Who's your god ?

Saraswati

No, I am not going off on a new tangent in my blog ... But I was recently in India for the Global Forum of the World Institute of Action Learning. A very dynamic and enjoyable 3 days of intense learning.

Fittingly, the event was kicked off by lighting the lamp of learning, and making reference to Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, creativity, education and eloquence. She endows human beings with the powers of speech, wisdom and learning. She has four hands, and these represent the four aspects of human personality in learning: mind, intellect, alertness and ego.

Who is your god ? I discovered in India that there are 33 million gods and mustis to chose from (although that number is challenged by some if you look for information on the topic) ! Some gods go well with others, but some don't mix. The gods in India represent more values and traits than purely religious aspects. So which ones are your gods ? What are your values in life ?

Mike Marquardt, assisted by
Sripriyaa V., lighting
the lamp of learning

Values are an often-discussed concept, yet people mostly don't spend the time to reflect on what is really important for them. I once came across a 'card game' with each card representing a value, with the target is to rank and sort and finally conclude which 3 or maximum 5 of the cards represent those values that are really critical for you. Not easy but it does trigger meaningful thinking. I really recommend you to do the exercise, or any form thereof. This is not something to be shared with anyone, but taking the effort to determine what are the important values in your life is a valuable exercise.

We often talk about company values, and how these are important when it comes to recruiting or engaging people. But company values are only meaningful if they can be compared to your personal values. There is no such thing as good or bad values. There is only those that are meaningful or less so, for each one of us.

So take the time to determine - if only for yourself - which of the 33 million gods are important to you !