Ethically living.
Ethics are the moral blanket that guides the the way you live, conduct your work, treat others and how you place your value. I’m constantly re-evaluating mine. Ethics shift and change and evolve. Shifting from how I feel about things around me, to how I feel on the inside. My purpose, my presence and what I stand for and what I fight for.
Do you have a set of ethics and moral code?
I used to value how others saw me. How I looked and how successful I seemed. How much money I earned (which is still a constant battle). Feeling like I’m not doing enough, being passive, getting by, taking easy options - these are all things that felt like failure to me. Not being able to loose weight, dedicate myself to new hobby or not feeling like socialising. More failures. I spoke to myself in the most awful way. From the inside my confidence shattered, confused and lost, unsure of my place.
After I stopped dancing, and took a corporate role, I was earning steady money. However, it didn’t fill the void of value. Just because I had some money, I still didn’t feel successful. I think a lot of people feel this, do you agree? It was just a job. The going out, drinking and shopping I used to try and fill a void of self acceptance and trying to prove to others I was fun and had something going for me was also wearing me down. I was essentially pretending to be someone else.
Upon my yoga teacher training in 2018, it stripped away some of those external ‘values’ I placed on myself. What other people thought started to matter less. It was like stepping back into myself. Born again without carrying those societal pressures and judgements. I started to love myself again, became aware of strengths I held and gifts I could use. Yoga is a science and an art which is shrouded in patience, compassion and frees you from worry. It unearthed some of the possibilities of how I hold purpose on this planet.
Yoga is a practice of presence, mindfulness, awareness. The Yogic scriptures tell us that the practice of yoga leads to the union of individual consciousness with that of the universal consciousness, indicating a perfect harmony between the individual and the universe, and the universal truths.
“The primary cause of unhappiness is never the situation but your thoughts about it.” ― Eckhart Tolle.
Our thoughts (and other people’s thoughts), half the time aren’t reality. My practices, discovery and learnings led me to see the world how it actually is. I always had a gift of being able to understand between the lines, see when things are real or fake. I now started to listen.
However, the more I understood the philosophy, science and art of Yoga and the more I met myself with kindness, the more frustrated I got with the outside world. I was working for a fast consumer goods brand, who were one of the biggest plastic polluters in the world, marketing products that no one really needed, prying on people’s insecurities to sell. Since then I’ve worked for other companies whose ethics are completely non-existent, from bullying to fraud. I’ve had a fair share of discovery on how not to live or do business, taking people for granted and exploitation. Just because someone says they are something, it doesn’t mean they are - much alike greenwashing. [Greenwashing is essentially when a company or organisation spends more time and money on marketing themselves as being sustainable than on actually minimising their environmental impact.]
My experiences, both positive and negative, have shifted me into a more conscious way of being. Although I make mistakes, I aim to not make decisions blindly, I try to follow my gut on things, listen and trust myself, not others. Doing the things that serve me first. If I do not fill up my own cup, how can I fulfil my purpose of helping others feel good in themselves?
If I was a politician, I guess this would be my manifesto, or my statement of beliefs. But it’s more personal than that. It’s a statement or list of things that I deeply care about, that make me feel good about myself, grounded and at the same time, serve on this planet, living with purpose.
Self-love
I vow to listen and trust my instinct
I promise to dedicate myself to practices that nourish my body, mind and soul through dance, movement, yoga, meditation, music
I vow to talk to myself with kindness
Practice compassion above all
I believe rest is necessary not a luxury and actively move away from grind culture
I promote body positivity towards myself & encourage others.
To use my voice is a powerful tool
I aim to set boundaries and respect myself and my time
World-love
compassion to the world around us
respect the seasons, the birds, the insects and the animals
reduce my impact for the greater good of the planet
live within the earths natural cycles with harmony
image shot at Ara Ha
