Values

“Happiness is when what you think, what you say, and what you do are in harmony.”
Mahatma Gandhi

What is important to you?

What is important to us is what we value. When we live in accordance with our values, we are likely to be satisfied with our lives. When we ignore or betray our important values, we feel dissatisfied; we suffer more.

Values give us a sense of direction. Goals are what we want to achieve along the way as we move in the direction of our values.

Parents communicate their values to their children, but parents may teach the child to live in the parent’s world. The child must find a way to carry forth the good from the parent’s values to integrate it into the world they are growing into. We each have the task of sorting which values of our parents we will hold to and which come from our unique heart. Some values are eternal and some become obsolete. Some that are commonly held are actually insane. Living by insane values will drive us mad. It behooves us to challenge the values of popular culture and sort out what is truly important.

To live according to our own values and to chose those that will really work for us, we need to observe our own heart. We must accurately observe our behavior and the consequences of it. When we act at variance with our values, we experience painful emotions. When we act in accord with our true values, we will experience joy, even if the joy is sometimes mixed with discomfort. In a sense, our lives depend upon our living in adherence to our primary values.

Practice:

Take time to think about what is important to you. Quiet your mind and think of the various realms of your existence. Think about what is important to you in the areas of:

Family
Friendship
Love
Work
Finances and wealth
Play
Spirituality
Morality and ethics
Health
Physical comfort
Surroundings
Personal habits

Write down what you think about your values in these areas. Do this more than once to help to refine and clarify what you believe to be true for you.

As you refine your true values, you gain the power of wisely choosing the direction of your life. If you know your direction, you can make better choices moment by moment. As you live true to your heartfelt values, you enter into a flow that will carry you forward in a life you can be proud of living.

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