Deliberate Living
What do you stand for? Do you know what your core values are? Do you have a sense of ultimate purpose in your life? Many, perhaps most, people cannot provide cogent answers to these questions. In fact, most have never dedicated the time or introspection to make such determinations. The modern world is rife with frivolity and distraction, and so it provides very little impetus for us to look inward. Consequently, most of us are content to “go with the flow” in how we conduct our lives. There is nothing wrong or shameful about such an approach to life. However, a life without introspection is one that lacks vitality and purpose.
If you want to live a more powerful and consequential life, you must decide to live deliberately. Living deliberately entails taking a full inventory of who you are as a person and your genuine values, convictions, motivations, and ambitions. This also means that you will be taking responsibility for your attitude, thoughts, and actions. Living deliberately is not always safe or comfortable. It is a commitment to yourself to grow as a person toward your greatest purpose, whatever you discover it to be. This is not an easy way to live, nor will it foster certainty in all things. It entails taking risks and adhering to deep personal integrity.
Living deliberately requires courage and humility. To take such personal agency means evaluating your values directly. It requires an honest, critical look at your behaviors and motivations both internally and externally. Do you hold yourself to certain standards because you consider them justifiable, or are they something taken for granted at face value? Is your sense of righteousness genuine or a reinforcement of “just how things are done”? This is a process of personal refinement that can be quite intimidating as it may often force us into direct conflict with our habits, nature, or conditioning. It is a practice of justifying and your deepest beliefs, values, thoughts, and actions. Often, such an exercise results in a completely different, more sincere outlook on life.
The most consequential part of such a potent approach to life is how it affects your personal sense of ethics and virtue. When you make a serious and critical assessment of your principles, you are taking absolute responsibility for them and how they affect your conduct. This is a genie that cannot be put back into the bottle, no matter how hard you try. Once you are aware of your authentic principles, acting against them can be quite uncomfortable. Again, this is why living deliberately requires courage and honesty.
Do you want to live a more authentic and principled life that has a larger purpose? It starts with a decision and a commitment to live deliberately. It is the first step into a more powerful and authentic way of life.