A Preface...
In order to maintain a successful balance of career and happiness, one
must first establish a core set of virtues and values in his or her own
life. To accomplish this, one has to dig deeper than the literature
they read. Exposure in the social realm is vital in creating the
observation necessary to see the true street values. These
values or virtues can not be pulled from a Bible or other literature of
esoteric nature alone to be understood - they must be introduced
through experience before they can become relevant in one's life.
Something to remember is that it is impossible to choose a belief -
beliefs can only be accepted or denied.
A Values Statement...
My life is a continuum of experiences, some successes and some
failures. My values system is what determines the choices I make.
My spiritual beliefs are the most important aspect of my life.
Although not a value in and of itself, my spiritual beliefs construct
the backbone of my values system. My values system consists of the
following components...
Integrity - Integrity is the quality or condition of being whole or undivided, and complete
Integrity
encompasses all values as a complete whole. This value is one that is
affected by all others. Consistency in our actions in both public and
private life is what determines the type of people we will become. For
this reason alone, this is the most important value or virtue that
anyone can have, and I place it at the top of my list.
Faith - Faith is the confident belief in the truth, value, or trustworthiness of a person, idea or thing.
Logical
thinking and material proof are excellent when they are evident, when
they are not, however, one is oft left searching. Faith is rather
important to me, as I can come to it whenever I need to, and wherever I
am. I don't need to worry about trusting my my faith, it is always
there, and always true. Faith is what keeps me going when life events
come knocking, and my life turns into a downward spiral. When I am
confused and lost at , Faith is the lighthouse in the distance - whose
light never dims. Fog may come and dim or even block the light with its
opaqueness, but that doesn't change the fact that the light is still
shining bright. We need Faith - without it, we would all just give up
when faced with life's challenges.
Hope - Hope is to look forward with confidence and expectation
Perhaps the most misinterpreted value of all is Hope. Milton said, "He wished, but not with hope."
Hope is to desire and expect a future good. People often confuse
wishing for something as the same thing as hoping for something. This
value has an important place in my life when it comes to an overall
optimistic view on myself and the world as a whole. I use Hope to keep
myself focused and confident in the future. Hope and Faith go hand in
hand as far as my values system is concerned, entirely different - but
equally important.
Dignity - Dignity is quality or state of being worthy of esteem or respect.
Self
respect is essential in living and maintaining a happy and good life.
to be forthright, if you do not respect yourself, you will not respect
others. It is my opinion that only a humble person can be truly
dignified. A careful self examination of Dignity in one's life is
essential. I have to ask myself, is this Dignity or is this conceit?
Humility - Humility is the quality or condition of being humble.
A
recent addition to my personal values system is humility. Being humble
is rather hard, and yet very, very important. Pride and arrogance can
become a consuming fire that virtually eats up our entire life, and the
values we strive to live by. Humility is one way of keeping pride
under our control. Believe it or not, humbleness can actually turn
into pride if one starts to be careless. I try to humble myself in
certain areas of my life without actually doing them simply for the act
of being humble.
A work in progress...
I would be lying if I said that I didn't have to work on any of my
values. I have to work on all of them, and always will. Values and
virtues are living entities that we display in our daily lives. We
must keep ourselves in check, if we don't - we are destined to fail.
The
two most important values that need work in my life are humility and
integrity Pride has a way of sneaking up on me without me being
aware. Maybe it's in the things I buy, or perhaps simply the words
that leave my my mouth. I see all the possessions I have, and take
them for granted. If I can become more humble, I can put things in a
better perspective and maybe someday give more than I receive. If one
value falters, so does Integrity. Integrity is the value that one can
never stop improving upon - it means so much, and is quite vast. If I
am struggling with any value or values, then I am struggling with
Integrity.
A values system is a way of life, which is to be
lived day to day. There is no definite beginning or end. What matters
most is how we integrate our personal values system into the life we
were given.
