Walk Your Talk
By Jackie Lapin

Working within the spiritual community or among people who strive for self-improvement has some wonderful benefits. Most people really do try to live the values of kindness, generosity of spirit, compassion, honesty, integrity, awareness and self-management. This makes working and being with others on the conscious path a pleasant—and frequently even wonderful--experience.

However, occasionally I am jarred out of my reverie by encountering people who do not “Walk the Talk.” They profess to be spiritual, and yet they are critical of others; jealous of people more successful then they; hurtful, callous, thoughtful and unkind in speech; short-tempered; selfish or self-centered in their desire to succeed; focused more other’s actions than on their own; obsessed with the ‘lack’ in their lives; and conveniently forget that we are all from the same source. Instead of recognizing the oneness, they live in a duality of me-versus-you mentality.

And yes, occasionally, I am guilty of this, too! But I certainly try to be aware when I am out of sync and do a self-correct immediately.

All of us need to check our egos at the door and look under the hood to make sure that whatever we espouse, we actually embody. This is particularly important when we are mentors, parents or interacting with the public. We are on public view and if we as teachers or community paragons fail to act with consciousness, what are we saying? That it is OK for us to operate with impunity and not others? That is the height of hypocrisy.

One doesn’t have to be a spiritual teacher or practitioner to know that inconsistent values and actions are a failure of integrity and truth. We don’t have to lie to be untruthful. Just failing to publicly live up to the standards that we profess for ourselves to the outside world is a breach of faith with mankind and the Universe.

So how do insure that we “Walk Our Talk?”

• List your values on paper. Then ask yourself if you have breached any of those values in the last 60 days?
• If you have, what corrective action have you taken or will you take?
• What might you have done recently that reaffirmed a duality me-versus-you mentality?
• Have you been critical, judgmental or gossiped toward others?
• Have you focused on lack instead of abundance?
• Have you allowed yourself to be a victim instead of being a self-responsible conscious creator?
• Have you been short-tempered, unkind or uncompassionate?
• Have you brought a smile to the face of someone who could use it?
• Have you contributed to the world in a way that demonstrates that you are indeed a gift to humankind, animalkind and the planet?

Most importantly, we need to support other people on the conscious path, rather than criticize, tear down or sabotage. Our role on this planet is to grow consciousness and support those people who are here to make a difference.

Sometimes we just need a reminder that we must “Walk Our Talk,” and continue to strive for living an enlightened life. A simple course-correction can get us back on the right path. And sadly, there are among us some who simply wear a cloak of spiritually over their true selves and have yet to embody the values that they represent.

Let us hope that more of us seek to be true to our values and that we grow in number.