Path to Joy

Tonight, I was celebrating a friend’s birthday party at an Asian Restaurant.  At the end of the meal, we each received WHAT?  Yes, you guessed it. A fortune cookie. And mine read: 

When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier.

I had just shared with my friends earlier in the evening that I was doing a series on Discovering Your Divine Purpose and my next blog was going to be around values. Don’t you just love it when the universe lines up in such a way that you can see it so clearly!!! 

Last week you were challenged to consider the possibility that you chose your life.  This week we want to consider how clarity around what’s really important to us—our values–can make all the difference in how we show up in the world.

Values are not static and often change as we grow and mature.  As we can see from the picture above, my values have definitely shifted over the past several years.  They shifted from perfection to presence, from being right to being connected, from focusing on the facts to coming from the heart, and from being a good speaker to being a good listener.  All of these paradigm/ perception shifts not only make a difference in how I show up in the world, they also create a different world for me to show up in. 

So, let’s explore what your values are. One time honored way of helping us discover our deepest held values is to get quiet, go inside and reflect on the people who have made the greatest difference in our lives.  So, take a couple of deep breaths, close your eyes, relax. Once you are relaxed, take out a piece of paper and make a list of those people whom you most admire.  It could be only two or three, but see if you can’t come up with, at least, six or seven.  After you have their names, create a second column on your paper and beside each of their names, write down the qualities you most admire in each person.   Now, read through your lists.  You will probably discover some overlap in the qualities you identified. Circle those qualities.  Just know that you already either possess those qualities or aspire to those qualities. 

The following examples are sentences I might choose to embrace in my quest to live out of my new values with more consistency.

I AM FULLY PRESENT IN EACH SITUATION I FIND MYSELF.

I VALUE CONNECTEDNESS IN MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHERS AND WITH THE SPIRIT WITHIN ME.

I COME FROM THE HEART IN MY INTERACTIONS WITH OTHERS. 

I AM A GOOD LISTENER. 

 So, now it’s your turn.  Take each word you circled in the exercise above and write statements that express how you want to show up in the world. After you have written your statements, take some time, get quiet and slowly—ever so slowly—say them over and over to yourself until you feel them coming alive in you.  Release.  And let it be so!!!