Stay True to Your Values: Build a Life Aligned with Your Soul
To stay true to your values in this day and age, takes some courage. We are bombarded by people around us (not just in life but in the media and politics and even on social media) on how to look, what to think, who to vote for and where to live. What to do for a living, whether you should (or should not) take benefits (even if you’re ill, old or disabled).
We are told that we should eat meat for protein, be an extrovert (if we are introverts), like everyone/hate everyone, follow certain celebrities or block them if they have messed up. We should work out or not work out (and take up yoga instead). Or not practice yoga because (even if it helps your aching joints) it’s ‘from the devil’.
We must wear certain colours to match our complexion, be thin or be happy to be fat. We should drive certain cars, like certain programs, not be a party pooper to complain about animal welfare on ‘I’m a Celebrity’ program, not care that some animals are going extinct, and take a certain pill if you’re feeling exhausted or depressed by all the rules!
But what if you took a different path?
The best way to find ‘inner peace’ is simply to listen to your own intuition. But the problem is, it’s difficult to hear it in the modern busy noisy world. That’s why people take themselves off to retreats, to get some peace and quiet to find out what they want to believe.
And even then, the retreat leaders may wish you to think like them or join a cult!
So just take some time alone, even if it’s in your bedroom or sitting on a bench in the park, or a gentle walk by the sea to hear the waves. Get some ‘me time’ and remember what your passions were, before stressful ‘adult life’ go to you!
What do you care about most? What do you believe? What upsets you, and inspires you to act? At the library or bookshop, what subjects to you always gravitate towards? What music do you like? What art do you like?
Do you follow a set religion, none at all, or are you open to persuasion? If so, why not visit a few different places to see what resonates with you? Or try a Quaker meeting, or a book club or a yoga class, or a wild swim.
If you live in a perfect world with nothing upsetting you, what would that look like? Towns that you could walk around without a car. Places where you never saw animals in trucks going to abattoirs? Local communities where people helped each other out? A beautiful community garden, where people could sit and watch dragonflies fly over a pond?
Once you quietens down your mind, you’ll find that the real you emerges. It may be having a pile of second-hand romance novels to read, while sipping herbal tea. Or it may decorating a wrecked house into a little cottage of your dreams. Or walking through a forest, seeing big trees providing food and shelter for wildlife.
Our planet is amazing. And there are so many good thing you can do, and enjoy them at the same time. Chances are that most people are living ‘lost lives’ not living true to their values, often because other people have told them how they should live and behave.
How many times have you heard an MP say ‘We have to make the people understand, as they obviously don’t get what we are trying to do?’ You do understand. And it’s time to switch the TV off and go live a life. And one that will really upset most MPs who strive for ‘economic growth’ is to live a simple sustainable life. They can’t force you to buy rubbish just to prop up their lazy backward policies. They may get angry. But you’ll be a lot happier!
Find what your values are, then stay true to them. You can always change them later on. But be sure they come from you. Someone once said that ‘If you water a cup of tea down enough, eventually it will taste of nothing’.
People who know their values, don’t live by media. A good example was animal welfare campaigner Sarah Taylor. She sadly died a few years ago from aggressive brain cancer. Her take was that when you decide to make a life decision, do it from compassion.
She tried (and failed) several times to give up animal foods, due to conflicting information in the media (one week it’s fine, the next week it’s not). But when she made the decision based on compassion, no amount of marketing could take her back. Apply this philosophy to any area of life!
Remain true to your values. If you don’t stand for something, you’ll for anything. Frank Sonnenberg
The reward for conformity, is that everyone likes you, but yourself. Rita Mae Brown
If you don’t stick to your values when they’re being tested, they’re not values. They’re hobbies. Jon Stewart
