To Be Reminded Of What's Important

Hi, missed me? Again my apologies, my hiatus is due to work which I put more energy and effort more than ever. Long story, and to cut it short, we lack manpower and work got tripled. End of story.

In lieu to this, I saw a trailer of the movie Titanic, as lately it ran once again in high definition, right. Now, I love this movie and how a fictional love story was incorporated within the historical catastrophe. It moved me to see people struggle to save their lives and the power of love that was ready to conquer even the biggest calamity and death.

This prompt me to remember what's more important, and what is more important really? Coincidentally I read a story, and not sure if it is true, that as the Titanic slowly sink in the middle of the Atlantic, one woman while being boarded on a lifeboat asked if she could come back to her room. She was given a few minutes  to do so. She hurriedly ran along the corridors to her room even when the ship is already tilting dangerously. Along the way she crossed a gambling room filled with money, in her room were her prized jewelry possessions, all waiting to be taken, but instead she snatched up three apples and hurried back to the boat.
She would have chosen her jewelries over the apples, but in the face of adversity, values are seen more clearly.

Unfortunately, many of us go through our lives with no clear sense of our true values. Instead our desires are molded by the culture and the advertisements that bombard us everyday. The result is that we find no consistency in our lives. No unity. Our desires change as fast as the culture and quickly swept off by the newest fashion, the most recent technology, or the latest wordly pursuit. In exchange, we often sacrifice a life committed to our values.

On the other hand, a stern conviction of our heart's values leads to a single, simplified life, one that is not swayed easily. It is built on the very things that we hold most true to our heart. And no advertising campaign is able to change it.

So, first let us identify this inside-out simplicity of our deepest heart values. This should not be difficult, it is highly important, even life-changing, yet, could be overlooked:

1. Take your quiet time.

2. Get a pen or pencil and a paper and write "What I Most Want to Accomplish with My Life"

3. Write whatever comes to mind. Don't think. Feel your desire. Hear what your heart says.

4. And when the moment feels right, stop.

Here's the hard part, to actually live by these values, when the pressure of "reality" and culture tags us somewhere else. To live with these values will need careful evaluation, intentional decision-making, a commitment to live differently with anyone else, and constant re-evaluation.

But taking the time to remember what's most important will always open the way to a life better lived. Which we should not always forget.