What do you stand for?

Welcome to the first Hedge School penned letter

Welcome to the first penned letter of Hedge School. Each week we will explore via deep inquiry a question that is designed to orient us in the current landscape of our lives.

The end of October brings a seasonal change in the Celtic wheel of the year. Samhain (pronounced Sah-wan) heralds in the Celtic New Year. For the northern hemisphere, this begins the calendar year in darkness. A time for hibernation and solitude. For the Southern hemisphere, the season of Beltaine (Be-al-ta-nah) is upon us. This is a time of new growth and brightness.

Death and rebirth.

Both are upon us across the world.

According to Zak Stein, we are in a time between worlds. We are unworlded. Deworlded as a mist covers the liminal space between the old and new. There is death to old ways and much, much darkness.

In Western Society, we have an odd relationship with death and darkness. We are afraid of the dark. Afraid of our own darkness. Our own death. Personally, I came face to face with my darkness 14 years ago with my brother's death. Like the fires that burnt through New South Wales, Victoria, and California earlier this year, it destroyed the old and left dark scars on the landscape of my soul. It was the darkest night of my soul. Samhain was upon me and there appeared no light at the end of the tunnel.

But the spiral of death and rebirth continued. And light appeared where once was darkness. New growth appeared amongst the blackened landscape.

Throughout the Hedge School experience, I will write from where I am at in the spiral of death and rebirth. I will share quests and questions. These sharings are as my dear friend and guide, Leon Cossar would say, a state of inform. It is information. The true goal of Hedge School is transformation. To transition from one form to the next. The transformation path is your path to walk. Hedge School will be structured with information at the top to nourish and stoke the fire of inquiry. At the bottom of the weekly penned letter will be quests and spaces for you to comment on the sovereign choices you choose to pursue. Transformation is active. Transition between forms requires active and humble surrender. Otherwise, the words are TBU - True but useless.

So with Samhain upon us, we find ourselves in the death cycle.

The quest-ion that most resonates at the moment was gifted to me by a great teacher of mine, Jiro Taylor.

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Inform - Quest-ion

What do you stand for?

When we are reduced to nothing, what do we truly value?

What brings quality and worth to our lives?

This question like all great questions needs marination. It needs to take residence in your soul and dance with it. Where I have landed is that it comes down to what I stand up for. It is a values-based question.

Values

Values begin as hand me downs, inherited from our parents, and shaped by our communities and schools. Eventually, we start to form our own ideas about what we stand for. And this is evident in our actions. Our actions show us what we value.

“Your highest values determine your attention, retention, and intention: what you notice, what you remember, and what you intend or act upon.”

Dr. John Demartini

This is what you find salient in your world. What you value is brought to the forefront of your attention and your actions support this.

Why are values so important?

Values ground us in a time of uncertainty. They provide us with the ability to make sense of the world. Lenses with which to view and comprehend the vast amount of information and dissonance that we interact with each day. Author Mark Manson calls values “extensions of ourselves.” He rates value determination so highly that he wrote his bestselling book “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck” as a trojan horse for a greater conversation around values.

Studies on values have shown tremendous physical and mental benefits when regular writing on values is undertaken. With my own experiments, my heart rate variability (ability of my body to cope with stress shifts) increases by 10% when I report feeling on purpose and in alignment with my values.

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Transform - Quests

So what do I stand for and value?

Typically values-based exercises involve choosing from a long list of values and prioritising the ones that most resonate. This leads (and led me) to dance between actual values and aspirational values.

Quest 1: PersonalValu-es

I started with the Personal Valu.es website and found the process valuable but the values list limiting. It is a quick and easy quest to gauge a high-level understanding.

Quest 2: Barrett Values Centre

I moved on to the more intense offering from the Barrett Values Centre and enjoyed the layering of my determined values over their seven levels of consciousness model. The compilation of results included values statements and introspective activities to weave the threads into a clearer map.

Quest 3: Value Factor Determination

Based on Dr. John Demartini's fantastic book, "The Values Factor", you are required to submit answers to the following thirteen questions. You can do this offline below by filling in three responses to each question and then categorising the responses together or you can complete it all online at the link above.

1. What do you fill your space with (home and office)?

2. How do you spend your time?

3. What energises you the most?

4. What do you spend your money on?

5. Where are you most organised?

6. Where you are most disciplined and reliable?

7. What do you think about or focus on most?

8. What do you envision or dream about most?

9. What do you internally dialogue about most?

10. What do you externally dialogue about most?

11. What are you inspired about most?

12. What do you set goals towards most?

13. What do you love to study or read about most?

I found this quest to provide the most accurate level of detail. There was a shift from trying to highlight aspirational values and focusing on the actual areas of my life that I devote my attention and time to. Below is a good introduction to the 13 questions.

Quest 4 - Objective measurement

What we stand for is evident by where we sovereignly spend the currency of our lives. If we look at the currency we exchange these days, the most valuable is time and money. For the authors of Stealing Fire, following the money trail led to the uncovering of a trillion-dollar industry dedicated to people getting out of (or off) their heads. That's a lot of money and probably only half the story.

So your bank balance gifts you breadcrumbs to uncover what you truly value. Personally, I use Pocketbook to keep track of this. With a little bit of set up and some commitment, you can truly gauge where you spend your money. Illuminating and empowering.

Your calendar is another treasure trove of data points. I've used Life Cycle to gauge where my time goes.

The Screen Time feature (or RescueTime) on your phone is another way to gauge where your time truly goes. Marrying the objective (black and white) with your value lists will highlight truly what you value. You value it so much that you choose to exchange your time and money for it. You take action to bring these items to the forefront of your existence. You make them salient. This is what you stand for in terms of your actions and behaviour.

What do I stand for?

Learning, growth, and development were always number one. Family and Community were a close second. I spend my time and money on growth and development (personal, professional, and spiritual) and in community with others (family, friends, work, Shambhala Warriors) and I value the freedom financially to continue this adventure of growth within community.

This is why Hedge School exists. I am in congruence with my values and by taking action, great things happen.

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Let me know how you go by sharing your values in the comments. Also would love your support to help my value seeds germinate in the greater world by sharing this post