Wise?…Value wise are we?

I had my quota of sound sleep.
The sun is up.
So am I
What next?

Since the beginning of this week, I have been mulling over a series of events that have happened in these past few days, weeks, months.
The good the bad the ugly were being sorted out within the mind.
Every thing within the mind came to a grinding halt, as I read…

I read the other day… that, if you do not live the values you claim to have…you have none.
That got me thinking.
That got me introspecting.
That got me mulling.
That got me musing…too.

This thought was the prime cause of a kind of pleasant/unpleasant turmoil, within my thought sphere.
Have I or have I not?

However, it was obvious to me that, I have.
Why?
Had I not I would have been materialistically as comfortable as all the others, that have brought me to this stage, are.
I am not an owner of any land, house, or any valuable asset, a fat bank balance, Swiss accounts, that I need to cling to, out of fear of a disastrous tomorrow.

When I set out on this journey years ago I had decided I would be above acquisitions.
In this past close to three decades, I have stuck to those guns.
Cheers!
One value maintained.

I learnt to live by the day…in Fighter Flying.
Am I still living by that day?
That is another question that has been gnawing my conscience too.
Yes, I have…as I have made it a habit not to look beyond the nose.
Also:
Since having left the last commitment that was fetching a sizable amount I have been doing just that…once again.
Living by the day.
In the now.
Wow!
Another value lived.

On monetary issues, I had decided to follow the adage “The more you give the more you get”
While churning my thoughts on this front, I scrutinized what have I given and what have I gained.

I have been pained…I realized.
As I gave out as much as was required to, and more than what I could afford…was bargained/called, for.
I seldom kept aside anything for the so-called rainy days.
Whenever it rained it poured and I got drenched…yes, I get into that state even now.
With rain comes the pain.
With the pain…gain.

But  introspectively speaking…the returns have been relatively more…although they have come with a lot of pain.
Pain of getting wet and sick, in the rain…invariably.
Minus the rain coats…that non-valued have.

I guess no harm delves there, as “no pain no gain” is another value as a virtue I have lived thus far.
Thus a ‘value chain’ was built up with this third addition‚Ķas a penultimate link.
Brought in a sense of happiness once it got built.

The strength of a chain is its weakest link.
In my case that link is always love.
Did I make it the strongest?
Could I?
Did I sacrifice enough for all those I Love?

Through unbiased analysis, I realized that I have.
Without them knowing/realizing.

Else, why would I be in this state?
Love values value…in the end.
True love.

Friends… true friends also value valued friendship.
Did I celebrate here too?
My true friends know me too well and there are not very many of them.
Cheers!!

The sun is up.
Still, I would raise a toast to those few…in this early morn!

Also, as a second thought another toast, to all those who have used me, betrayed me, stabbed me in the back, ditched me, etc. etc.
Why them?
As they are not going to get a second chance with me.
Never.

While they did so…they also helped me learn.
Learn I did from my own mistakes.
Not to repeat them.

Values are lived if you consciously remind yourself, to NOT be misled.
Did I do that?
Yes.

With this answer emerging after a short analysis within my train of thoughts inside the brain, a smile emerged, and so did a sense of well-being.

The next reaction was to blog it…as the effort of this day, this moment, this now.
Doing just that…straight away.
Before the thoughts get stale and pale.

In the end, I realized that my sense of discomfiture was more out of comparisons and out of external inputs that I allowed to impregnate within my thought process.

The inputs came from the people I meet, met, people I worked with  in these past years, people who ditched me, so called professionals who showed there true colours, once they got what they wanted, people who tried to force me to take short cuts…but could not.

They had all rather attempted to outweigh my value chain.
But the rider that tilted that scale back in my favour was my conscience.
I found it clear… without a smear.

So called good friends and blood who surround us for the sake of pure materialistic gains that we are capable of generating by the tons‚Ķbut hesitate in doing that…try both subtly and not so subtly, to make us veer away from valued values.
Not our immediate loved ones, though.

What pains us is the fact that NOT all these people live the same values as we get to do.

Alternatively, should I put it this way… why do not I join them?
As I am unable to win them…thus far?
Let me also take the easier way out.
Be thick skinned.
Have fair weather friends…by the dozens.
Like the masses… that amass.
By hook or crook.

I cannot…unfortunately.

Why?
I ask myself.
Again and again.

Values seldom get you quick gains.
Values do not take care of your perpetual wants.
Values do not buy you comforts.
Values take you away from lucrative jobs.
Values do not get you so-called friends by the droves.
Values fetch you pains.
Values ensure you invest in long term relationships.
That’s why.

Then why live values?
Live them to take care of your needs.
Simple.

The values that I lived so diligently thus far do not allow me to go astray.
I have valued values and have decided to value them anyway, always.

As values do, definitely take care of your needs…not your wants.
Needs are all I need.

As God, also takes care of our needs and not our wants.
The other one prevailing thought that helped me in recovering from this spin like maneuver was:

“I had no shoes and I complained till I saw a man who had no feet.”

Readers …did you find me complaining?

–

Arun is an ex-combat pilot turned executive life coach. He is actively involved with Brian Tracy in a novel learning initiative, iLearningGlobal.biz/axee. Contact him at emarshalarun@gmail.com.