Values I Want to Live By

I keep a private journal that’s normally just for me. It helps me work through my feelings, sort out my thoughts, brainstorm new ideas, just vent, and more.

But for some reason, today I felt like sharing a snippet of what I wrote. These are values I want to live by. What I believe. The kind of person I want to be. It’s totally okay if you have different values or disagree with any of this; my intention here is not to convince you of anything. I’m just sharing some of my thoughts and feelings in life right now, where I’m at, and how I want to grow going forward.

This is only a snippet. But I felt this part was worth sharing, both as a public reminder to myself, and maybe as inspiration to others:

Rather than setting external goals or specific company rules… I want to live by values.

And these values are:

1. Give, receive, share, and experience more love. Love others. Let others love me. Everybody expresses and experiences love differently. There’s “love languages” and some people say it and some people show it. All in their own way. That’s cool. But basically, be open to receiving love from others, and in my own way, as guided by my own heart and soul, love others with what I’ve got and how I can express and share it too. Er, um… more succinctly, simply: Love others and let myself be and feel loved by others.

2. Be growth-oriented in my business, career, and personal life. Never have a “made it” finish line or specific destination; rather, seek to grow, expand, evolve, become more, become better, go deeper, grow bigger, whatever and however is appropriate and soul-guided/inspired. Start where I’m at, with whatever I’ve got — and grow in the direction toward what my soul desires and feels meaningful and worthwhile to me.

3. Be authentic. Be myself. I’m a unique, original, one-of-a-kind masterpiece of God, after all. But seriously, I am. I’m an original, unique, never-before-existed and never-again-repeated existence, soul, and lifeform. There is only one of me ever in the entire universe, in all of time and space. Rather than try to copy or mold myself toward some other form or expression, look deep within and try to bring out, be, live, breathe, and share more of who and what I authentically am. I’m a good person. A loving person. I’m a Soul. I’m a Light. I am and am made of Love. But a unique expression and experience of it. So… be me, to help enrich and beautify the universe more. What unique talents, gifts, insights, experiences, perspectives, missions, purposes, expressions, and flavors do I have to add to the world? What fingerprint do I want to leave on the universe?

4. Value people over profit. This “profit at any cost” and “employees are expendable line items on a balance sheet” is toxic and anti-life. It’s abusive. I don’t stand for that. People always come first, because they are unique, original, one-of-a-kind lifeforms. Also, money is just a human invention; we literally print more of it whenever we want (or the government does, when it wants, at least). Money is a fixed, non-living thing. It just circulates and keeps getting reused. But it’s not alive. It’s not Love or Light and has No Soul. It’s just a tool, just a technology. The mental, emotional, and spiritual health and well-being of people is *more important* than “making more money”. You can’t take money with you to the afterlife anyway — but how you grew as a person, how you affected others, and the relationships and connections you built, that does stay with you into eternity. I understand and recognize that profit is necessary for business growth and to financially support and take care of people. But that’s exactly my point: money is for growth and support for people. I’m not sure how or why it happened, but somewhere along the way we got it reversed. We started using people for money. Instead, use money to benefit people. Starting with yourself, and then once your needs are met and you’re comfortable, use it to help, bless, enrich, and serve others.

5. Have work-life balance. Rest when you need to rest, play to stay young and to feel renewed, work for purpose and profit and to give your life additional meaning. But “live to work” is another toxic imbalance in this culture. Have balance. Sometimes I’ll be doing a lot of work, for an extended period of time. Other times I may be resting a lot, or playing a lot. Hopefully work will often be playful too. But I’m not so naive to think it always will be fun, easy, or playful — but it can always be meaningful and purposeful. But either way, have balance. You’re not just here to work or create. You’re also here to rest, play, connect with others, appreciate and enjoy nature and art, go on adventures, learn, explore, etc. Life is rich and full of possibilities, opportunities, and experiences. Include as much as you want, as much as you can. But in balance, with all things that are important in your life: your health, your sexuality, your social connections and relationships, your finances, your time, your youthfulness and playtime, rest and relaxation, admiration and appreciation of beauty in others and of the world itself, etc. Include it all. Keep room for it all. Flow through it all, in life.