In today’s exercise in A Year of Living Consciously, Gay Hendricks suggests a few rules for living with integrity. Let’s adjust them a bit for our creative journey:

  1. Don’t deny how you feel – especially when you are discouraged or disappointed – but don’t wallow in it. Acknowledge it, take a moment, and move on!
  2. Tell the whole truth, especially in your writing. Don’t hold back because you want your hero to be likable or because you are afraid of offending someone.
  3. Choose your commitments carefully and keep them. Break your commitments to yourself only as a last resort and acknowledge the tradeoff.
  4. Take responsibility for your time, your work ethic, your output, and any community you join.