It’s not uncommon for organizations to spell out its core values to newly employed and reiterating to existing employees to drive the vision of the organization.
Core values are principles or beliefs that a person or organization views as being of central importance.
Having my personal core value wasn’t something I had thought of until I started the self awareness journey in 2017.
I remember how I had whispers of the very first, loving God and man while having my retreat at the beginning of that year.
And as I evolved, I had a grasp on others.
These core values have influenced the seemingly little things like returning a pen that isn’t mine to larger things like going for a job which is quite flexible as to another with rigid schedule & marginally higher pay.
Love, Integrity and Peace have been my guiding compass in five years and I’m loving every bit of it- It could be hard a few times.
LOVE
What again can compete with this?
The hardest criminal succumbs to it.
Every brand must put into consideration what its consumers or clients like or love.
We all like that person that makes our heart leap.
The Creator in order to teach us this indispensable value, stepped out in love to give His son for us.
It was a currency- And that in abundance.
Love is the basis of our relationship with God.
And seeing love through His lens would be a better & infallible approach to understanding love.
Again, the second greatest commandment & an offshoot of the golden rule says- love your neighbor as yourself.
As – To the same degree, amount, or extent; similarly; equally.
Comparison with you as a person
Simply put, love your neighbour the same way you love your self.
How can you love others when you haven’t learnt to love your self?
Loving your ownself is the foundation for self awareness, acceptance & self development if not, loathing one own self is inevitable.
It was liberating to know that love was chosen above every other cool or spiritual things- Faith & Hope.
Love would have me asking myself
Are you doing this with me in the picture?
Is this what God’s love teach?
Would you like for someone to do this to you, if tables were turned?
Empathy, compassion, vulnerability are some of the things that comes with living in love.
Love is an invaluable currency that resonates with every tribe, societal status, age & gender.
INTEGRITY
To thine own self be true.
Exploring this value must begin with having personal integrity.
While navigating this core value, I learnt & still learning :
-To be true to my spirit, emotion, my needs & my intuition
-To mean what I say and to say what I mean.
-To be the same person privately & publicly
-To stand for the truth alone even if others around do otherwise.
By experience, it’s always chaotic whenever I go off the radar of integrity.
Guilt eats me up
Peace is lost
Emotions in a labyrinth
Reputation becomes blurry.
Would want to remind you that it’s only with integrity we can present our true self to God and in turn receive help.
Tell me about being recommended
Tell me about someone agreeing to a business because I was in the picture.
Don’t ever want to walk any path different from living in the truth at any point.
I’ve come to see I can’t live fully without this badge.
Even if I fall and the badge is torn, I hope I stand up, dusting my hands and again off to order for another.
PEACE
I think every body wants this but pursue it differently.
The religious extremist wants peace- religious autocracy.
The poor wants financial freedom & peace & wouldn’t mind sacrificing another human.
This became a core value for me in 2018 following overcoming identity crisis- yeah should talk about that one day.
“What will people say” had so much control on me.
“I know she doesn’t like me” was a recurring thought at the time.
I was a dumping ground of other people’s projections .
Some of you reading this might find it hard to believe, but it was indeed a thing.
A personal battle for me- the battle of the mind.
I would be so troubled & hurt about what was said or done to me but would keep mute and wouldn’t want to be confrontational but will keep brooding over it.
I held on to peace in a wrong way until I got a right perspective to it.
I will only be at peace when my internal convictions outflow freely.
I will only be at peace when I have loved God & man.
I will only be at peace when I have lived in righteousness.
Peace is teaching me to fight for injustice and to push for the humane and the right thing.
And it also hasn’t failed to let me know that silence & looking past somethings is very much a valid option too.
These core values is sharpening my identity and as well influencing my work ethics in different ways.
It’s being an amazing journey of self awareness & personal development with these core values and it is beautiful to see how all these three work in synchrony creating stability in all the spheres of my life.
So have you found a need for core values?
How has it been navigating life through them if you do?
If you don’t, would you want to start considering?
If you enjoyed reading this, please do not hesitate to share with someone. Thank you.
Excellent
I just learnt something, choose peace irrespective of what men will say
Can’t wait for all this to be put into a book
The values mentioned are very important and can’t be overemphasized. Love is the ultimate value, without which you can have peace. One’s integrity is dependent on the love you have for yourself and others.
May God continue to give us the understanding and strength to hold unto these core values.