Honest Action Through Integrity by Rhiannon Ballard

Rhiannon Ballard - Chicago IL

I don’t know how much an individual’s inherent integrity is due to nature or nurture.  The only thing I can go on – and anyone else for that matter – is my own experiences in learning it.  No one starts out idyllically integrious.  Perhaps even attaining that in one lifetime is, in fact, unattainable.  But the determination to persistently look inward to better ourselves so that we may better the world around us is close enough to perfect for me.

Developing one’s character is a long road, most of the time that road isn’t even paved.  It seems the knowledge is brought to us in our challenges and the wisdom lies in what we take from our victories and defeats.  Self-victimization amidst life’s conflicts does not serve the purpose of an integrious life.  I know how easy it is to want to shift blame for your current problems to some other source, but this passive approach robs from your experiences the opportunity to examine an aspect of your character that requires not only attention, but action. Action is vital to integrity.  Without action, integrity doesn’t exist.  Not because you need to demonstrate it to others in order to validate yourself, but because your character is born of your interactions with the environment you occupy.  That is not to say someone can’t be a good person at heart who doesn’t act upon their convictions, but by letting their goodness waste idly when that gift could be utilized is a disservice to their own character.  I don’t think it’s too far-fetched to say action is the voice of integrity.

Which brings me to honesty.  But not just any conventional honesty, or even self-honesty, but being a vehicle for honesty in aligning our thoughts, actions, and words.  A quote I once heard (the source escapes me) sums it up best, “What a man says, what a man does, and what a man says he does are often times entirely different things.”  We’ve all been guilty of this at times, it’s just human.  But through all we experience that comprises the individually-universal experience that is life, one of our goals should be to maintain a balance and harmony of these three things.  Not always easy.

The difficulty comes from our own egos.  We’re never as properly prepared or equipped to face life as we should be.  From this we have two choices. First we can seek out sympathy from playing victim, lying to ourselves and others in a comfort bubble made out of ego, so we remain numb to the fear that accompanies inner-change.  There you remain static.  Or, we can be accountable for the consequences and troubles we have an active hand in causing.  Accountability hurts, or else deflecting the truth wouldn’t be so easy.  But from integrity springs courage, which tells us we have to do right – not only by others – but by ourselves, even if it’s the most difficult path.

~Rhiannon came to Chicago three years ago from her sleepy hometown in beautiful southwest Virginia.  She is the Creative Director for ProductionPro in Park Ridge, IL specializing in custom on-demand media & print.  Before relocating she spent almost seven years on the air in broadcast radio.  Other side projects have included property flipping, coordinating logistics for a former NFL coach’s summer camps, and promoting several indie artists.  She’s moved exactly 41 times in 25 years and isn’t done.  Coffee shop baristas know her by name and she’s a proven road warrior.  In her spare time she’s a writer, photographer, book-junkie, mountain hiker, Western style horseback rider, amateur philosopher and a horrible snowboarder.  Follow her on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/_rhi