One of the worst rationalizations I’ve ever used in the past is that “it’s okay to tell a lie because only I know I lied. Only I know I didn’t fulfill my promise.” That idea states loud and clear that my opinion about me and what I do is unimportant and only the opinion of others will count. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is where the inner court of mind becomes a factor. When it comes to matters of self-esteem, I have far more to fear from my inner court of mind…my own judgement than from anyone else’s. At the center of my consciousness is the judge from whom there is no escape. I can avoid people who have learned some humiliating truth about me, but I cannot avoid myself. Most of the choices we make when it comes to integrity are not great ones, yet the accumulated weight of these choices has a tremendous impact on the sense of self and can literally bring you down. The little things add up and we become the daily choices we make. Little things like; employees who take office supplies…parents who won’t admit when they’re wrong to their children…managers who pad their expense accounts. If you make these and other similar choices, you are slowly, but surely heading down the road of hypocrity and eventual self-loathing. Self-esteem is the main casualty and loving yourself becomes an impossibility. ~ Mack Newton
