medicine, psychoneuroimmunology, that focuses on the way psychological stress, including the stress of lying or keeping secrets, contributes to illness.

Mind you, hustling doesn’t mean you’re bad. It means you’re well socialized, cooperating beautifully with culture. But it also means you’re split from your true nature.

from my favorite book, the Tao te Ching,

The unpleasant things they’re forcing themselves to do, the areas where they lie about their feelings, the times they obey shame or threats of punishment are the very aspects of their