Finding Integrity

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Hello

It has been a hectic few weeks, and I have to admit that although I am committed to blogging twice a month…this past week I slipped. 

All for good reason of course (isn’t it always in parenthood?). We bought a home, reconstructed and designed it, packed up our lives, and finally moved into our dream home last week.  Oh, and my parents arrived last week, and so did our awesome friends from California!

And all I can say is that I am spinning, and cannot find my grounding – at all.

Somewhere in the midst of this whirlwind, we also had a Foo Fighters concert planned from way back.  It was their “Break A Leg” Tour.

Here’s a little background on that story that you may be inspired by.

It was named after the lead singer Dave Grohl’s broken leg. While he was rocking out in Sweden, he fell and broke his ankle. After his doctor snapped the bone back in its place, he was advised to rush to the hospital to cast it and run tests.

He refused, because he had given his word to all his Swedish fans to perform that night. And he was NOT breaking his word. He asked his doctor to just hold his bone in place for the next two hours as he finished (what is said to be) one of the most awesome concerts.

Anyone ever break a bone? Anyone ever have it snapped back? If not, you can’t even imagine the intense pain that throbs through your entire body! I thought of the time when a car hit me, and my ankle was fractured. I couldn’t even think straight, and was delerious from the pain! Seriously? How did he pull off one of the best concerts?

Oh, he was also advised to cancel the tour and again, he refused.  Instead, he built himself a “throne” to sit on while he performs, and is continuing his tour.

Hands down, this was the best concert I have ever been to.

Why?

This man is all heart, and he plays from the heart.  And he pours it all out onto his fans. My appreciation for this group and their music escalated to a whole new level – thanks to Dave Grohl’s level of integrity.

His word is powerful.

He follows through on his promises.

And from there anything is possible.

In fact, that night, he announced that the Foo Fighters were nominated for several Emmy awards!!

And so in the back of my mind, I began wondering about my level of integrity lately in my life. I haven’t kept my word in a few areas, including posting on my blog every other week. I figured I surrender and allow myself some slack…

I also didn’t keep my word on “special time” with my little ones; my meditations, my running, and a few other agreements. With moving houses, parents visiting, friends visiting, giving interviews, and all else in life, I’ve been slipping.

Welcome to parenting, and creating the life you love.

But I can’t truly create the family and life I love, when I am out of integrity.

If I’m out of integrity, I simply do not feel as empowered. Keeping my word, being honest with myself and others; and living with my moral code is a very powerful space to be in.

Integrity is defined as: the honesty and truthfullness, or accuracy of one’s actions.

It is the root of leadership, and all good things in our world. Starting with ourselves, and our family.

Ok, it is obvious I am not accurate of fully aligned the the actions I have agreed to take – granted a lot has flooded in, and most people would give me a pass during a time like this.

We’ve all bee there, right?

But I say, that in order to remain within integrity, I need to make it right first. From there, I am capable of creating something new.

During the concert, I kept “shooing” away the thought of feeling shitty about myself. And then I chose to just shift gears, and took an action.

My kids couldn’t sleep anyway, and so I asked our sitter, to face time us and have the kids on.

I acknowledged to them that I couldn’t be with them that night, and asked them to join Cyrus and I at the concert (virtually that is).

Here’s a little pic from us watching the show together!

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Oh, you have no idea how good that felt!  And somehow, it allowed for that “special time” I was longing for at that moment.

My little ones loved it, and went up to bed afterwards. I guess it somehow offered them some fulfillment too.

The next day they told us that they enjoyed watching the show with us, and to do it again next time! How cute is that?

Being inspired by Dave Grohl’s commitment to playing big in his life, I knew that I can also play a bigger game in mine as well. It didn’t have to come with more pressure of needing “to do” what is right – it came out of being inspired to go for whatever makes me happy.

I was feeling disempowered; guilty; let down, and overall unproductive – even though I just created the dream home Cyrus and I always wanted! Even though I was up till 1 am unpacking, organizing and trying to add the feeling of “home” in our new place.

I realize that no matter how many boxes I unpack, “home” comes from the bond we share together as a family. And that bond grows from our agreements; our word to each other; and from our love.

These 3 ingredients will strengthen and grow our bond, no matter what is going on around us.

And with that being said, I also want to acknowledge that I did not post my blog last week, as I said I would. That was out of integrity for me. From here on, you can expect my latest to be posted every other week.

Who would’ve known that a rock concert, and a guy’s broken leg story would snap me back into alignment, and into action? Go Dave Grohl!

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Thanks for listening, and being a part of this ride of ours, and I hope our story moves you somehow too!

With all my love,

Maria

P.S. Check out the Foo Fighters when they visit your town. They can move a crowd of 50,000 people like no one else can! Enjoy…

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