Just the beginning . . .
Saying no is just the beginning. Once we make our minds not to do something, the opportunities to do what we have stood against will come again and again and with different rationales as to why we should change our minds, but it is all the same--either we have integrity or we don't. This is not to say that we will not slip and fall. Everyone slips and falls in some fashion whether it is just in our mind. As President Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart he was guilty of cheating on Roselyn to a lesser degree, but at least that was excusable because we can't always control what comes into our minds. BUT! We can control how long it stays there.
In my mind I have ravished too many and I am guilty because I made no attempt to put it out. I enjoyed it. Still, my integrity remains in tact until I take physical action, even though I know within myself that my integrity has been breached just a little. However, that internal breach harms no one and can even lead to stronger attraction to the ones we love, or, it can lead us to fall into the tender traps that lie in wait for all of us whenever we have that moment of weakness that inevitably calls on each of us. That is when we separate the men from the boys and the girls from the women. We can all stand tall when the temptation is small or undesireable, but when desireability combines with secrecy, suddenly our integrity may be in jeopardy.
To cut straight to the heart of the matter--it is about the promise. It is that simple. When we commit to one person we are in effect promising that he or she is the only person in our lives PERIOD! Not some time. Not every now and then, but always! Now we know that people stray and that is only human and sometimes it happens, but when we go into a relationship al ready prepared to step out of it when an opportunity presents itself then we have lied twice. We have lied to the person who accepted us at out word and we have lied to all the eyes that believed us.
Basically, integrity is having the willpower to always do the right thing. Not the things we want to do, but the right thing. The things we are supposed to do. I have lusted for Halle Barry since she hit the screen, but I am afraid that I would have to leave her alone because I would not want to inpune her or my integrity. I might waste a few minutes lsuting in my heart, but in the final analysis, I just have to walk away with strength.
It is easy to go from one to another as the grass is always greener and there is plenty of grass that needs to be mowed, but a real man or woman understands that their word is bond and when it comes down to it, our reputations are all we have that says anything about us. And for those who don't believe it, truly what goes in the dark willl come to light!
Ra
Saying no is just the beginning. Once we make our minds not to do something, the opportunities to do what we have stood against will come again and again and with different rationales as to why we should change our minds, but it is all the same--either we have integrity or we don't. This is not to say that we will not slip and fall. Everyone slips and falls in some fashion whether it is just in our mind. As President Jimmy Carter lusted in his heart he was guilty of cheating on Roselyn to a lesser degree, but at least that was excusable because we can't always control what comes into our minds. BUT! We can control how long it stays there.
In my mind I have ravished too many and I am guilty because I made no attempt to put it out. I enjoyed it. Still, my integrity remains in tact until I take physical action, even though I know within myself that my integrity has been breached just a little. However, that internal breach harms no one and can even lead to stronger attraction to the ones we love, or, it can lead us to fall into the tender traps that lie in wait for all of us whenever we have that moment of weakness that inevitably calls on each of us. That is when we separate the men from the boys and the girls from the women. We can all stand tall when the temptation is small or undesireable, but when desireability combines with secrecy, suddenly our integrity may be in jeopardy.
To cut straight to the heart of the matter--it is about the promise. It is that simple. When we commit to one person we are in effect promising that he or she is the only person in our lives PERIOD! Not some time. Not every now and then, but always! Now we know that people stray and that is only human and sometimes it happens, but when we go into a relationship al ready prepared to step out of it when an opportunity presents itself then we have lied twice. We have lied to the person who accepted us at out word and we have lied to all the eyes that believed us.
Basically, integrity is having the willpower to always do the right thing. Not the things we want to do, but the right thing. The things we are supposed to do. I have lusted for Halle Barry since she hit the screen, but I am afraid that I would have to leave her alone because I would not want to inpune her or my integrity. I might waste a few minutes lsuting in my heart, but in the final analysis, I just have to walk away with strength.
It is easy to go from one to another as the grass is always greener and there is plenty of grass that needs to be mowed, but a real man or woman understands that their word is bond and when it comes down to it, our reputations are all we have that says anything about us. And for those who don't believe it, truly what goes in the dark willl come to light!
Ra