What principles define how you live?

Having clarity about the principles that define you is an important part of staying rooted within a busy and sometimes crazy life. Although a lot of us are shaped by the experiences we’ve had, it is actually the principles about ourselves, others, and the expectation from life that truly defines us.

As a young child, I had a world of experiences that could have defined how I viewed life, people, and relationships. I came from a broken home, suffered childhood abuse, and was picked on and bullied. Those difficult and painful events could have made me hateful and judgemental. Ready to attack before I could be attacked. Instead, I remember being 8 years old and feeling sad, confused, and frustrated. I didn’t understand how people could be so careless with love and so disregarding of other people’s worth and value. I couldn’t believe that life should be that way.

As that young child, I clung to the essence of love that I carried within. I didn’t understand the totality of it. I probably still don’t. However, I always instinctively knew it’s value. For it is the principle of love, freewill, and our responsibility to others that has and continues to keep me afloat during the worst of storms. Without these defining principles, I wouldn’t be who I am and where I am today.

A motto I developed years ago to help me stay rooted and aligned with this principle is as follows:

I will do my best not to be an obstacle in another’s way, as I move about this day, embracing all of the opportunity and goodness it holds within!