May 7, 2021
Knowledge must be Cooked before it’s Served…Wisdom is on the Menu!
Strong Personal Values provide the Heat
It’s crucial to put your internal biological stew on the fire, allow it to boil, and then simmer. This stew is composed of your inner chemistry (personal values). Its purpose is to depolarize outside knowledge deriving from a world that never sleeps.
Creating your Biological Stew
You have probably heard it said many times before that identifying your values and following them is imperative. But how does one go about finding such values?
After my attempted suicide (more than 30 years ago), I was faced with two critical choices: trying it again and succeeding or figuring out how to live. I decided to live. I had no reliable family, trusted friends, religion, or any knowledge of therapy. As a result, my journey was long and solo. I stumbled into a personal value system without realizing it and rode that coattail to my healing.
Discovering my Values
First, I pondered on which human beings in the world I perceived as having characteristics that I admired. My list began with the Indian activist Mahatma Gandhi, Indian philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti and the Catholic Missionary Mother Teresa Bojaxhiu.
Second, I watched documentaries and read books about their lives and isolated what qualities I found admirable in each of them. From my perspective, a common theme of characteristics stood out to me: Integrity, authenticity, compassion, altruism and courage.
Third, on a poster board I wrote down the five values listed above. Next to each one, I specified in detail the exact reason it was important to me and how it would influence the quality of my life moving forward. For example, integrity was essential because it developed my self-esteem (my sense of self) and assisted with building trustworthy bonds with others.
My list of values has evolved substantially over the years. Still, these would be the first core values that ignited my transcendence.
Lastly, I have fallen short many times and have also surrendered to the reality that some issues will follow me to the grave. But my list of values remains with me every step of the way and provides a form of measurement of just how wide the gap is between my ideal self and my actual self.
I have come to label these values as my inner chemistry. They make up the ingredients of my biological stew. My values act as a filter for all that enter my being and are the gatekeepers to my mind.
The Steps:
1. Outside knowledge comes in.
2. You drop it into your biological stew.
3. Let it boil.
4. Stir it, then cover it.
5. The knowledge simmers within your values (inner chemistry).
6. Patience.
7. Outcome: Responsive thinking and action, conscious and guilt-free decision making, and your unique contribution to the external world.
The consequence of not constructing a personal biological stew is that input from the outside world continuously recycles without the new, fresh and original thought that value-based reflection produces.
You receive a 5 star rating when authentic WISDOM is being served!
Kamili Anderson, BSN, RN
Certified Health and Wellness Coach
