Читать книгу The Woman's Book of Hope - Eileen Campbell - Страница 14

One of the most important things for us to do when we want to change our lives for the better is to pay attention to the spiritual dimension of ourselves, just as much as we take care of the physical, mental, and emotional aspects. All four aspects of ourselves have to be part of the equation of the whole person that we are.

Having integrity is not about fitting in, pleasing others, telling lies, and modifying our behavior accordingly in order to achieve something. It's about living with the energies of the higher vibrations and being in touch with who we truly are. We are happier when we live our truth. The authentic self is naturally balanced and is the real source of self-esteem, courage, and imagination.

Living with integrity doesn't require us to have more time or more resources. We can begin exactly where we are. When we choose hope and commit to working to change the circumstances of our lives through altering our attitude and behavior, we begin to see the possibilities for things to be different and find the courage to pursue them.

Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer and was Iran's first female judge. With the Islamic Revolution of 1979, women were forbidden to judge men, so she was demoted and given a job with clerical duties instead. Rather than compromise her integrity, she resigned her post, and it was not until 1992 that she was able to set up her own practice. Unlike others, however, she did not leave Iran but chose to stand by her principles and oppose the regime. She worked as a consultant, offering legal advice, writing articles, and speaking out in public about the rights of the most vulnerable in Iranian society—women, children, dissidents, and minorities—and pushing for legal change. In 2003, she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts, but this put her under even greater pressure from the Iranian government (she had been closely monitored since the 1990s with phone tapping, death threats, and imprisonment).

Shirin paid a high price for her integrity. Her family, including her two daughters, were put under enormous strain because of her activities; her brother and sister suffered many interrogations; and after she was forced to leave Iran in 2009, her husband was framed, imprisoned, and beaten (they subsequently divorced after thirty-seven years of marriage). She tells her story in her powerful memoir, Until We are Free: My Fight for Human Rights in Iran. Her aim in writing it was to show what the people of Iran have had to endure under the police state of the last decade, particularly the many Iranian political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, especially journalists, lawyers, women's rights activists, and students who oppose the regime. Her integrity and courage are hugely to be admired and demonstrate what is possible for a human being to achieve in such circumstances.

I try always to live with integrity.

I am committed to changing the circumstances of my life through changing my attitude.

I am finding the courage to pursue new possibilities.