What a strange word! What does
it mean? Aren´t words simply words and,
it doesn´t really matter how long they are or how hard to remember or difficult
to write or how deep their meaning is?
This is just a joke to start
with the right foot, to really understand what priorities are. Because we think it´s wrong to joke. It´s wrong to rest, it´s not right to take a break or to have fun
or watch T.V., drink Pepsi, eat hamburgers or eat a snack at ten in the
morning! We have failed to understand
what priorities are!
Maybe we ALL know what
priorities are when it comes to the word; but, do we truly know how to find out
those things that should stand on the list of priorities?
Priorities are different to
every human being, for we are individuals that are unique. Priorities are also changing. They have to be readjusted every now and
then, according to circumstances, to people related to them, and even to our
own state of mind, our health, mood, ability or feelings!
Therefore, priorities will always
vary from person to person. We cannot
expect a woman to have the same priorities as a man; a single person as a married one; a youngster
as an elderly; a healthy one as a sick one, …
So, where do priorities
begin? With our circumstances, our
knowledge, our minds, our feelings, our desires, our needs, our material world,
our spiritual world?
What are priorities really?
Let us start with the fact that
we are alive. Life is a gift that has
been granted to us. Everyone´s first priority must be life. Let us leave this
as a statement that will allow us to keep a context with a right perspective
and purpose.
As adults, life is understood
correctly. We have learned about the
body, physics, chemistry, mathematics, philosophy, faith, etc. Now we have to face responsibilities. It is
here where priorities start to tremble and struggle. We are not life itself, we
are part of life and belong to life. If we miss this truth, we will aim wrong
and get unwanted results. We are the creation of God, not the Creators of life.
Things that can make it hard to
define what a priority is, are selfishness and pride; our unsolved past can also
mean a very big problem; … whenever we face struggle around priorities, we have
to stop and take all the necessary time to do a test about our self.
1. Who am I?
2. What do I do?
3. What do I think that
I have to do? What do I know that I have
to do? Where are my feelings standing on the way of the reality I am
responsible for?
4. How can I be faithful,
if I am not all right?
5. Make a plan for
things to work out fine for everyone.
There is the body,
there is the soul, there is the material world, and all these things go round
in ways we CANNOT control! What we have
to do is learn to deal with that. Sometimes we need, some other times we are
overflowing, full of desire to give away and share, help and be there. But at other times, we need to receive, even
to ask, and even to stop, if we don´t get what we asked for! This has everything to do with priorities.
Having understood
that I am not life, but part of it, I
have to see to it that LIFE is flowing and present and protected where I stand. I must be careful not to fall in the trap of
making myself the priority, opening the door to selfishness and cutting my
connection to life, without even being aware of it. If life is all right, I can
be all right. If I am not all right, life will see to it that I am all right,
because I have access to it; I am part of it; I belong to it!
If I see to it that life, that is under my
responsibility, is all right, I will always be able to go back to life, no
matter at what stage, or how, or with who, … and adjustments will be made with
no effort, in a smooth, natural way, full of freedom, peace, strength, dignity
and happiness; for there has been no rupture between life and me! But, if I concentrate on myself and lose sight
of life, I might not be able to get back in time. I might be left behind. And even if I achieve to reconnect, it may be
very unpleasant and painful, and things that should not have been lost, might
be lost forever!
Thus, we could say that health must be a priority. Wellbeing must be another one. We have to
know what makes us healthy and glad (happy). We have to get to know ourselves
as well as we learned about reading and writing at school, or about science or
geography or music. As well as we know by heart the things we love and respect! Our second priority, after life, must be:
knowing ourselves.
As long as we don´t know ourselves our priorities will prove themselves
wrong, but even this fact will help us face the fact that we don´t know
ourselves as much as we need to.
Priorities should never be
defined around money, or possessions, or
pride. People who live like this are
people who should be ashamed to use words and vocabulary; yet, vileness uses
appearances and loves to boast and show off, pretending to be and have everything
it is not and never will be, and will never have. We have to find our dignity, before we can
define our priorities in life. Once that
has been achieved, we can continue protecting our integrity and seeking happiness
through faithfulness.
Happiness is an excellent help
to confirm that our priorities are right.
People who are happy very often
wake envy, because everyone wants to be happy;
yet, achieving happiness might not be that easy. Let us turn it around and
consider that envying someone can help you have courage and enthusiasm to work
your own happiness.
Lacking happiness may show that our priorities are wrong. We have been taught
that God comes first, but we don´t really know who God is. If we love ourselves,
we will be able to know that we have found God, for God loves us. As we love ourselves, we will understand
better who God is, and this truth will allow us to live better. We will be
setting things right all the time, achieving more and more the things we set
out to reach, without having to struggle with guilt, doubt or fear.
So, whenever we lack happiness,
let us start by taking a look at our priorities; it may very well be that something
isn´t working right there. This is the
purpose of this essay. Once we´ve made
sure the problem does not lie there, we can continue looking in other places.
Once our priorities are right, we avoid pain;
and we are also willing to face any amount of pain in our way, for we have
decided to get where we want. Our identity and our priorities always go
together. If priorities are not bound to our identity, they are wrong. We
cannot be in control, and we will fail to prevent any harm, failure,
deception, frustration, etc. Nobody can
be in control of life, but everybody should be in control of their own lives. If we
put this principle to work, life will be so much easier and fairer to everyone.
As long as we are bound to who we are, we
will grow, even through times of defeat, adversity, struggle, difficulty, etc.
Our identity and priorities won´t be in conflict because of the circumstances,
but circumstances will work in our favor.
Things that ought to be adjusted, changed and even thrown away, rejected
or forgotten, may be defined at times like this, thanks to our clear view of who
we are and want to be. How we manage our priorities will depend on who we are
and not on what we do. Our priorities will
keep us aware of where we are standing and of who we are; and who we are will
keep our priorities right and working for us.
This will function, because of life itself; because we don´t force
things, don´t ignore reality and don´t fear the truth.
Thus, being that our priorities
will always stand around who we are, we will always have to see to it, that we
are all right. We can´t live expecting others
to make everything right for us, nor will we close our eyes and deny what´s
going on. We won´t sit or lean back or
lay down, breathing in deeply, sighing and dreaming, until we know we have been
faithful and the sky won´t fall down on us! We should, therefore, make a list of every
single thing that makes this possible.
1. God
2. Myself
3. My body
4. My soul
5. My things
6. My responsibilities
(This list is just a suggestion; an example;
not a must. It may be that it meets your
needs.) According to my maturity, age, experience, circumstances, etc. things
will be more or less difficult; more or less pleasant; more or less adequate
and right for some. It´s only living, as
we already stated, that we will learn to manage our priorities in an adequate
way.
To each number, many things have to be added:
To #1. Prayer; reading the Bible,
obedience, etc. To #2. Working on my
self-esteem. To #3. Drinking enough water; see to it that I don´t get
cold. To #4. Pay attention to not resenting when people don´t
treat me the way I believe I deserve to be treated, etc. To #5. Clean my room every Wednesday. Etc.
This is a clear example
of how we have to see our lives as a whole, yet, separating the different parts
that belong to it, so that we can take good care of every one of them and receive
the benefits.
It´s part of the
priorities to see things as immediate.
We don´t have to be worried about the future. We don´t have to be fearful. We have to know that God works for us and has
plans of blessing for us and won´t forsake us!
We have to walk, not run; we have to plan, not fear; we have to
understand, not guess; we have to live, not worry or lie. Priorities are exactly that which allows us
to live with peace, without struggling, without anxiety, without danger and
unexpected unpleasant surprises. We have
to be careful not to be unrealistic and put too much on our lists, for it is
very easy to write things down; but let us remember, this is a list of the
things we will be putting our minds and hearts to, even our budgets; so, let us
keep it real and be patient and humble, as well as diligent and faithful.
Let us consider that
priorities will help us examine ourselves again and again; and find things like
selfishness or pride inside of us, even though we may have already dealt with
them, and believed to have gotten rid of them. We just have to keep honoring
the truth and be honest and faithful all along the way; this way, we make sure
that happiness won´t leave us, for we have not cheated.
When we achieve to set our priorities right,
we have managed to be in control of our lives, and we can anticipate things we
don´t want, and do something about them.
We can rearrange priorities again and again in order to keep our
happiness, to protect it and even defend it.
And we can also be open to more or different happiness, through different
experiences, knowing that we are not life, but part of it, and life may offer
us things we cannot imagine or think of.
Life will always be beautiful and sweet, even
if we have to face adversity at some time.
Life is challenging sometimes; but it´s also inviting, exciting,
promising, rewarding. Life is a gift,
and we are meant to understand it, cherish it and participate, willingly, intelligently
and thankfully.
Let us take some time
to go through our lives and set priorities right. It doesn´t matter if we find out that we have
to give up some things, being that we may understand that we have been managing
more than what we really can. Let us be
humble to face the truth, let us be courageous and faithful, and let us adjust
our lives to the truth, and open our arms to the prizes we may have been
missing!
Very often, we miss to aim right, because we
do not see what we are aiming, we just think that we do. Our wrong thinking leads us wrong , but we
trust our thoughts and feelings blindly.
Now we know another part of the truth and can rely on it, no matter where
our feelings or thoughts may be still standing wrong. As we walk, we will get
more and more excited with the idea of being better, living better, having more
happiness and achieving more in life. Let us enjoy this knowledge as we put it
to practice, and let us share with others the wonder of looking in the right direction
and aiming at the center of that which we want to be ours!
Many blessings!
Associated blogs: "Envy"; "Happiness"
