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| Photo Credit: Ananda.org | Be the Change |
Importance of Values in Life
All of us are
so involved and busy in living our day-to-day lives – life just keeps
happening! There is always something or the other to distract us, to lead us
astray from doing what we know for certain that we must do. It could be some
urgent work at home or in the office, it could be reading a book, playing
tennis, watching a movie etc. And with the explosion of technology which has
brought affordable gadgets and gizmos to almost everyone, life has just got
busier! E-mails, social media posts, news clips, etc keep getting delivered and
notified to you by your ever efficient handheld device! When we are browsing
through our phones, at the back of our minds we always have a thought that I
should be doing this or that as it is urgent, but the devil of a mind tells you
to do it after finishing your browsing! By doing this we miss an important
timeline, neglect doing some urgent stuff, we put things off, procrastinate and
ultimately never get round to doing it with disastrous consequences!
Then something
happens – someone we know very closely; someone we hold very dear dies suddenly
and then we ponder about what our biggest regret will be if our lives were to
end suddenly! An Australian nurse, Bronnie Ware researched patients who were
nearing death and asked them their major regrets in life. She has written a
book – Top Five Regrets of the Dying – and the commonest one was, ‘I wish I had
the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.’
As children, a majority
of us are instilled with sound values by our parents and teachers. As we grow
up, we either choose to live by these values or by those of others which get us
material facilities quickly at the cost of our inherent values! It is extremely
important to know and understand who you are – and the roots of your true self
are made up of your ‘values’ – sanskaar!
Values define
who you are in your deepest nature, you are born with the values of your past
birth and your parents and teachers define new ones for you. These values are
who you actually are and not who you think you should be so as to fit in. They hold
importance because you believe that they define how you live and work. They are
like the compass which points to true ‘north’ and gives you the correct
direction in life. There is a voice inside of you that whispers all day long.
It is talking to you all the time, but because of the layers of muck we have
pulled over our inner self, the voice is muted and hardly heard. That is your
conscience speaking, your soul telling you the stuff which is built up of your
core values. It tells you that what you are doing is wrong – believe me no
teacher, friend, relative can decide for you what is right for you. You have to
do it yourself – just listen to your inner voice.
Just remember
that values are not rules or commandments, nor are they rigid and fixed. They
may change over time. Never copy or imitate someone else’s values – you can
take inspiration from them but do not imitate them. This is because your values
are your own inner barometer – find them, sharpen them, strengthen them. It is
not easy – you need to be brutally honest with yourself, to acknowledge and
accept everything about yourself. It is only when you are mindful and aware of
your values that you find that they are incredibly empowering and liberating!
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