Now we come to our 7th Core Life Concept: values. Values are the underlying determinants of our possibilities. Values are shaped by the culture, family and belief systems you were exposed to in your formative years. Values determine your conviction, which informs your belief, which instigates your behaviour, and finally produces your outcomes. This is where the work is for many of us.
The things you eventually get to do in life are always in line with your values. If your dreams will not die in your \”stomach\”, you must pay attention to the unconscious drawbacks that sabotage your pursuits. it is not every sense of drawback that is a divine warning to make a detour. In fact, most of your drawbacks come from the value system that controls your life. Values, a lot of times, are a cultural, psychological, and spiritual control system that keeps you in line with what is permissible within a sociological context.
Therefore, one major sign of maturity is the openness to test the validity of your values as well as the willingness to change or modify them where necessary. There could be many good aspects to the ideology you grew up with but trust me since there is growth and progression built into the continuity of life, there is really no ideology that cannot use a revision. I know what I am saying from experience. I have changed in many ways. Yes, the very core of the things that shaped my upbringing is still very much alive in me and gladly so (especially when you have quite a good background).
However, handling a good upbringing still depends on your capacity to put it in the context of the ever-changing times, separating the cultural packaging from the substance itself. Societies and cultures keep evolving but eternal values such as truth, integrity, love etc are constant. And there are some dangerous values that masquerade themselves as virtues such as poverty, lack of aspiration, suspicion, thinking the worst of people, and putting people\’s shortcomings ahead of their intentions (especially when you put your own intentions ahead of your shortcomings). Maturity is outgrowing these acts of dubiousness. These are the measurable markers of growth and prosperity.
