Here are a couple question I’m keen to get your thoughts on:
What are your most important values and why? How do you live up to them?
I look forward to hearing your answers.
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You can find AP2’s personal blog here at: https://clear-air-turbulence.com
You can also find him on Medium at: https://anxiouspilot2.medium.com
Or on Twitter at: @AnxiousPilot
Hi AP2. I value Truth, (yes, capital T) because anything else is only relatively true. I value Truth because so much of life becomes easier when we realize our essential nature, which is God incarnate. This is not intended as hollow words and concepts; self-recognition beyond name and form that most persons assume to be their “i”-dentity is for real. We are “That,” the alpha and omega incarnate.
I just read your last post – got me thinking about the idea of consciousness – how there is no definitive way to determine that anything exists outside of it. Thanks Art – I always appreciate what you have to say. 🙏
Hi AP2, thanks for taking the time to comment; I appreciate hearing from you. It’s my experience that there is nothing beyond Consciousness. It (Source, God, The All in All) is everything–Spirit “apparently” becoming form or “matter.” Wishing you a great day!
The most important to me is to value the values of life in general. In the background noise of everyday chores we forget our own individuality and end up compromising beyond the necessity. I always carry a pocket book of my notes to evaluate where I stand. If not 100% I try to stick to our core values to my best of my ability. But my progress is slow and happy to take small steps. So, Regularly introspect to find out if we are showing any progress or are we slipping.
It’s easy to forget who we are and what we stand for during the business of a day. A period of quiet introspection by journalling is something I do every evening. Great advice – thank you for taking the time to share vishnupria 🙏
In my case, my values have evolved with time. Generally, they haven’t changed as much as their importance. For instance, empathy/mercy became more important than personal success as I realized its impact on those around me. It intensified toward those who either depended on me, or over whom I held power. It decreased toward others according to their ability to help themselves, or their behavior toward me.
That’s interesting. I think I’m similar. Certain values hold more meaning than they once did. Relationships being one of them. Thanks for sharing Dan
Stumped¿
I value faith in a higher power. I live out my value everyday by not stressing over things that do not work out, knowing fully well that it is all for my good.
Faith in something greater is very important. Living for the moment – making the most of the day/circumstances is all we can ever do. Thank you 🙏
My most important values are:
Freedom of all kinds-I try to be as independent as possible in whatever I do.
Loyalty to my loved ones-I will try to fulfill any commitment I make to my kith and kin and will always stand by them.
Balance-I don’t believe that anything or anyone can be fully black or fully white. For instance, I am neither overly religious nor an atheist. Neither a meat eater, nor a vegan etc. I believe in the middle path as going to extremes will upset the balance of life.
Respect-Respect everyone, no matter what they do or what their age is. Respect their opinions, whether you agree with them or not. Most importantly, respect people’s privacy.
Flexibility-Again, this is related to balance. Don’t keep your values, opinions and mindset rigid, yet don’t be too flexible or you will get confused and lost on the path of life.
Realism-I am neither fully optimistic nor fully pessimistic. In fact, I believe optimism and pessimism are part of a spectrum and I fall somewhere in the middle of it. The glass is neither half full nor half empty for me.
These are some of my values for now. Thank you for reading.
I like that approach you take to your values. There is no black or white, only grey. It’s important to remain flexible with our beliefs and allow our values to evolve over time. Thank you Nandini. Freedom is one of my closely held values too 🙏
Thank you 😊
socially: justice
intellectually: humility
personally: wonder
For me, society must be just – rewarding good people, holding destructive people accountable for their harm. This goes so far as to take an emotional toll on me at times – something I blogged about a couple of weeks ago.
In seeking knowledge, it’s important that science and philosophy can admit when it’s wrong. Indeed, dissecting “facts” – mine or others’ – was something invaluable my father imparted on me.
If all else goes to hell, a sense of wonder will keep me going. The sort of thing Carl Sagan talked about in Cosmos.
Never lose your sense of wonder. Love it. Being able to admit we were wrong goes hand in hand with ones ability to forgive. Thank you for sharing your thoughts 🙂
Kindness
🙏
I’d have to say courage, to be good, kind and honest. To stand up for your self and for others. And courage to face your fears and tell them to get stuffed. It seems like a trait most people are lacking and they jeer at the people who do have it.
Great values. Being courageous and being honest aren’t always easy of course but if you can live up to them you will have a fulfilling life for sure. Thank you Louise 🙏
Hello
Hi
Respect, because I think it’s the basis of living together.
I believe it starts with self respect. The practise/idea of universal compassion helps me a lot in this regard. Thank you Cristiana 🙏
Like R. Arthur Russell, who also left a comment for you, I value truth. Without it, the world becomes an ugly place. Kindness is up there too. After all, truth shouldn’t mean insensitivity.
I agree. Honesty is paramount, but people won’t receive rocks that are hurled at them. I think the Buddhists call this wise compassion. 🙏
Well, for me it’s honesty, kindness and respect.
Honesty and kindness can also symbolise respect.
To me, I feel really loved when people show me those three things. That’s why
To me honesty and kindness are synonymous. Of course the truth often needs to be delivered with tact and that’s where respect comes in. Beautiful Jermena. Thank you for sharing 🙏
Welcome AP2🤝🏿😊
Wow! Am struggling to answer this ! Let’s try – a) I value my freedom to choose b) I value my ability to love .
God that was tough!!
Being clear about our values is a difficult undertaking. But, I believe, the most important one. Standing for freedom and love are great values to live by. Thank you 🙏
You need to value yourself and your identity because if that is lost then you lose yourself. I always try to squeeze in whatever time I have in hand to do something that I believe in or like doing.
If you can’t learn to love who you are, it becomes difficult to love others for who they are. Thank you Mansi. 🙏
I just wrote a post on this, coincidentally. Hope, resilience, courage, family/friends, spiritually.
Great list of values. You seem very clear about them which is good. Thank you Kate 🙏
I value empathy the most. We might not be able to exactly feel what the other person is feeling but we can always acknowledge their feelings and try our best to understand them. I live upto this value by making sure that if someone is coming to me with any problem, I am there to listen to them and to understand them. I might not be able to provide exact solution to them but I can always give them the emotional support they might need.
Having that awareness that we don’t know what others are really going through is important. Everyone has their demons. I think drawing on our own pain is a great way to foster compassion for others. Being an active listener is important. Often all we want is to be heard. Thank you for sharing your thoughts inanna 🙏
Live for self, not for the perception of others
Learn to let go what you can’t control
Accept everyone for who they are, and fight the need to change others
Fill your cup first, before you can pour into other’s (not in a physical sense)
I tried my best to refer to the aforementioned daily, doing so has helped me greatly; thus far
Thank you. Live for what you believe is right. Forget trying to please others. Acceptance is a big one for me too. Thank you for sharing your thoughts 🙏
Empathy, faith, kindness, respect, humility, honesty, humor…off the top of my head as I try to keep aware of these things in life as well as when doing my podcast. It’s difficult sometimes but I always lean on my faith in God to keep me on track along my journey through life…
I often think the difficulty is seeing which value we should be honouring in a given moment. Having a select few that mean the most to us is helpful for this reason. Thank you sharing your thoughts. I appreciate it. 🙏
I like this thought provoking post.
Empathy, loyalty, generosity, acceptance, having a set of strong principles, and upholding them are the values I try to practice and have passed on to my children.
Best wishes.
I’m big on acceptance and integrity also. If you can pass those onto your children you’ve done well! Thank you Chaya 🙏
My value is beimg true to my words.
If I say I will do it then I make sure to complete it. I try my best to keep up to my words.
Doing what we believe is right gives meaning to our lives and raises self esteem. Saying what is right but acting different does the opposite. Thank you 🙏
Yes we should do what is right.
I understand yout view.
What I mean is that “If I give my word to someone, example: I would help you/ I would talk to you then I make sure i complete it.”
My value is to raise my boy well- I like to practicing the art of loving (Erich Fromm)- i.e. love, like living, is a verb not a thing.
Love is act. So true. Thank you Tess 🙏
I think being thankful would be one of the most important values I have. And I just try to remain that way in any situation.
My next top priority value is not lying. And this is a delicate one, bc sometimes you might need to fib a little, like if you want to surprise your kids. So in this case it isn’t black or white like having gratitude.
It’s hard choosing important values, bc I have plenty, but I think these are my biggest ones.
Honesty is a big one for me too. White lies are an interesting topic. Are any lies really white? Should we lie to our kids about Santa Claus? I’m not sure where I land in this one. Being grateful is always a good thing. Thank you for sharing Kristina 🙏
Hi AP2.
Sorry for this belated feedback.
My most important values are rituals,which help me to connect to my subconscious mind thus triggers my motivation toward purposeful creativity.
Secondly,listening to music that basically facilitates anchoring to my mind.
Thirdly,reading that enables me to facilitate mind mapping.
Thanks and God’s blessings.
I’ve read that rituals can have a powerful psychological effect. Thank you for taking the time to share. Blessings to you too 🙏
Relationships and being present in them. So hard for me to be present so I can enjoy the moment.
Many values came to my mind upon reading your question but the first one was gratitude. I think we need to have gratitude in our life to be content with where we are in life.
Great questions! I want to comment first, but I’m so curious to see everyone else’s replies. To me the most important value is respect, for oneself and for others. Even if someone thinks radically opposite to you, you should be able to accept that they think the way they do for a reason, and their story deserves as much respect as your own. Of course, I’m not perfect… And I can think of times I did not fulfill this. But the way I put this value into practice is always trying (though not always succeeding because I’m not perfect) to approach people and ideas with an open mind. I try to push judgment aside, and try to learn what I can from that experience. And a big way I practice respect is holding back when I have nothing good to say teehee.
The most important things to be in life I believe are honest, faithful, well mannered, true to your word and have integrity. These actions cost nothing and to the people around you, they’re priceless
Agreed. Wonderful values to live by. Thank you for sharing 🙏
Its freedom, Generosity, respect, kindness and love for me
Great values. Thank you for sharing 🙏
Kindness- I have went into public with a number of compliments I would give that day and gave them. Help others when needed. Kindness is something I cannot undo about myself.
Kindness is such an important one. I love that you see it as part of your identity. Thank you 🙏
Sharing a smile. It cost nothing and brings happiness beyond words. It is also infectious.
I often think we should draw smiles on everyone’s face masks. That would surely lift moods. 🙏
My most important value has to be clear intent .
Clarity before action 🙏
Never do things to others that if done to you, can cause pain. Before taking any decisions that I know would affect someone else’s life, I try putting myself in their shoes. This help me see things from their own perspective.
Whatever they are, I don’t live up to any of them. I’m just being honest.
I hear ya. I asked the question because I was thinking, our values aren’t what we say they are, they’re what we do – they’re what we embody. It’s good to be clear about your values. But to live up to them is hard. Having habits that embody them/thinking about how we mean to act ahead of time is important for this reason. It gives us the best chance of living up to them. Even then we will fall short. But we can at least try. Thank you for being honest. 🙏
Honesty and trust. If I’m not honest with others and myself I won’t get far in life. If I don’t trust others my relationships will never thrive. I struggle with these at times, mostly trust. I try to keep a clear head and focus on what is important to me.
Honesty is a big one for me -as hard as it is. It goes hand in hand with trust. Thank you for sharing 🙏
I value love. In every way. Recently trying to get in touch with my sensitive side with my family. I am much like my dad and have that calm, cool, and collected way of life. I’m the funny, strong, independent one and it’s hard to be sensitive to their life hinderances. So love. I have to show more love.
The world will always need more love. Thank you for sharing 🙏
We can always show more love to one another! Thank you for sharing 🙏
I value patience.
Someone close to me taught me to be patient. You gain respect, good relations and worldly success.
Patience is definitely lacking nowadays. Thank you for sharing 🙏
I have many values but in other people I value kindness. Such a simple act and yet the world could use so much more of it.
The ability to stay kind when other aren’t is rare, but shows the highest character. 🙏