Book Excerpts

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I have been a businesswoman for most of my adult life, taking some time off to write this book. When I returned to work and colleagues asked where I had been, I would tell them I had written a book. Inevitably they would respond first with surprise, then with interest. “What is it about?” or “What is the title?” they would ask. “Integrity,” I would reply. “Oh, we certainly need more integrity now” is the most common response.

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Most of us feel we could be living with more integrity, generosity, kindness, and, consequently, more joy. We want to be happy and live honorably. We want others to be happy and live honorably. We just go about it haphazardly. The Dalai Lama says, “Our part is to bring a cheerful mind and heart to a suffering world.” But how do we actually accomplish this? Most of us don’t walk out our front doors (or in them!) with an intention to be unkind or dishonest. Life slaps us. We react. It is not always a cheery enterprise.

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Many books have been written about happiness lately. Good books. Not so many on integrity. Perhaps this is because the whole notion sounds . . . dull. Also prone to failure. We stumble here, frequently. And yet integrity is a crucial and often overlooked ingredient in the happiness mix. Like yeast in bread making, living with integrity lifts our spirits. When we do or say the right thing, we know it. We feel better about ourselves.

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So, why is integrity important? Because when you begin doing the right thing even when no one is watching, even when no one will know unless you tell them, you will know. You will have arrived, and you will write me and thank me for turning you on to the 2,600-year-old secret called the “bliss of blamelessness.”