Guiding Principles

I have been going through a period of deep contemplation into my own core values to uncover what drives and motivates me. This process has been an initiation into a deeper knowing of self. During this contemplation a set of guiding principles have surfaced and become abundantly clear to me. There are more than what is listed here, but below is the top nine guiding principles I feel inspired to focus my life and energy on in this moment. 

Vitality is one that stands out above most others. I clearly see how my moment to moment choices, daily habits, and life reflect back to me a strong desire to prioritize my vitality. I’ve often called this health and wellness, but vitality better sums up the essence of this priority. The passion to live a life fully lived. To be full of life force energy and radiating health, vibrancy, and vigor. 

Another value that stands out is liberation. Liberation can go hand in hand with how many of us perceive the word freedom, but for me it takes it deeper. It’s not only an external freedom that needs to take place, but an internal liberation. Liberation from anything causing us constriction. Whether it be dis-ease in the body, thoughts, beliefs, emotions, or addictions. Liberation from anything that is causing us tension and constriction. Liberation from external seeking, freeing ourselves from the urge to externally consume, chase, or seek in order to feel more complete. Liberation from using consumption, pleasure, and avoidance to distract from the current moment of presence. 

Expansion is another core value arising in this contemplation. The anti thesis to constriction. Much of what I do in my day to day is to release tension and constriction within my body, in order to create the necessary space for further expansion. For a time I believed expansion to simply be a state of expanding my mind and body, but this had more of a physical perception to it. Currently, my awareness of expansion includes expanding physically (evolving my body and its ability to move), mentally (my ability to process and articulate thoughts; to choose my thoughts and belief in a way that serves my highest good), energetically (to remove things from my life that cause constriction, and pursue the things that allow for an energetic flow), and spiritually (expanding into higher states of consciousness, opening my heart, and climbing the golden ladder of consciousness). Expansion can be coincided with growth, but this takes the essence of growth and deepens it to something much more profound. 

Among the top of the list was expressiveness. Realizing the simple truth that the more I express myself freely and confidently the more connected to myself I feel. Our inner child wants to express, like we did as children before we were falsely conditioned to be less. Depression is a lack of expression, and all we must do to maneuver ourselves out of a depressive state is to expressive ourselves. Deepening my ability to express myself in all ways; writing, dancing, my style, speaking, praying, creating, artistically; this is the journey I have been on even before it was backed by awareness and conscious intention to continue developing this ability. The more I express myself the more the inner creator comes online. 

Next up on this deep self realization is wisdom. For much of my life I have heard the term wisdom and assumed it to be synonymous with knowledge. Although I am a seeker of knowledge and this too is a driving force in my life, my current understanding is that knowledge and wisdom are actually quite different. Knowledge is an external learning of new information, obtained through experiencing and inputing data. Wisdom is different, it’s not obtained through reading, studying, or inputting knowledge of any sort. Wisdom is received through eliminating input so you can receive it from within. Wisdom is received internally from what I would most confidently refer to as Divine Wisdom or the mind of God. Knowledge comes from the outside and is something we seek, while wisdom comes from the inside and is innate in all of us just waiting to be received. Knowledge is conceptualizations, backed by external proof like science, data, or personal experience. Wisdom is a deep inner knowing that needs no external validation or proof to solidify the truth of it. The highest form of wisdom is giving the final nod to the heart, the Divine Love within each of us.

Wisdom flows perfectly into the next core value I would like to mention which is embodiment. It doesn’t matter how much knowledge or information you may have, how efficient you are at speaking, or how skilled you are, if your very being doesn’t reflect back that you’ve embodied and applied your teachings then it’s lacking all credibility. Lacking embodiment destroys the congruency of an individual and their message. The clear signs of an embodied individual is the ability to self reflect, to be consciously choosing your path and what you're experiencing in life, to care for not only yourself but all others, and to be aligned with nature and The Most High. Embodiment comes through going through the fire, there is no short cuts or cheat codes to attaining embodiment. Embodiment is about alignment, presence, and integrity. 

Authenticity is a guiding principle that has revealed itself to me. As I move along on this journey of life it’s become obvious that authenticity is something we all crave to express. No one enjoys wearing masks, trying to fit in, or stressing about being judged or accepted. We all want to express our authentic self, but due to societal programming, expectations, concern about others rejection, and other forms of fear we have dimmed our expression down to a watered down version we believe is acceptable by society. It’s draining us of energy to put on this facade, to play this make believe game of "I’ll play this character so you can accept me." It’s enlivening to be your authentic self. And when you fully accept your authenticity and your uniqueness and begin showcasing your truth, you become like a magnet where people are energetically drawn to you without even understanding why. Authenticity is a permission slip to everyone else that they too can be themselves freely. 

Adventure, I would be quite naive to pretend like adventure does not play a critical role in the way that I choose to maneuver my life. I love to explore new lands, dive into new cultures, and experience territory I have yet to see. Each place I travel to I feel like I get to unlock a new layer of myself. Each location has its own unique frequency and therefore the energy I am in and the me being embodied is different in each location. Every trip I have ever taken it is clear I have grown and expanded in profound ways. Traveling is a large part of my chosen adventure, but beyond just travel the adventure I am referencing also encompasses adventuring and exploring all of life, consciousness, myself, connection to others, new hobbies, new goals, the world of psychedelics, and so much more. For me, my desire to be spontaneous, explorative, and adventurous has rewarded me in every single other core value by allowing me to discover deeper layers of my authenticity, trust myself to maneuver life and express, liberates me from the fear of the unknown, allows me to deepen my experience of life to receive wisdom and enhance embodiment, has a direct impact on my expansion across all levels, allows me to continue discovering modalities to enhance my vitality, and naturally deepens my ability to receive abundance. 

All of these values are deeply related and tied into to abundance. The more we can prioritize these values of liberation, vitality, expansion, expressiveness, wisdom, authenticity, and adventure the more we naturally open ourselves up to receive the abundance of life that is waiting to pour in. An abundance of energy, love, wisdom, vitality, wealth, opportunity; abundance in all of its forms when the values above are prioritized and embodied. Life and Creation only know abundance. It is our birthright to live in abundance. 

There is no specific order between these guiding principles, they all are areas of priority and the driving forces behind my being. I also acknowledge that all of these driving forces merge together to enhance my ability to create and to birth creations on all levels. My desire is to deeply embody these core values so I can be a reflection inspiring others to step into their power, embody these same characteristics, and to be their own creator.