A Life That Flows

"Life works to the degree that

you keep your agreements."

Werner Erhard

Though it may not be considered a 'spiritual' quality, integrity is the foundation to living a happy and authentic Life. When we keep our commitments - saying what we mean and meaning what we say - our lives have a way of unfolding with effortless ease and without drama. When we live with integrity, the people in our lives know that they can count on us to do what we say we'll do, and not do what we say we won't. As Spiritual Teacher Byron Katie has said regarding integrity, "People know that your 'yes' means yes and your 'no' means no, and that your 'no' is just as high quality as your 'yes'.

In today's world, it is commonplace for people to break their commitments without a care about the repercussions it has on their relationships with others, and themselves. This can be as simple as not showing up on time to a meeting with a friend, to betraying a commitment you made to someone in a relationship. When we continually break our agreements with others, we undermine our own sense of wholeness, and not only will other people no longer trust us, we will no longer be able to trust ourselves to keep our word. We will also find ourselves living in a constant state of guilt and regret over the way we have let others - and ourselves - down.

If you find that keeping your agreements with others is difficult, one of the things you can do to make it easier, is to simply stop making commitments that you don't really want to make. Before you agree to do anything, make sure it is arising out of a feeling of actually wanting to do it, rather than from a thought of wanting to please someone or because you would feel guilty for saying no. When you no longer do things because you feel obligated to do them, and instead do them because you genuinely want to do them, your life will begin to flow with a greater ease and happiness. You will also find that the agreements you do make will be much easier to keep, and filled with a sense of joy and peace as you do them.