The Compass of Who We Truly Are

Whether it was teachers… mentors… friends… they all keep pointing me toward the exact same thing, that I couldn’t have done on my own.

And it was something I had to keep working with until it stopped being a lesson... stopped being something somebody taught me... and gradually became something I lived. Something embodied. Something carried forward into this present moment as the person I actually am that now feels very natural and familiar to me.

My values aren’t heirlooms to be collected... hoarded... polished every once in a while and then stored away like buried treasure. They’re not something I kinda get, set, and forget.

They’re alive... They have to be cultivated... cared for... leaned into... consciously and intentionally.

Because there are completely natural movements of mind that can pull my attention away. I can get distracted enough that I almost forget I have hands... feet... that I’m breathing... seeing... hearing... standing right here in the middle of my own life.

And when I lose conscious contact with that, I can get a little sloppy in how I show up. Not necessarily because I’ve forgotten what my values are, but because I’ve forgotten something more intimate than that:

I am responsible for giving them hands and feet.

My values aren’t merely an internal compass I occasionally consult.

The way I live... the way I speak... the way I treat people... the choices I make when nobody is watching... that’s the compass. I am the compass of my values.

May we navigate the present moment together, based on a compass of Love with L.O.V.E. (Lots of Voluntary Effort).

一Dignity and Grace