An Exercise: Writing Your Principles

I was reading an article today and a line caught me.

The gist of it was: Know what your principles are. At first, I almost skimmed past it.

But I paused a moment and wondered if I had ever really written out my principles, as they were in this moment.

To me, principles represent what you truly stand for. They’re what guide your decision making, your choices, an how you interact with this world when you’re living by choice.

I feel ultimately our principles are rooted in inner resonances, not words. But words can be the vehicles of resonances, and helpful for sharing ideas.

The resistance I felt inside of me to ‘place words on paper’ was enough of an indication for me to know: it will be a wise move for me to do this.

I knew if I wrote them, I would need to read them, and abide by them.

There’s many times in my life I’ve wanted to shrink away from responsibility.

As I live more of my life, I realize that although responsibility can feel restrictive in the moment, when applied with integrity, it actually can pave the path to new experiences.

So I decided to be responsible for my principles, and I’ll share them here with you.

Danielle’s Principles:

Nothing in life is worth losing your peace over

Go all in. Then be open to the result.

Be impeccable with your word, both to yourself and to others.

Allow yourself an others the dignity of our chosen experiences.

Be discerning with where you place your energy.

Engage in regular doses of humor.

Be clear on what matters most to you, moment to moment.

Make space to breathe consciously.

Be flexible with your beliefs, and firm in your “inner grounding” and energetic integrity.

Enjoy the humor, bountifully. (Life is funny, yo) [Author’s note, I seem to have felt it worthwhile mentioning humor twice]

Be present. It’s worth it.

Be kind to yourself, you are not meant to be perfect.

Embrace mistakes, change, the unknown – it’s all part of the journey.

Do what you feel most energized doing.

Be the resonance you want most to see in the world.

Thank yourself for all that you are.

Remember you are an inner to outer creator.

Have fun.

Here’s an image of the actual principles I wrote – I’ve changed a few words that I felt were more appropriate – but you can see the process here

And there we are. I would invite you to explore what your own principles are – and even to write them out if you feel inspired.

I’ve done so and I’ll be reading them again and again for a while.

Many thanks.