From the Author
My interest and struggles in personal growth, begun at age 7, whilst playing truant from school. I entered a public library on my way to school and discovered Enid Blyton’s wonderful children’s fictional books.
The lifestyle and adventures of the children in her books fascinated me and I read almost all her books by the time I was 14.
Blessed with this love for reading, I set out to devour any other books I could get my hands on.
By the time I was 19 I had discovered self-help and personal development books. I devoured these in search of clues to personal happiness, success and excellence.
The more I read the more I saw the importance of Integrity in attaining real happiness and success.
I know where I have come from and where I am going. I also know I am not much different from you. All I have done you too can do and probably more. Integrity is your key to real happiness and success. You may have success without integrity but you will not have happiness.
So I hope and pray that you read this book and apply the knowledge within it to your life. You will see the difference immediately in the way you feel about yourself and later in how people feel about you. With time all aspects of your life will also benefit.
From the Inside Flap
Establishing Principles
We all have different views on what is important in our lives. Some people do not think it is essential to be totally honest in business but dishonesty in personal relationships is unforgivable to them. What I aim to achieve in this book is a set of principles that are universal and cohesive. These principles support and complement each other. To do anything else would introduce division and the whole undertaking would fail and crumple under close scrutiny.
Within each of us lies a seed of truth, this seed seeks and recognises only its own kind. We call this, conscience, the voice that tells us when something is right or wrong. Sometimes we ignore this inner voice for so long that we don’t hear it anymore unless it screams.
Luckily we can start listening to this voice again and increase its volume and feed its source by operating and leading our lives with integrity. When we lead our lives with integrity our conscience grows stronger and we can discern the finer signals that may have been lost previously from the small voice of truth within.
The foundations
Love
So what are these universal principles, you may ask. I believe they are all founded on Love. Almost all religions today advocate loving yourself and your neighbours. If you truly love someone you will operate naturally with integrity with him or her. To learn to love all our acquaintances will make living with integrity easier. I believe, out of love flows all virtues.
Honesty
Honesty, being sincere, open and truthful is another corner stone of integrity. Honesty is a fundamental that we cannot ignore if we want a life of happiness. I remember an old friend telling me once the best way to not get caught in a lie is to tell the truth. Like its opposite dishonesty, honesty grows easier to apply when frequently used. You never need to remember what you said if you tell the truth, when questioned on it years later you only need recall the truth instead of trying to recall the web of lies upon lies you have weaved so that you don’t expose your self as a liar
Honest people don’t live a lie, so they have no need to constantly prove their honesty. Liars on the other hand have to prove their honesty constantly and waste vital resources in planning and remembering what to say and what they have said previously. Today most role models and worldwide leaders’ lives do not represent a life of honesty. Politicians weave words to please voters rather than tell the truth and risk loosing elections. They are eventually found out as liars and instead of telling the truth they attempt to place blame and forfeit responsibility for their actions.
