“Pain plus reflection equals progress.” – Ray Dalio
Instead of New Years’ resolutions, this year I chose to reflect on my core values and intentions for the year and beyond. Here’s what I came up with.
Values
- ‘Ohana – ʻohana means family, including blood-related or adoptive (hanai). Without family, life is empty. Families are bound together and members must cooperate, serve, love, protect, provide for, and remember one another.
- Health – Rest. Play. Movement. I cultivate healthy habits and a healthy lifestyle. I provide my body, mind, and spirit with what they need to thrive. Regular movement practices, mindfulness meditations, singing, dancing, self-expression of all kinds, quality sleep, nourishing food, loving & intimate ohana, and lots & lots of play-time & fun.
- Wealth – Focusing on my financial responsibility & building my money IQ. Working smart & hard. Making good decisions with my money. Spending less than I make. Saving before I spend. Taking action to Get Shit Done (GSD). I do this to provide & protect for a stable, comfortable lifelong lifestyle for myself & my ‘ohana.
- Ho’oko – To commit, to accomplish. Quality over quantity. Seeing projects through with dedication & tenacity. Patience. Success comes from discipline, mindful hard work, and time. Love & enjoy the process.
- Essentialism – Priorities. Saying No to the non-essential in order to say Yes to the essential (Ohana, Wealth, Health,)
- Pono – Integrity. Honor. The feeling of contentment when all is good and all is right. Life is Ono when you live Pono.
- Aloha – Unconditional love for my ‘ohana. Navigating my ‘ohana’s shadows and drawing out the best in everyone. Spreading kindness & compassion.
- Mahalo – Living with gratitude as a way of life. Intentionally cultivating gratitude.
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ― Jalaluddin Rumi
Intentions
- Go deep. Choose quality over quantity. Think with the right head. Don’t run around like a decapitated chicken chasing sexy shiny-smooth silicon-plastic dopamine fixes.
- Trust in the process. Slow da f*** down. Don’t get lost in the trees.
- Finish what you start. Know when to fold ’em.
- Choose empowerment & positivity in thoughts, words, and actions. Spread it like happiness herpes.
- Create safety, healing, equanimity, love, and laughter.
- Cultivate, value, appreciate, love, and nurture ‘ohana.
- Claim full personal responsibility for everything you have or have had any degree of control over. Make peace with the rest. C’est la vie.
- Surround yourself with the people, places, and media that will most empower, educate, & energize you.
- Prioritize! Say No more often to say Fuck Yes! to the really dope stuff.
- Save money before spending it. Spend what’s left over after saving.
- Optimize health; minimize dairy, gluten, and processed sugar.
- Focus. Minimize. Simplify. Don’t triple-task like a dumbass.
- Ruthlessly question assumptions.
- Go to bed early.
- Stay open to serendipity. Every. Damn. Day.
“Never underestimate your power to change yourself; never overestimate your power to change others.” – H. Jackson Brown Jr.