A study of over 9000 British civil servants published in yesterday’s Archives of Internal Medicine confirms the connection between being miserably married and increased risks of heart problems. The study revealed that those in the most unhappy marriages were 34% more likely to have heart attacks or other significant heart problems than those in happy marriages.
Think about this study’s findings in terms of being in or out of integrity with our three core drives (authenticity/personal wellbeing, nourishing and effective connection with others, and having a positive impact in the world). The results illustrate how the more we are out of integrity with our core drive for positive connection with others, the more our integrity with ourselves also suffers, possibly to the point of being fatal.
Conversely, the more we are in integrity with our core drive for positive connection with others, the more we are able to benefit from the extremely positive health benefits that good relationships have previously been shown to provide.
My forthcoming book, The New IQ: How Integrity Intelligence Serves You, Your Relationships and Our World, shows how to move into integrity with all three of your core drives.