This principle requires you to be as honest with yourself as you are with other people, honesty requires openness and the ability for you to know and respect yourself, the things we find most attractive in others are the values and strengths we see in ourselves. Honesty also requires self-confidence and self esteem, with these we are able to make judgments and take action based on our own belief system and not through peer pressure, intimidation, or guilt.
The best definition I know of character is ‘doing what’s right when no-one is watching’. Set yourself goals and assess your progress but accept that mistakes are part of your personal development and that they don’t indicate a bad person. Pay attention to what lifts you to greater achievement and what brings you down. Accept yourself, faults and all; while you are busy disowning parts of you that don’t measure up to some unrealistic standard that only exists in your head remember you are a good person, who sometimes makes mistakes. Denial of any kind requires a great deal of sustained energy and the first step of any change is to accept the situation for what it is.
Take personal responsibility for your life, everything in it, and the attainment of your own goals and ambitions, there is nothing more debilitating than waiting for others including spirit/universe to act on your behalf and there is nothing more empowering than realising that no one is going to do it for you.
Assertiveness is having respect for your own needs when dealing with others. Be prepared to stand up for what you believe to be right and never sacrifice your principles for the sake of someone liking you, they may like you for a while but you will dislike yourself for a much longer period of time. Practice personal integrity, be truthful with yourself and with others, never make promises lightly and when you make them ensure you keep them. Honour your commitments and through your actions put your word beyond price, don’t boast or brag and let your actions speak for you in a simple unassuming way. Do what is required and then let go and try not to be attached to the results of your actions.
Honesty requires us to accept full responsibility for our own actions; if we allow others to dictate how we feel and act we are giving away our power to them, our actions are then determined by their values and beliefs no matter how negative or corrupt they may be. If we respond to them in kind instead of how our own values dictate we have given up the right to be offended by them for we have become worse than they are because we know better but are no longer true to ourselves.
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