What are your values and are you being true to them?
Family, Friends, Romantic Relationships, Sex, Work, Health, Spirituality
This was actually rather difficult. I don't often think of what is important for me spiritually, or what I really want from my physical body, or the types of qualities I value in myself as a working professional. I will say that, through these last three: Work, Health, Spirituality, I do need, or crave, a sense of Ritual. For work, I come in, sit down and have a daily schedule to go through. To stay healthy, I always drink a smoothie in the morning and take a hike on the weekends. And to stay connected to the Source, I always do a little prayer while I'm driving and often before I go to bed. My rituals are very important to me, and are what really help me stay on track. Writing should be a ritual. Music should be a ritual. I like the idea of having a time for things every day.
Work
Professionalism
Efficiency
Resourcefulness
Having worked in a couple rather unprofessional places, this makes the top of the list. For me, whenever money gets involved, I switch gears entirely - business is business and personal issues just have no place in it. Yes, "Work" involves making money for your survival, which is a very personal thing, but more importantly, "Work" is collaboration with other people for a certain goal or purpose. To help you focus on achieving this purpose, there is a need for a professional buffer, of sorts, to help you continue spending years and years with the same people, working on projects, without getting too socially involved to the point of distraction. Social interaction is inevitable, but there is a professional line that should not be crossed. En guarde, everyone.
Efficiency is probably my mind's constant curiosity. How to make things more simple, streamlined, and most productive. That saying, "Work smarter, not harder," was made just for me, and for all the other lazy people out there. (Sorry, you hard workers.) I'm obsessed with systems, how they work, how you can shortcut. Preparatory organization can do wonders for work life. If A then B, if C then D - you make a little road map to guide you. Obviously, adaptability is also important, so fuck organization, just work with one goal in mind: How can I make this more simple?
What is it people say? If you can't explain it to a 5 year-old, you don't know how it works? Same concept. Boil everything down to the essentials and make it work. Leave the details for later and shift them around like ornaments on a Christmas tree.
Again, having worked in said "rather unprofessional places", you develop a sense of "get it done somehow." Resourcefulness comes in pretty handy during those times. Look it up. Google it. See what other people say. Call people. With the internet, there's very little you can't find out. I've researched people in the industry (for WORK, I swear) and come up with the last 5 jobs they've worked, their email, their phone number and a picture for reference. And these are people who actually try to hide their information for fear people will send them recorded demos. (That's not how you get their attention, people.)
To quote a wise man, "Don't be a noob. Just do it."
After a while, you realize the rest of the business world is as ghetto as you are. You're not so bottom-of-the-totem-pole after all.
Health
Naturalness
Ease/enjoyment
Consistency
I do have an outspoken preference that things in my life be "natural". I tend to try to stay away from processed foods and chemicals, but in this day and age, it is damn near impossible. So I do my best, and look to one day have my own garden so that I can assert a modicum of control over what goes into my body. I like to carry this philosophy into human interaction, and intuitive decision-making also: I want life to flow as naturally as possible, the way it should be.
A stress-free life is a healthy life. Exercise and health should be easy and enjoyable - killing yourself to work out and eat right is incredibly counterintuitive. Make staying fit easy: take a dance class, or walk your dog, or play an interesting sport. Make eating healthy easy: drink smoothies and mix some flaxseeds in for extra healthiness, snack on fruit, switch out for healthier options once in a while. Being healthy should be easy. And that doesn't mean take pills or do liposuction or any of that. Just be conscious of your body and what it tells you.
This is absolutely the death of me. Not really. Sort of. It's definitely a struggle of mine, and I've been doing well with going hiking every weekend, and playing at least once with my dog every day, but it is difficult for me. I know this is the best way to keep balance, not only in health, but also in the other areas of my life. Consistent exercise keeps your strong, consistent tidying makes a clean room, consistent reading sharpens your mind. This is what I touched on earlier about rituals. Make it a ritual, or a habit to exercise and eat healthy and walk your dog. Take out the time that will add up in the future.
Spirituality
Connection
Visual Representation
Constant Growth
Connection the Source. This can be achieved through quiet reflection, such as meditation, writing, walking or drawing, but I think my personal favorite is a trance state of frenetic energy- dancing. I swear I can dance to almost everything. The point is, though, to be connected to everything and everyone. Tap into the Source Energy. I'd honestly like to learn some Tai-Chi. It brings about a sense of karmic grace (wabi-sabi), of "okay"ness to the world, knowing, feeling and understanding the way life flows. You feel it while you dance - it's like a martial art, seeing this a split second before they happen and reacting with your gut. Quiet meditation helps you to accept those gut feelings, but there's nothing like a little pressure to help you.
Visual representation is kind of a weird one. Personally, I'd like to have art, or plants, or incense that fill the space with a good energy. It's a semi-superstitious, sensory presence of the Spirit. Creating a good environment for yourself is crucial, I think. As a child, you may have little control over this, but as you grow and shape your destiny, I find it to help focus you if you surround yourself with what you want to exert onto the world. You absorb and release.
I hope to fill a good portion of my growth with traveling, but you can bet I ain't waiting around for it. Reading, talking, researching, exploring, immersing yourself with different perspectives of Spirit and its people help you to develop your true vision of what you believe, or choose not to believe. Humans are 10% fact and 90% belief, I swear, because the 10% is made up of what you see/hear/taste/smell/feel now, and the 90% is your memory: what you "believe" to be true. Should really be 5/95, I was being generous.
That's why continual experience is good for you spiritually, and, honestly, for your personality and overall life happiness. The death of spiritual growth is stagnation. There is no cap on how far you can keep going, so why not just continue to discover what's out there? Who knows? I might think everything I believe in is bullshit tomorrow, but I wouldn't have gotten there if I hadn't been where I am today.
I'm glad I took this time to delve into what is important to me. Look, Ma! Constant growth!
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