The Hub July 2014 | Page 32

What Matters To You What I believe determines my behaviour By Judie Acton The beliefs and values that guide my choices of how to live my life are not cast in concrete. The foundation of my beliefs and values are what my parents instilled in me. The remainder are what my life experiences have taught me. It took me many life experiences to determine that life was about choices. Every event, situation and circumstance has a life lesson I need to learn. Until my mid-30s the word spiritual was not a word in my vocabulary. When first introduced to the term spirituality I thought it was religion. Slowly as my understanding of spirituality has evolved so my beliefs, values and choices have broadened and deepened. I believe spirituality is the need to understand the meaning of life. Where have we come from? Why are we here? Where does the journey lead? Does it continue after death? And is someone orchestrating it all? I believe that someone has many names. Some name it Creator, The Divine, God, Higher Power, The Universe, Budda, Great One. Every person has their own personal someone. I believe you can be spiritual and religious. You can be spiritual and not religious. You can be religious and not spiritual. And you can just be spiritual. I believe in spirit guides, angels, miracles, universal energy, energy healing, crystals aromatherapy, meditation, karma and past lives. I believe life is about the journey and not the destination. When I know What matters to you? The Hub welcomes well-reasoned opinion pieces of less than 500 words from our readers. Email us at [email protected] better I do better. Another person’s opinion of me does not define who I am. It is just their opinion. I believe that you are always a student and a teacher. When the student is ready the teacher appears. I teach people how to treat me. I believe there are no coincidences. Everything happens for a reason. I believe I can change only me. I am responsible for