What do you value today?  Many of us would say:

“I value my health!”

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                          “I value having a job”

“I value my family”

 

 

 

           “I value my freedom”

“I value my…..no matter what you put after the word “my” it is wholly you centric, you focused, you driven, because we are first and foremost dedicated to self-preservation in whatever form that takes.  So let’s take a little peek behind your self-preservation door if you will here for a moment, will you just for a moment come along with me?

Many years ago, I attended an event where the speaker asked all of the audience members to stand and stretch and to shake off the chicken lunch setting in dullness and disconnected seminar attendees everywhere and then we were each asked to sit down and immediately pull up from the floor whatever “bag, purse, backpack or item” we had brought with us and if you didn’t have that you were to pull out your wallet and put it on the table in front of you.  We were each then asked to remove our wallets.  Almost immediately there was the noise of money and scrambling around to retrieve this seemingly lost fortune.  The speaker asked:  “Without looking, how much cash is in your wallet right now?  Write it down in your notebook and circle it. ”  He then had us each to look at our wallets and to view them as a metaphor for the “Value” we place on things in our lives. Statistically, money is one of the most important things for all people, simply because we use it to live, pay our bills, eat, cloth ourselves, etc.  “If you treat the money in your wallet with such disrespect, and it is of high value, then how are you doing with those other top 5 things on your list of things your value?” this speaker went to ask. 

We went on to simply and neatly place our bills in nice neat flat order.  Separate our coins.  Neatly place the credit cards back into their slots, and to toss the unwanted receipts.  He then asked us:  “How do you feel about this particular “VALUE” now in your life?”  The lesson?  If you disrespect money by not keeping it in order, neat, and simply knowing how much you have at any given time, then chances are the same is true for your “Financial Health”, and he was right and the audience agreed.

What are you placing a high value on today?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now if you said:  “Relationship with……..”, let me ask you, “How is that relationship right now?”  If a relationship is important, when was the last time you spent time, uninterrupted [without a device attached to the end of your or the other person’s arm] quality one on one time without television, or other distractions around you two, or your family, together?  If you cannot give an immediate answer, you have just let yourself know, “Relationships are not a high value” to you. 

What is of high value to you?

 

“I place a high value on living healthy!”  Okay, let’s look at the obvious……..turn and face the mirror……what do you see?  Fit, Glowing Healthy Skin, Rested no bags or dark circles, High energy Level, Straight posture, A big Smile on your face, nice white teeth, well-groomed, clothes neat, clean, and in good repair, a spring in your step, clothes that fit, not baggy, a physique you are proud of and one where you are the right weight for your height, well toned and right amount of muscle to fat for your age?   Whoa, slow down here…….what are you looking for a model?  Nope, a healthy person who values, living healthy.  These outward signs will be blatantly obvious if one is truly living this.  Even if you are on the road to “Better Healthy Living”  and you are not at your goal – these signs are visible to anyone who can see you are changing.  When you live healthy, your skin tone improves, you do begin to walk straighter, you do smile a whole lot more because you feel good about what you are doing for yourself, in other words you are “VALUING” Y – O – U!

 What do you value today?

“I place a high value on having a job!”  Wonderful, what is your attitude about going to work everyday?  I know many people who complain about their “J-O-B” and that they are having “WORK” and then there are those who have given up all hope and now have their hand out and feel entitled.  So those who are working are resentful and bitter to those with their hand out.  No one wants someone who really needs a helping hand not to have what they need during a transition period, but it is “temporary”.  So what about your attitude?  There is a wonderful little book by, Mark Sanborn entitled:  The Fred Factor, and in this book Mark talks about his mailman “Fred” and how he loved delivering mail to the people on his route in Colorado.  Fred didn’t have a J-O-B for the USPS he had sheer joy or being of “SERVICE” to those people on his route he considered friends.  Fred took that extra little step to just go beyond to make what he did “Special”.  Maybe it was just lifting up the newspaper from the pouring rain and placing it up 2 feet on the porch where it was not wet.  He was passing by the news paper anyway to place the mail in the mailbox, why not do this small service.  Fred had many elderly people on his route and he made it a point to get to know their names and to greet them when they were outside.  A smile, a wave of the hand, a tip of his hat to a lady who remembered when that was what a gentleman did in her younger days, a how are you feeling to Mr. Jones?  All of these things made Fred the most popular postal worker in his area.  What is your attitude in your place of employment?  There is a Chinese proverb which says:  “If you love what you do, you will never work a day in your life.”  How are you doing?

If you are value something, then your life should reflect that value in the following ways:

1.  Visible in your mental attitude

2.  It should be visible in your speech

3.  This value will show up in the way treat other people

4.  A value which is high will have time carved out for it on your calendar

5.  When we value something and appreciate it, we also know to be thankful and give thanks for it daily

6.  Without exception those who know the value of something and know they are blessed always pay it forward.

What do you value?

It starts now, It starts with you, saying “YES” and taking the first step…..