Glimpse 16 - What you value, is you...

Everyday I wake up looking forward to starting my day. I'm one of those seriously "happy" people in the morning... as long as I have my dog and coffee ritual, aka my time with God. Take that two step dance out of my autonomous morning movement and the rest of the waking hours just aren't as fulfilling or 'right' in the world for me. In the coffee piece it isn't the caffeine in the coffee that draws me forward, it's the ritual of making it, the precision, the sounds, the smells, the taste, the quiet that is over the world as I sip. The dog routine - her warmth, her generosity of spirit and her ability to dance and smile back at me as we put her harness on her each morning to "go outside." She sleepily puts up with me, raising a paw here, ducking her head there, leaning against my legs as she prepared to stumble in to her day too. We come back from her morning constitutional and she gets her treat and I drink mine. We spend time in the kitchen talking to one another about what the day might bring, no matter what I tell her, she's always tail waggin enthusiastic. Within all of it, my morning gratitude for waking one more day to do what I do is a conversation with my God and all around me, is my delight.

And so it comes to me today - that when I look through my list of "values" also known as your personal operating system, those two rituals hold me fast to my life and a continuation of the world as I like to see it. Values are tricky. They are belief's we hold true to create our lives around. We show up every day with this invisible operating system, and many of us don't even know which ones are the top or bottom of lists, let alone what's coming at you in the form of a partner or co-worker or relative.

Here is a list of "values" words. Pick out three or four sets that ring "right" for how you like to show up each day.

Say, I value being a/an person who enjoys __fill in the blank__.

Adventuring/Risk taking/The Unknown
Contributing/Improving/Saving
Beauty/Grace/Refinement
Creativity/Design/Invent
Catalyst/Impact/Change
Discovery/Learning/Investigating
Feelings/Empathy/Emotions
Pleasure/Gratification/Delight-Joy-Bliss
Spiritual/God/Faith/Conviction
Leadership/Influencing/Motivating/Guiding
Relatedness/Connecting/Networking
Teaching/Instructing/Illuminating
Mastery/Skillful/Expert
Sensitivity/Gracious/Pleasant
Winning/Victory/Competing

Now that you have your unique sets of words - how do you succeed in "getting" that in your daily life? Can you find a way in any relationship or work effort you put forward to utilize or at the very least see what you believe is important in your life? Do the "important people" in your life know what you value/is your belief system? Do you?

Knowing our values is very important; left unnoticed and untended they/we can twist and turn our lives into self-sabotaging, misunderstood, under achieving palaces of Ugh. If you are a parent of a 12 - 21 year old you may want to offer this exercise to your kids and find out how different or same their beliefs are from yours. Even if you share some of the same "words" as values, how you define them may be a horse of a completely different color. So dig in and modify the words to best reflect what you value.

Neurologists and psychologists tell us our best motivators to keep us moving forward towards our own greatness are the internal ones, and those are based primarily on your value system. Knowing what lights you up and makes the world a better place can create greater ease in making decisions and moving forward in your life. Informing and inviting ourselves and others to a process which says, "this is who I am and what I'm about" can make for greater understanding, support, cooperation and focus in our days, weeks, months and years together.

Get your game on, start noticing where you end and someone else begins. No one could possibly be 'exactly' like you, within those differences is the music of our lives, the dance ensues. Take conscious responsibility for who you are and what you are creating in your life. "Know thyself." It's a good thing, what you value, is you.

C