Spark of Inspiration, Sparkives

Spark's Creation - March 2005 - Value

I was listening to a recording talk about how work relationships have more to do with our own relationship with our work than they have to do with the actual people we work with, and I ran off on a tangent pondering value as a whole. We have heard already a lot about valuing self-- the idea that we are worthy and deserving.
Have you considered ideas about valuing what you do?

Valuing what you do-- did you think of your job? Or of volunteer work? Or of other things that you do for other people?

What about the things you do for yourself? The things you do on autopilot?

What about when you "do nothing"? Does "doing nothing" hold value for you?

This morning while pondering value and whether I still valued the idea of being a stay at home mom --the value of which I have to admit had diminished after four and a half years of laundry and soccer practice chauffeuring, and on and on I could go but I'm sure you can imagine-- I went toward our big glass front door and there was a blue jay, pecking at some seed I had put out in the front yard. So I stopped, and watched, and of course, I wondered-- how much do I really value this moment?

I wasn't thinking about getting a secret of the universe out of watching the jay, though they can be known for that sort of thing. I was just enjoying him being him. "There is a list of things that need to be done today," control brain says. Okay, yeah yeah, just a minute to watch the bird....

What if All That Is, in the pure black velveteen darkness of potentiality, decided It wanted to watch a blue jay pecking at some seed. Then would it be important enough to really hold it in value?

If that was the case, say All That Is wanted to watch a bird for a minute, how much value do you suppose All That Is would put on that moment? Enough to pull out all the stops and create, from pure potential, the entire physical scenario, bird, human, scenery, props, and the experience of actually physically watching a bird?

"But those things were already there."

Were they?

And even if they were, who's to say that they weren't there because All That Is wanted to experience itself as a bird pecking some seed, and as a human watching a bird? as the air and the tree and the grasses? And that's it-- no productivity quotients. Just "as is."

What if the value we place on "being productive" is completely illusory, and every moment is truly productive and of immense value because it exists, absolutely unique, serving all involved and All That Is, "as is"?

~ Exercise ~

If this idea has caused your mind to focus on moments popular to the news, world events, or a past event that bothers you, consider this resistance and/or the ego trickster trying to distract you. Just for a few minutes, focus only on your own experience of the present. What sorts of actions do you value and not value as you go through your day?

This is not an exercise to promote judgment, we're not judging anything right now, we're just looking. Do you value "productive" time over "play" time? Is it easier to hold an action in value if it's going to get you something in the end, or if it is purely experienced for itself, with no other ends involved?

Is it easier to value actions done for other people than for self? Does it make a difference who the other people are?

Do you value behavior in line with the status quo or behavior that makes its own path? Is it more valuable to not make waves or to rock the boat?

Do you ever have impulses to do something and decide not to because it looks to be of little value as far as the "big picture"? Do you let yourself explore new, creative, fun acts or do they get stuffed in the "retirement ideas" folder? Or are you "all for fun", with no concern for consequences?
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When we look at these ideas nonjudgmentally, we get to know ourselves better. What exactly does this particular facet of All That Is prefer, not prefer? (That in itself is of much more value than many of us realize.) But preference has no value judgment involved. We can recognize everything is of value and still have our preferences.

Sometimes we can notice value judgments that we've placed on things: "That action is not valuable," "This one is...." That's what our culture does, that's what we're taught to do and it's constantly reinforced. Maybe we felt a personal preference so strongly that we demanded that it had value over other actions. (for everybody, not just for self.) Once these are in the open we can decide if these ideas are still true for ourselves or if we'd like to change them.

This exercise is easy, takes little time, and can be done anywhere. It is designed to bring some of that cosmic "out there" theory that we all love so much down to earth, applied to practical, every day things. This can expand our experience instead of just expanding our ideas.

All That Is values every moment, whether we think we're being productive or not, whether we think we're doing the right thing or not. A moment point can be looked at as the culmination of a divine desire to exist, to be-- the cosmic climax, now, now, now... forever. What if we began putting that kind of value on our every moment?

Many wonder-full moments to you,
Spark

2005 Spark of Creativity
Beth Shearon