Happy Day to you!
Does your life seem out of control at times?
Do you seem to keep making the same mistakes over and over, even when you are sure you want to choose differently?
Are you challenged by key relationships that don’t seem to heal, and grow toward harmony?
If the answer to any or all of these questions is “yes”, then chances are good that you have not clearly established an overarching dream, goal, or sufficient motive to live differently.
The first step toward developing core values that will serve as guiding principles for when to say “yes” and when to say “no”, is to have a clearly stated dream.
Your dream should not be considered a fluffy prospect – something that kids do. Einstein beautifully said, “Your dreams are a snapshot of your future.”
Without a dream as a guiding motive for change, it’s almost impossible to establish functional core values because you have no tangible idea of what core values will, and will not support you; to lack a dream is to lack direction in life.
This tends to leave people in a place where they fall in love with little things, like coffee, sugar, gossip, over-exercising, and over-working, to name a few.
I have noticed that the people I support as a therapist or coach who have not clearly defined their dream often have lives full of fires that constantly need to be put out.
This can easily become a way of life; people start gaining a sense of self-worth by “helping others” put out fires, often not realizing that as they tend to everyone else’s issues, their own fires tend to burn away, eating away at their health and vitality, not to mention personal and professional relationships.
DREAM BEFORE CORE VALUES ALWAYS
Our dream is our purpose for living, sharing, and being.
I really love what I do and I am inspired to share what I’ve learned to be successful in body-mind-spirit with the world at large.
Arnold Patent states in his Universal Principles that “Purpose is our conscious-mind discovering truths about our beingness which our Higher-Self has known all along.
When we align all our thoughts with that purpose, life looks different. We notice that everything has meaning and supports us.”
In Universal Principle #9, Arnold Patent and Victor Beasley share:
“For my life’s work, I will do that which I love to do. The Universe supports me in all ways for doing what I love to do.”
Recognition of what we do not love to do initially alters our perception, and then leads to a desire for change.
In order to move to a more ideal place we must first make peace with where we are now and allow it to be perfect in this present moment.
The completion of one experience provides the power to begin another.
Do what you love to do.
Selecting a career, for example, because it seems like a safe, easy or quick way to make money insures a life of discomfort.
When we are off purpose, the Universe draws our attention to it by making things uncomfortable for us.
When we are doing what we love to do, the Universe shows its support in many ways: we feel more alive, things flow smoothly, and we attract the people and circumstances that support us.”
There are ten essential components that must be addressed in order to effectively identity, and craft your dream.
As we go through them briefly (see PPS Success Mastery Lesson 1: How To Find and Live Your Legacy for the complete lesson), please take note of how many of the 10
dream components actually relate directly to one or more of your stated or unstated core values:
1. Dream: Start by exploring the various ways you love to express yourself. Don’t be worried about what others say is or isn’t good/right for you in this process.
Focus totally on “what you want to create and experience in your life.
2. I feel good when I?… If you were captured by some dictator who gave you a choice, “you can choose what you want to do for the rest of your life and do it well”, or, “I will choose something you will do for the rest of your life and that will be that.”
Which option would you choose?
If you simply ask yourself, “What would I enjoy doing for the rest of my life and enjoy it enough that it wouldn’t feel like I’ve been sentenced to life imprisonment?”, you will be moving in the right direction.
3. Passion: What are you passionate about? What gets your emotions, your juices flowing? Is it teaching aerobic exercise, being a pilot, or skinning potatoes and carrots in a culinary school?
Do what you love to do and the Universe will support you.
4. Purpose: What dream, if lived, gives you a deep sense of purpose. A feeling that your life is being well lived?
In my observation, a life without purpose is generally not a life well, or fully lived. There is something deep inside our soul that inherently wants to add beauty and value, not only to our own lives, but the lives of all whom we love.
5. People: What kind of people do you want to create and experience your dream with?
Many get so excited about their dream, they forget to be clear about what kind of people they work and create best with. You could easily end up with a partner that’s a genius, but is closed-minded or over-controlling, stifling your creativity, or something worse.
Being clear about the kind of people you want to create with is a core value.
6. Geography: Where do you want to create and experience your dreams?
I’ve worked with many people in the dream creation process. It’s not uncommon at all to hear budding dreamers complain ceaselessly about the constant rain, heat, or people in their chosen location or geography.
Being clear on where you want to be to express your creative potential is essential. Imagine being sure you want be an artist or musician only to take any job that comes your way.
The next thing you know, you are sitting in the middle of the hallway at a junior high school singing away or drawing away and dodging spitballs, pranks and obscenities the whole time.
Be clear about where you want to be and start making plans to “be there!”
7. Working Conditions: Do you want to work alone? Do you want to work outdoors? Do you want to work in a clean environment, or do you prefer working in the dirt, like many gardeners do?
Will there be toxic chemicals around you all day, such as is the case with auto-body workers and manicurists? Do you prefer working with men, females, or both?
Do you want to be managed, or do you prefer to manage yourself and work independently?
Get clear or the Universe can’t help you any more than you help yourself. You are the dreamer, and the Universe is the Chef.
8. Responsibility: What level of responsibility to you want?
Most people forget that in most cultures, there’s a direct relationship between how much money you make and how much responsibility is given to you, or expected of you.
As I show in PPS Success Mastery Lesson 1. How To Find and Live Your Legacy, many people join the military because they think it will offer them a life without having to worry about where their pay check is coming from.
Some join because they want to get the education the military promises them.
But many of them get a real shock when they end up in the middle of a live battlefield with blood splattering all around them as they watch their friends die. They didn’t look carefully at the issue of “responsibility” – what it really means to be a soldier.
Be clear about how much responsibility you want before heads are rolling and blood is spilling. That is wise.
9. Income: For many, how much money they make is secondary to the experience they are having. That’s commendable in general, but can also create some real challenges.
Everything we do costs us something, in some way. Even if your car is paid for, every time you use it, you are devaluing it by wearing out tires, engine parts, and upholstery!
It’s sad to see people with tremendous talent being held back by lack of funding to take their creative experience to the next level of expression.
Clearly define your income needs. Then, do what you need to do to up-skill yourself and seek the support of others that can mentor you.
Make successive steps toward creating the value within yourself that you desire the world return back to you as reciprocity.
10. Values: So, here we are!back to values again.
In brief, your core values are codes of conduct created by yourself, for yourself.
Your core values express the self-management choices you are willing to make to become the person you choose to be.
A little commitment each day can take you a long way. No commitment can take you a long way too, but so will a piece of driftwood when you are out in the ocean.
Core values are like putting a rudder on your boat – directing the wind in your sails so it takes you where you choose to be instead of where you think you have to be because of seemingly uncontrollable circumstances.
I hope you can see the simplicity and logic in what I’m sharing here.
The emotions that arise when we are actively participating in our own life are nourishing. The labor that occurs in the creation of any worthy dream, goal or mission is a labor of love.
There is no more enjoyable way to participate in the natural labors inherent to all living beings than to do what you love to do, share it and be it!
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
PS: I had a lovely lunging and squatting workout with some reverse Swiss ball crunches yesterday. Felt great!
