Living by Principles

“There's nothing as powerful as a made-up mind.”_Susan Jeffers

I once read about the tale of a successful business man who wholly impressed me with the way he handled a familial situation of potential rage.

Let me narrate his short story to you first:

The man went on vacation with his wife for a little break from the hustle of life. Incidentally, during their sojourn together, the wife somehow lost her expensive wedding ring. Markedly, the cost of the piece of the corrosion resistant jewelry was in millions. The ring was made of rare quality gold.

Reluctantly, she garnered up the courage to inform her husband of the loss her ring, expecting him to be understandably angry. However, the man surprisingly responded—can’t remember his actual words— with tranquility along the line of, ‘No problem, it is well. We can always get another ring.’

This wonderful display of emotional maturity is what inspired the subject of our discussion today, which I title: living by principles.

Without question, unwavering loyalty to a fixed principle is the essence of great character. Evidently, the man must have decided—ahead of time— to live by a tall standard of ethics, irrespective of the situations at hand. And when he was duly tested, he proved true.

Though, the man later confessed he was initially tempted to get furious but he reminded himself that strong men of principles don’t freak out at point of trials. On the contrary, they are generally at their best in such instances. And the English truth-seeker, James Allen got it right when he said: “Circumstances don’t make a man, they reveal him.”

A person of weak internal compass would have thrown tantrums to demonstrate the grade of his rage. But someone who operates at the highest level of consciousness and knowledge will embrace patience and equanimity in every situation that could provoke anger.

The aim of my work here is to encourage us to respond with purpose in all situations, through the help of enduring principles of spirituality, morality and ethics.

To make us realize that when we make a commitment to something worthy, we must follow-through, regardless of the inconvenience. This is the way of all great souls in all of human history.

Do a Mental Checkup by Clarifying Your Values

“Peace of mind comes when your life is in harmony with true principles and values, and in no other way.”_ Stephen Covey

Like the narrative of the man above, we can embody any principle that we choose to embrace. But first, we need to be clear of what our values are beforehand. We need to truly know who we are and what we truly stand for, long before a moment of crisis.

This is important because fuzzy awareness and lack of certainty regarding our core values will almost always land us in a fix whenever things get sour, causing us to take a low road instead of the high road of steadfastness and patience.

Moreover, when we have clarified our values, they can serve as a formidable guide for us throughout life. They can provide us with mental stability in the form of a fixed identity.  They can serve as a source of confidence, that, no matter what happens, we would respond from a place of decision, not in volatile reaction to ever changing circumstances.

As it turns out, what is true for lone individuals is true for large nations as well. The former President of United States, Ronald Reagan made this clear when he said:  

“A nation’s greatness is measured not just by its gross national product or military power, but by the strength of its devotion to the principles and values that bind its people and define their character.”

So the take away message here is for you to do a mental checkup by taking the time to clarify your own core values and review them in your personal journal from time to time.

And more importantly, you should—once in a while— imagine yourself being strongly defined by these values in the worst possible scenarios. When you do, no real life situation will ever catch you completely off guard.

With principled-centered living properly understood and applied, we can become immovable rocks amidst all the vicissitudes of life. It begins by putting God first in our lives as a matter of unyielding principle, then aligning our core values with the Absolute Truth, and making a decision to live by them, no matter what.