I choose to listen to my inner voice, be my own best friend, and lean on my intuition and relationship with whatever we all want to call God. By being a flagpole, not blowing around like a flag, I can navigate life’s challenges with authenticity and integrity.
By Tyler Lewke
I got to spend some sweet time with my mom this last week.
We laughed and cried and ate grapes from the vine and wondered aloud about the state of the world. For example, did you know that climate change is causing flowers to change color or that there are more twins alive now than ever before?
Or, that people who are currently alive represent only about 7% of the total number of people who have ever lived? Did you know that we’re living through what is, by objective measure, the best time in human history? People have never lived longer, better, safer, or richer lives than they do today. The only bummer is, we were designed to think otherwise—a skill that, in my observation, is no longer serving us.
Anyway, as you can see, our conversations went deep and wide and shallow and narrow—we didn’t eat Combo’s or drink Diet Coke like we love to do because we had the grapes. And all that good news. And each other. That was perfectly enough.
Our time reminded me how important core values are and how essential having them is to figure out where you are going and how to act along the way.
I’ve made a list of some of mine. The order is of importance perhaps, but my moods change constantly so I can’t be sure. It’s good to be honest about such things.
Inner Harmony:
I choose to listen to my inner voice, be my own best friend, and lean on my intuition and relationship with whatever we all want to call God. By being a flagpole, not blowing around like a flag, I can navigate life’s challenges with authenticity and integrity.
Mature Love:
I commit to fostering authentic and intimate relationships where our own practice and inner work take precedence. Our partnership will be based on mutual support and the continuous repair and strengthening of our bond.
Varied Life:
I seek a diverse and dynamic life filled with creativity, new experiences, mental and physical challenges and constant learning. Embracing change, movement and novelty is integral to my day-to-day existence.
Curiosity:
I deeply engage in curiosity, embracing the genuine nature of others. I question and explore with an open heart, seeking to understand the authentic essence of individuals and everything around them.
Capability:
I surround myself with intelligent, open-hearted individuals who are not constrained by fixed beliefs. Together, we cultivate resilience, tenacity and the willingness to do whatever it takes.
Interdependence:
I believe in the power of collaboration and teamwork, understanding that combining strengths and weaknesses leads to exponential growth and that 1+1 should always equal four. I serve and receive, practicing the principle of “to have, give all to all.”
Daring:
I fearlessly challenge laws and views that contradict my core beliefs, but I also continuously challenge my core beliefs. Things always change. Embracing daring experiences, I infuse my life with adrenaline, resisting conformity and embracing life’s adventures.
Wisdom:
I honor the diversity of truths and perspectives. I don’t believe in “the” truth, only my/your/our truth and believe all wisdom should be considered, explored, embraced, and discarded. I will come and see, not come and believe. I believe in heart dharma before head dharma, and hold the high-watch for myself requiring that anything I learn that resonates, I use to influence my behavior and how I show up on the planet. My only real job: add more love to the world.
Creativity:
I possess a unique ability to find solutions where others may not, uncovering beauty in the basics and meaning in all aspects of life. With unwavering determination, I forge countless paths forward in every endeavor making a way out of no way.
Direct Influence:
My role in this one life is to connect heart, mind, body and career, compassionately guiding others to breathe, push, pause and expand. Through empathy and understanding, with compassion.
These core values are my compass and serve as needed guardrails as I navigate this one wildlife. How about you?
If you struggle to know these on your own, I’d love to help. You won’t believe what’s possible or how fast you can go when the guardrails are installed. If you need an aid, try these, they are so helpful to so many.
Keep going! I will too. We’re bound to find each other somewhere in the mystery.
Photo: Pixabay
Tyler Lewke is brutally irreverent, often way too direct and it gets him in trouble. He’s an optimistic pessimist, a grateful dad and friend, a hardcore capitalist, and a deep-seeking mindful and compassionate guy who’s most inspired by helping people through the bullshit parts of religion and spirituality to define a life of joy and contemplative service to others.
Tyler was born months before the official end of the Vietnam War on the Campus of Washington State University to a hippy mom and a heady scientist dad with an IQ that rivals Einstein… a combo that has left him totally out of place in the mainstream.
Tyler lives in the sky in downtown Chicago, in a 100-year-old bungalow in suburban Illinois and from his backpack as he explores the world. He teaches meditation and mindful leadership, has written as a form of art and spiritual practice every day for as long as he can remember. He shares his personal stories of integrating a spiritual life into a daily mainstream existence through his daily blog where he posts his raw, firsthand joys and struggles of trying to practice these mindful principles in all his affairs. Tyler thinks we all have only one real job, to add more love to the world.
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