Magic Keys to Living

My Challenge Today:

Magic keys to living …

By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC

Have the courage to say no.

Have the courage to face the truth.

Do the right thing because it is right.

These are the magic keys to

living your life with integrity.

~ W. Clement Stone

The magic keys to living the life you dream of is building it on a foundation of integrity and courage. We all need courage to face ourselves, tell ourself the truth about our feelings, tell our story and own it with dignity. When we are courageous enough to own our story and comfortable enough to share it appropriately when you feel compelled, you are liberating your inner demons and freeing your spirt from the fear that binds it.

Living a life of courage is believing in yourself enough to face your fears head on and go anyway. When we are courageous we are taking those magic keys to living and facing our fears honestly, choosing to take a risk in spite of our fear. And being able to tell ourselves the truth about something in our life that we are afraid of is very courageous. Perhaps we took a job that we ultimately hate and need to change but, it’s good money and we signed a contract ~ now we need to renegotiate. Or, maybe we entered into a loving relationship and said yes to married bliss only to realize that this is not the ‘one’, so we need to own it and call off the wedding. There will undoubetly be times in our life when we need to fess up to a mistake and make a change ~ that might take more or less courage depending on the situation.

I remember a time when I was younger and worked in an office, ugh. My mom had lovingly convinced me to ‘get a real job’ and that meant having security. She was looking out for my best interest. She believed that an office job with a big company would be best for my future, I would have a steady paycheck, insurance and other benefits ~ it would be safe and secure. Well, for those of you who know me ~ not a good idea ~ I am not the type. I did however, give it a shot for few years and even with a few different companies. Office work, corporate culture was really not my gig. I am much more of a free spirit ~ an eagle, one of my clients says to me ~ “You like to fly solo above the trees”. I had never thought of it that way, but he’s got a point. I do like to fly solo most of the time, I enjoy the freedom of my independence and the flexibility that comes with being in charge of my destiny. This is a long way of saying, I had to finally get out of the corporate world and spread my wings so I could fly ~ it was scary and sometimes still is.

Finding the courage to live life according to my own moral compass and integrity was a gutsy move for a young woman that was just getting started in the world. It was exciting and invigorating to learn that I could do it. I could trust my instincts, my integrity and my talent to create my own security. It was liberating to learn that I was able to create a business with great clients that fully trusted and respected me, my work and my commitment to giving them my best. The magic keys to living my life have included building a sustainable business by honoring my personal values.