All discord, disease, and bondage comes from not honoring your values. Honoring your values is being true to yourSelf. I love the word intrinsic. Your values are intrinsic; belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing. Since values are intrinsic, you don’t have to try to create them or to strengthen them, you simply need to recognize them and honor them. The clearer you become about what your intrinsic values are and operate from them, your life becomes Self-explanatory. No excuses necessary! (“Four Cornerstones of Wealth” Barbara Dixon)
You always teach by your actions! Everything thing you do, buy, or give your attention to, casts a vote—yes or no. The key is to have your vote truly reflect your values. Many people espouse lofty values—but the question is—do you live from those values? As I have discussed before, many of the values that we say are ours were adopted from others—they are not bad –they are just not yours. They are values that we think we should have because people who we respect and love taught them to us. No matter what we say your values are; your actions tell the truth. The test is to take a look at your checkbook and your calendar and you can get a good idea of what you really do value. You spend your money and your time doing on what you value. There is an old saying, “What you do speaks so loudly I can’t hear a word you are saying!”
I am not implying that people are hypocrites or a lying—I am simply saying that most people have not clarified their values. Each of us is a particular expression of Spirit and the substantive properties of Spirit are Life, Love, Joy, Peace, Liberty, Light, Power, and Beauty. Many of the personal ills, which plague people are a result of not aligning with their values.
As I said in the beginning, “Everything thing you do, buy, or give your attention to, casts a vote—yes or no.” Now, it would be impossible for you to do a deep check into every service that you use or every company that you buy products from, but there are some things that you can easily check. I’m talking about our “guilty” indulgences—like watching certain television shows that appeal to our baser aspects, laughing at jokes which belittle others, or some forms of rap music—your participation affects you and how you see yourself and the world.
There is no action or thought that goes without a corresponding effect. As insignificant as we may seem to be as individuals, everything we do or don’t do affects the universe. Think of it as the “ripple theory” or the “butterfly theory,” both if which says in its simplest form—and I am no scientist—we never know how far the affect of movement will reach or exactly what will be the effect, but there is always an effect. As awesome as this sounds, we can be conscious choosers of our intention. Sometimes the action to be considered is as small as putting your grocery cart away in a parking lot instead of leaving it in the parking space or the decision to not throw trash on the ground. We do change the world by the choices that we make. Living from your personal values causes you to “become the change that you wish to see,” as Gandhi said.
Don’t think for a minute that you only vote when there is a public election, you vote with everything you do. When you smile, you make this world a friendlier place. When you are fearful, you make the world a more fearful place. Everything you do, say, or think, teaches the world how to respond to you. When you are not in alignment with your inner Self—your spirit—your values, it diminishes the way you see yourSelf. What causes are you voting for? Get clear on your values and live from them. Just the knowledge of your values, will change how you show up in the world. You are more powerful than you can imagine—let your inherent goodness be the vote that you cast in your daily living. It is a sin when you are not true to yourself. My definition of sin is, “Sacrificing Inner Nobility.” Within you is everything necessary for you to experience and share your nobility—imagine how the world will respond you. It starts with you!
This is an excerpt from 7 Principles for Purposeful Living, by Barbara Dixon. See a preview of the book at
wwwmindfulresolutions.net and get a free download of The Four Cornerstones of Wealth.
Posted By: Barbara Dixon
Friday, September 19th 2008 at 7:13PM
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