As you
may remember, my family and I bought a house in
January and I almost didn't get this issue out on time, as
I've been working steadily for the last month on remodeling
projects. Upon hearing of our recent purchase a friend of
mine remarked, "welcome to the land of lost weekends
and
skinned knuckles." That sums it up perfectly.
Remodeling,
painting, cleaning, and other upgrades have
become an everyday occurence and as our list of projects
continues to grow, I find I love it more and more. At the
heart of all this work has been a total remodel of the
kitchen, for which I taught myself to do all the electrical
wiring: new outlets, switches, lighting, dishwasher, garbage
disposal, and the occasional repair of original wiring.
At the
end of one particularly satisfying day of work, it
occurred to me why I find it so thoroughly fulfilling: it
allows me to honor some of my deepest values, or those
things in my core that I need to live a happy and satisfied
life. If you've never explored your values, here's a little
primer.
Adventure,
Freedom, Romance, Integrity, Wisdom,
Possibilities: these are some common values I help my
clients identify for themselves. But what are values really?
I think
of them as little children that live within us. Just
the same way our children need us to pay attention, to feed
and nurture them, so do your unique values. When we honor
our values and give them what they need, we live healthy,
aligned, happy lives. But when we ignore our values, they
tug on our pant legs and say, "come play with me."
Keep
ignoring them and they'll pull a little harder and call a
little louder. Continue to deny them and they'll cry and
scream, eventually give it up, and become depressed or
anxiety-ridden. Many people describe it as feeling a void
in
their lives.
Ever feel
that way? If you do, take a look at what values
you might be ignoring.
One of
things I enjoy most as a life coach is working with
clients on discovering and honoring their values. Just as
each person is unique, so are their values. Here are a few
of mine that have been getting tons of attention as I rewire
our kitchen:
Accomplishment
- There's nothing like hoping and praying
it's all going to work while spending hours feeding wires
from the basement up through the walls, crawling around in
the attic drilling holes, cutting holes in the walls for new
outlets, and then, when it's all done, hitting that switch
to see if I did it right. When the light or appliance comes
on, it's pure satisfaction and pride. A garbage disposal has
never sounded so beautiful to me.
Learning
& Growth - I really call this value "Facility with
the World." Now that I've done this electrical work,
I have
a comfort level with it and the best part is that it's not
an isolated project. Because of the hands-on experience, I
know more about electricity in particular and how the world
works in general. I am more a part of the world around me--
I'm more facile with it and that's a great feeling that
spurs me on to learn more.
Problem
Solving - Being at point A, knowing what point B
looks like without knowing how I'm going to get there is
something I love. It's like a huge puzzle and it's up to me
to solve it.
Nesting
- The fact that I'm doing all this work on my own
place makes it twice as sweet. Now every time I start the
diswasher or cool the kitchen down with the ceiling fan,
I'll know I was the one that made it possible. I was the one
that made my family's environment a little bit nicer to live
in.
Challenge
- I had an electrician advise me to hire a
professional to come in and do the work instead of taking
it
on myself. Friends and family raised a lot of eyebrows when
I mentioned that I wanted to start sticking my hands in the
breaker box. My ego interpreted all this as, "You're
not
qualified; you can't do it." Well, I wasn't about to
settle
for that, so I started doing tons of research on how it all
works. Hundreds of dollars in savings later, everything is
working perfectly. I love the feeling of overcoming the
odds.
Working
with my Hands - You know that feeling of really
living in your body, totally engaged in the moment and
making something physical? Since the days of killing the
mastadon and cooking it over a fire in the family cave,
humans have become hard-wired with a need to work with our
hands. Rewiring the house has given me an excuse to buy
power tools and return to my inner caveman.
Creating
Someting from Nothing - It's the same reason I love
to act and direct plays. I get a real charge out of seeing
something beautiful and useful come from nothing, using my
creativity to make it happen.
So what
are some of your values? And more importantly, how
much are you living them? Identify your values, fully choose
to live them (just as you might commit yourself to your
children) and you choose fulfillment, happiness, and a life
worth living.
For
a start in learning about your own values, try out the
worksheet I've attached. It's a pdf file so you may have to
download adobe
acrobat for fr*ee.
Until
next month, I hope you'll choose fulfillment and happiness,
RJ
|
Feature Article: What do you value the most?