Man : Plus Life (Adding Value to Life)

Adding Value to Your Life

If you ever need me, call me, I’ll come running straight to you.

—Brett Dennen, “Sydney”

                                  
                       What is a life?

              It is simply moments of time:  
                                                our experiences, 
                                                our love, and 
                                                our lessons. 
           Leaving behind and impact on the lives of others. 
A choice about experiencing life AND the impact on others.

            Every day, day-to-day activities, at work or with family and friends, have an impact on people’s lives. We live among human – 
         interact, 
         act, 
         speak 
         and relate 
  and this activities have some repercussion to others – be it good or bad.

        Something has ‘value’ when it contributes to well-being or serves the life in some way.  Sustenance (food, water, air, warmth) has value. Biological needs (care, love, companionship, belonging, growth, meaning, beauty, freedom etc.) have value.

Objects in life – house, money, and cars are mainly luxuries, rarely giving the essentials of life to survive. 

      People, in life will always have greater value than any inanimate object. Your energy, emotions, mood, words, and body language, the impact has a reach that extends far and wide. It is a life of its own influencing moods, priorities and perception of man.

   
       We can’t change the world, not overnight, single-handedly, but some steps needs to be taken day to day life. Building and maintaining relationships:  real relationships, real friendships, real connections, exchanging value with each other.

Think about your closest friends, companionship, providing help, offering advice which priceless to in life

The payoff is enormous, value in return. A positive impact with your life it can feel amazing. By consciously choosing how you want others to feel, start creating the kind of impact you want to have in this lifetime. Begin right now to make the impact you want in the lives of those you meet along your journey. It’s the last 10% that matters. It’s the last 10% that changes lives. It’s the last 10% that takes us into living a life of impact. Be creative, or be simple…

Why values matter

Values represent our guiding principles: our motivations, influencing the attitudes we hold and how we act.

In both action and thought, people are affected by a wide range of influences. Past experience, cultural and social norms, and the money at our disposal are some of the most important. Connected to all of these, to some extent, are our values – which represent a strong guiding force, shaping our attitudes and behaviour over the course of our lives. Our values have been shown to influence our political persuasions; our willingness to participate in political action; our career choices; our ecological footprints; how much money we spend, and on what; and our feelings of personal wellbeing.

Psychological Values

Man intrinsic (inner) values such as freedom, creativity and self-respect (self-direction values), or equality and unity with nature (universalism values) is closely related to political beliefs, social justice, environmentally-friendly behaviours, and have a lower levels of prejudice.

In contrast, extrinsic (external) values is generally associated with higher levels of prejudice; less concern about the environment and corresponding behaviours; weak concern about human rights; more manipulative behaviour and less helpfulness.

What motivates man affect our levels of wellbeing.  Extrinsic values – such as wealth, or preservation of public image has been a priority for man.  It tends to undermine our levels of personal wellbeing. A life of dissatisfaction, in general, is the pursuit of material goods. Other, more inherently rewarding pursuits – such as those found in intrinsic motivations and self-direction values – seem to provide a firmer foundation.

Adding value to some else

When you’re adding value to someone’s life the only way to get another person’s get other people to believe in you as an individual. Contributing to that person in a meaningful way. This is important in all facets of life—in leadership positions, in friendships, while meeting and connecting with people , at your job, and with your family.

If you want people to respect you, then you must add value to their lives. Otherwise you are dead weight; you are a cancer, a parasite, a bug on a dead thing.

There are many ways you can add value. You can…

·         Create something someone can use

·         Inspire someone to take action

·         Lend a helping hand

·         Be a shoulder to cry on

·         Show someone how to do something

·         Show someone a better way

·         Provide a new perspective

·         Lead by example

·          Listen more

·         Give your full attention

·         Just be there for someone

·         Love them

It’s important to add value in an authentic way, in a way that doesn’t have an ulterior motive, in a way that is genuine and helpful and unassuming. We have all benefited from someone’s added value in the past.

A true generous person is a person who will give others their time, attention, understanding, forgiving, discernment, patience, compassion, and humility.

Humility

Humbleness to ourselves and others are the highest esteem that man can possess.  Truly humble people demonstrate patience, and an ever eagerness to help the person who is weak where they are strong. The signs of pride include an unwillingness to admit fault, to take responsibility for one’s actions, and to initiate making peace. . Love builds up both confidence and humility.

Compassion

Compassion is an admirable character trait like honesty, loyalty, or empathy. If you have compassion, you show it by being kind, sympathetic, and helpful to others. A living skill – skills that can be acquire or improve.

Understanding others is an art of listening holistically instead of listening to your own self-talk and your own perceptions. Gently probing for the underlining feelings of the facts. Empathizing and offer some sympathy, instead of your usual impatience. This makes her feel better and you feel better about yourself.

Acceptance and forgiveness compassion is the act of suspending all self value judgment and acknowledging the facts, with all value judgments suspended. It means letting go of the past, reaffirming self-respect in the present, and looking toward a better future. When you forgive and accept others, you are releasing yourself from hatred and emotional upset. When the heart is freed, you can be truly happy.

Having a spirit of generosity do requires us to be filled with compassion – that is, understanding, acceptance, and forgiveness. And giving people the love and care that is so lacking in today’s busyness society.

Avoid Unrealistic Expectations

We have been institutionalised and ingrained with personal standards that we expect other people to meet, and we are disappointed when people fail to act the way we hoped. The reality is that our own unrealistic expectations that we set pain us when our standard on others are not met.

We want freedom but are afraid to accede freedom to others for fear that it will clash with your expectations.  Frustating others in the process.

Some guiding principles

Aligning our work with the values that are likely to spur lasting change is clearly unlikely to be a  quick or easy process. Outlined below, however, are some initial guiding principles that will be important in helping us shape our activities in the short, medium and long term.

Explore values

Values and frames open up new avenues for analysis, exploration and intervention: how they are expressed in economic structures, underpin behaviour and institutions, and emerge in our own strategies and practices.

Nurture intrinsic values

No aspect of our work is ever entirely value-free, instead both embodying and reinforcing certain values and frames. We should therefore aim not only to promote intrinsic values in communications but to embed them across all areas of our work.

Challenge extrinsic values

Various elements of our society and culture help foster the desire for wealth, social recognition and power – and simultaneously diminish care for people and the environment. Addressing these will be essential in making progress.

See the big picture

The benefits of appeals to extrinsic values – in motivating rapid or significant policy changes – may occasionally outweigh the ‘collateral damage’ they cause. Without a clear understanding of values, however, we will not be able to identify and manage these trade-offs effectively. We must not lose sight of the big picture, and a vision of long-term, systemic change, with a clear understanding of the values that will underpin it.

Work together

Clearly, no one group or organisation is likely to have much of an impact in shifting values on its own. We need to cooperate and collaborate – both within and across different sectors – to be effective. Because diverse issues are linked by the values that underpin them, we will be continually supporting each other through our efforts.

‘Life without a purpose is a languid, drifting thing; every day we ought to review our purpose, saying to ourselves, ‘This day let me make a sound beginning’
Thomas Kempis

EXCERPT FROM

“Hope in the Shadows” by Michael Clark

Anthonydagostino.org,

By Joshua Fields Milburn & Ryan Nicodemus 

http://valuesandframes.org