Lyrical Insight on Integrity

One of the concepts that gets chewed on from time to time in this blog is integrity, which in this context is defined as the alignment between what one is and what one does. I tend to think of it as a form of honesty about one's self. It comes up in my therapy work because I am questioning whether my past actions were more about keeping others happy than being true to myself.

The songwriters of country music seem to have a profound gift for twisting metaphors and cliches into something new and profound. I heard the song "In State" by Kathleen Edwards while driving to work today, and one of the lines made me think really hard.

You wouldn't even be yourself if you weren't telling a lie

This assertion challenges my thinking on integrity because Edwards claims the person about whom she is singing has dishonesty so ingrained into his nature that he could not possibly be true to whom he is and tell the truth at the same time. Integrity is fundamentally unachievable because honesty is a betrayal of himself.

This inspires a couple of affirmations for me to use:

• Needless anxiety keeps me from being true to myself.


• I believe I can be honest if I don't let the wounded part of me run the show.