I’ve decided I’m going to focus on Integrity in 2017. Integrity is a core value, one of the essences of a meaningful, productive life.

Integrity is both all about me and all about the world we share. I strive to be fully integrated, whole with myself, and with the world.

It starts with me.

This awareness, this intention is not about what is popular, what the “majority” thinks. It goes deeper than that, more personal.

I listen to others, I value their opinions, their thoughts, their values. Yet, inside of me, what I am really about and where I am really going in life, is where I need to focus. My own voice, expressing my own values, my own purpose, is what I should value.

“Man often becomes what he believes himself to be. If I keep on saying to myself that I cannot do a certain thing, it is possible that I may end by really becoming incapable of doing it. On the contrary, if I have the belief that I can do it, I shall surely acquire the capacity to do it even if I may not have it at the beginning.” —Mahatma Gandhi

—Neal Lemery, 1/1/2017