Integrity

Being true to ourselves, such a challenge when we are enmeshed in a world where we are told to be uniform, where uniqueness is condemned and feelings are oppressed.
Being true to ourselves, not crumbling to meet the standards set by others, being grateful for the perfection and beauty of our own individuality.
Being true to ourselves with our scars opened, our sense unwrapped and our mind emancipated.
Being true to ourselves, burying hypocrisy and setting the truth in an arena of lies.
Being true to ourselves, stopping our comparisons with others and embracing our own life circumstances, personalities, bodies, gifts, and challenges.
Being true to ourselves, being individuals of integrity, the key to inner peace, to happiness.

However, very often, when we stand our ground, we stand alone.
llusions fall one after another like the skin of a fruit where the fruit is the bitter reality of who we are and who we are capable of becoming.
A Native American story goes like this:
One evening an old chief told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
“One is evil: It is anger, envy, jealousy, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
“The other is good: It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, faith and integrity.”
The young grandson thought about this for a minute or two and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old chief replied simply: “The one you feed!”

In order to chose between the good and the bad, to accept ourselves completely we need courage.
Courage to accept that we may not always win, and to keep on battling relentlessly.
Courage to confront the dark parts of ourselves, and to work to banish them.
Courage to use pain as fuel to wrestle our demons and comfort our angels.
Courage to accept our own powers as a reminder of our unique strength.
Courage to learn how to let fear take over, to let it do its thing but only for a short while.

How to find courage?
Let the spiritual gloss in you glow through self knowledge and meditation.
Be as supple as a chunk of clay, maybe it’s time to change.
Stop toying around and get off your emotional rollercoaster.
Let go of your narcoleptic tendencies and nourish instead your creative side.
Listen carefully to the psalm of your heart and breathe tomorrow into your lungs.
Courage will come to you like a bird that comes to the hand that does not grasp. Watch it blossom in you and open the eyes of your mind.
Now it’s you and courage against the world, next time when you’re home alone standing on your bed, hold your head high, you will fly.

SN

Silenci

When it happened, a shopping bag got stuck in midswing carried by a frozen shopper and birds in the sky just stayed where they were.
When it happened, the lifeguard was off duty and some souls got lost at sea.
When it happened, the sky painter was caught framing the last piece of a sky that always hated the frame.
When it happened, the striking sunlight noticed the unnoticed.
When it happened, she was combing away all the love you no longer wanted, braiding her sorrow spiraled by a stairway of memories.
When it happened the world in a roar stood still in front of the mirror and remembered that he couldn’t see himself and that his role was limited to be the one who looks in the mirror.
It happened: Silence|ˈsīləns|, the complete absence of sound.

It wasn’t the silence where the flora and fauna grow.
It wasn’t the silence where the sun, moon and stars move.
It wasn’t the silence where the squirrel’s heart beats.
It wasn’t the silence on which music lays.
It wasn’t the silence where great souls suffer.

What exactly was that silence?
It felt so shrill to my ears, so perfect, so accurate. It wasn’t a religious silence, or the gap between words, nor the crack between the music notes but something that sounded more like when you find yourself close to reality.
It was the silence mother of truth wore.

It murmured:
You can keep on wishing for big things. Things that are ambitious, out of reach so you won’t have to worry to accomplish them one day.
You can keep on loving the pain because it makes you feel real and so good when it stops.
You can keep on holding guns so softly like you were holding a white dove.
You can keep that vest with an "S" on your chest and pretend you can fly from the highest swing.
But you can’t pretend that I am not here, in the background minding your every step, following your every move, watching you.
You should learn to get in touch with me, the silence within yourself.

I answered:
I can't, and I can't decide, my wrong from right, my day from night, my dark from light, so how get in touch with muteness.

It whispered:
Always remember that without listening speaking no longer heals, that without distance closeness cannot cure, that without silence words lose their meaning. Don’t you turn your back on silence.
Silence is so accurate.
Silence is sometimes the severest criticism.
Silence is the most perfect expression of scorn.
Silence is the sleep that nourishes wisdom.
Silence is the ultimate weapon of power.
Silence, the essence of life, of contemplation and meditation.
Slowly, gently, night will unfurl its splendor.
Grasp it, sense it
Slowly, gently, night will unfurl its splendor.
Grasp it, sense it.
Turn your face away from the garish light of day, turn your thoughts away from cold, unfeeling light:
Listen to the music of the night in you.

SN