It's Hip To Be Ethical

It's hip to be ethical in my world. Sticking to core values that guide me through difficult decisions, I'm able to feel good about actions that I take. This means a lot because otherwise I would be just copying everybody else without thinking about what I was doing or having an awareness of how my behavior might impact someone else. That's not cool.

When faced with an important decision I ask myself:

Will this action do harm to any person or animal?
Am I being truthful with my words?
Is my action taking something that doesn't belong to me?
What role does greed play in this activity?


I won't list them all, but I ask myself a short series of questions before coming to a final decision. Sometimes I feel like these considerations take an enormous amount of time to ponder. Often I want to jump to a conclusion and just get on with it, whatever it may be.


Whoa, slow down...an inner voice says to me. Be cool. What if someone else was about to do this and you were witness or victim (intended or not) how would you feel?

So I slow down again and ponder. Taking a deep breath or two, I chill. Then I find my way to the right action.

This past week has been tumultuous. Finding my way to a good decision required extraordinary pondering, or hipness I should say. I'm all chilled out.