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DR JOHN DEMARTINI - Updated 2 weeks ago
In today’s world, you are exposed to many new innovative ideas on how to enhance your longevity - stem cell research, nutritional research, biochemical research, and many more innovations that could not only enhance the quality of your life, but also extend the length of your life.
What is not spoken about or written about as much is how you have a power within you to impact your longevity - the impact that living congruently with your highest values has on your longevity.
It all begins with your unique hierarchy of values.
You have a unique hierarchy of values, a set of priorities that you live your life by. Your hierarchy of values range from that which is most important to least important, highest in priority to lowest in priority. Imagine the rungs on a ladder – your highest value is the very top rung, followed by your second highest value, and so on until you reach the lower rung, which is your lower value.
This set of values, or hierarchy of values, is fingerprint-specific in that no two individuals have the same exact set of values or priorities.
Here’s how it works, in a nutshell. Whenever you do some action that is highest in priority, most important, or highest in value, the action that's most meaningful, and most inspiring to you, you will spontaneously act on it. You won’t need external motivation, promises of reward, or threats of punishment to move on it. Your action will most likely be spontaneous and intrinsically happen.
In other words, as you go up your hierarchy of values “ladder”, you become more intrinsically driven, which means you’re driven from within, and you have a spontaneous inspiration to fulfill them. As you go down your list of values, actions that you perceive to be less important or unimportant, you are more likely to need outside motivation to get you to act, otherwise known as extrinsically driven.
Think of a young boy who loves gaming - nobody has to motivate him to play his Nintendo, Xbox, or PlayStation, but his parents may have to extrinsically motivate him to do his homework, finish his chores, or clean his room.
So, if something is low on his list of values, like cleaning his room, it might require the promise of a reward or fear of punishment to get him to do it. But not when it comes to him playing his console games – in which case, he will be spontaneously inspired from within to do it
What’s interesting is the physiological changes that occur when you live congruently with your highest value.
Functional MRIs have shown that when acting on your highest value, your blood, glucose, and oxygen move into the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This area of your brain is also referred to as the “executive center”, which is where you tend to be the most objective, most reasonable, less volatile, and less stressed.
The opposite is also true. When you perform tasks that are lower on your hierarchy of values and priorities, actions that are less important and likely ones you are doing because you perceive that you “should” or “have to” do them, your blood, glucose, and oxygen move into the amygdala in the subcortical brain. This is your systems 1, fight-or-flight area of your brain, which assigns valency, meaning it assigns negative or positive charges to what you’re receiving from your senses. This results in polarized perceptions, or ‘negative’ or ‘positive’ emotions that result in an instinct to avoid or an impulse to seek, in other words, your phobias or philias.
Stress occurs when you perceive you’re experiencing the loss of something you’re seeking or when you perceive you’re gaining something you're trying to avoid.
- Distress often plays a key role in illness or ‘dis-ease’. When you perform lower priorities or lower-value actions, you most likely add distress to your life, which can shorten your lifespan.
However, when you live congruently or in alignment with your highest values, you likely increase your longevity by being more objective, neutral, resilient, and adaptable.
Aristotle and the ancient Greeks referred to this as “Telos”, which essentially means “having the end in mind”. American author, Napoleon Hill, described it as having a chief aim or primary objective. The key point is that when you align your actions to this ultimate purpose, your brain responds in a remarkable way. As I’ve already mentioned, your blood, glucose, and oxygen flow to your upper forebrain, activating the telencephalon, the part of the brain associated with higher thinking and decision-making.
In essence, living with a clear purpose quite literally fuels your brain’s capacity to function more efficiently.
Your telencephalon (also known as your cerebrum) plays an important role, not only in your cognitive function, but also in your genetics in that it influences your telomeres, which are the protective caps at the ends of your chromosomes. When you’re attempting to live in accordance with your lower values, your telomeres shorten (which is associated with aging and cellular decline) and when you are living congruently with your highest values, they lengthen (promoting longevity and overall well-being). There’s an inspiring TED talk The Science of Cells that Never Grow Old presented by Elizabeth Blackburn which you may find valuable to review that explains why perception is so powerful in wellbeing and longevity.
It's also been found that when you live congruently with your highest values, you tend to be disciplined, reliable, and focused. You achieve more, you are more certain, have a greater belief in yourself, wake up your leadership capacity, and have increased self-worth. As such, you tend to walk your talk, not limp your life. When you achieve something, you’ll also tend to want to achieve something even greater – greater goals and greater timeframes - thereby expanding your space and time horizons.
Your body, because of what you're envisioning and striving for, tends to be more adaptable which helps you live longer.
I've been teaching a 2-day seminar program called the Breakthrough Experience for almost four decades. Helping people identify their unique hierarchy of values is an important part of the program.
What’s interesting is that when people are living according to their highest values, they tend to identify themselves by their highest value. For instance, my highest value is teaching and I identify myself as a teacher.
If your highest value is raising beautiful children, you'll likely identify yourself as a mother. If your highest value is pole vaulting, you'll identify yourself as a pole vaulter. If your highest value is entrepreneurship, you'll identify yourself by that.
Your true ontological identity revolves around what you value most. Your unique teleological purpose revolves around it. What you excel at revolves around it. So, when you know yourself, you’ll know your mission and purpose.
It’s for this reason that I often say that your highest value is really one of the most important things you can learn on your journey to self-mastery, which is why I talk about values in every talk I ever present.
What’s also interesting is that when you live congruently with your highest values, you not only become more reasonable and less emotionally volatile and expand your space and time horizons by giving yourself permission to do something greater, but you also extend your life because you have less perceived stress.
Your autonomic nervous system is made of parasympathetic and sympathetic divisions. When they’re in a state of balance, you increase your longevity, and when they're in a state of imbalance, you shorten it. So your longevity has a lot to do with how congruent you are living with your highest values, which is your ontological identity and the key to a more balanced state of mind.
Authenticity also plays a key role in longevity.
Authenticity means living according to who you are instead of subordinating to outer authorities, comparing yourself to others, putting people on pedestals or in pits, trying to change others relative to you or you relative to them, and trying to be someone you’re not. These inauthentic behaviors tend to distract you and create drama and judgment. But when you are doing what you love and loving what you do with the people that you love, and living congruently with your highest values, you increase your resilience, adaptability, and longevity.
As I mentioned earlier, stress is the perception of loss of that which you seek and the perception of gain of that which you try to avoid. So, if you're highly polarized, valent, and emotionally charged, you tend to be more distressed, have more fears, and are more likely to age quickly. You have probably experienced periods of stress and looked in the mirror and thought that you have aged five to ten years overnight.
However, if you’re in a state of grace, love, inspiration, enthusiasm, certainty, and presence, and you're poised, present, purposeful, prioritized, patient, productive, and empowered, you tend to have a longer life.
It’s another reason why I tell people in my Breakthrough Experience program and almost every talk that I do, that it's so important to know what your highest value is. I also have a dedicated section on my website dedicated to helping you determine your values. It takes just 30 minutes of your time, and is free, aimed at helping you align your life with your unique hierarchy of values.
When you identify your highest value, you can start prioritizing your life, increasing your longevity, and unleashing your vitality. Your vitality in life is directly proportionate to the vividness of your vision, and when you’re living congruently with your highest value, you end up with a clearer vision. As a result, you’ll also have less brain noise and emotional drama that's likely distorting and clouding the clarity of what you would love to do in life.
So, if you’d love to increase your longevity, you can do many external things to help yourself – nutrition, exercise, supplements, stem cell procedures – or you can take command internally by taking back your power and mastering your life. As I said in the movie, The Secret, many years ago: when the voice and vision on the inside are louder than all opinions on the outside, you've begun to master your life.
You can allow your inner authentic self to dictate your destiny. You can live by design, not duty, and learn to prioritize your life, because if you don't fill your day with high priority actions that really inspire you, which increases your longevity, your day's likely to fill up with low priority distractions that don't, which will shorten it.
No-one is going to get up in the morning and dedicate their life to your fulfillment. So, if you're not designing your own life, living by priority, and sticking to what's most meaningful and inspiring, people are more likely to project their expectations on you, which will tend to exhaust and drain you instead of vitalize you.
I believe that if you take the time to identify what's highest on your values and prioritize your life, you'll increase your longevity. If you don’t, you’re setting yourself up to create greater drama to try to get you back to authenticity. All the signs and symptoms of your body, society, relationships, and business are feedback mechanisms guiding you to this highest priority, this highest value, this authentic self, this ontological identity.
If you follow it and you live by it, you’re more likely to be rewarded with a longer life, a more vital life, less drama, less stress, less illness, and more productivity and profitability.
You have the power to add years to your life and life to your years by prioritizing your life and being authentic.
To Sum Up:
- You have a power within you to impact your longevity by living congruently with your highest values.
- Your hierarchy of values ranges from the thing that's most important to least important, highest in priority to lowest in priority.
- When acting on your highest value, your blood, glucose, and oxygen move into your brain’s ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This area of your brain is also referred to as the “executive center”, which is where you tend to be the most objective, most reasonable, less volatile, and less stressed.
- When you live congruently or in alignment with your highest values, you likely increase your longevity by being more objective, neutral, resilient, and adaptable.
- It's also been found that when you live congruently with your highest values, you tend to be disciplined, reliable, and focused. You achieve more, are more certain, have a greater belief in yourself, wake up your leadership capacity, and have increased self-worth.
- Your body, because of what you're envisioning and striving for, tends to adapt by helping you live longer.
- Your true ontological identity revolves around what you value most. Your unique purpose revolves around it. What you excel at revolves around it. So, when you know yourself, you’ll know your mission and purpose.
- It’s for this reason that I often say that your highest value is really one of the most important things you can learn on your journey to self-mastery, which is why I talk about values in every talk I ever do.
- If you are inspired to identify your highest value, unleash your vitality, increase your longevity, and wake up in the morning with a crystal-clear plan of the wisest way to prioritize your day, I would love to help you with that! I've been teaching a program called the Breakthrough Experience for almost four decades, and helping people identify their unique hierarchy of values is an important part of the 2-day program. I am certain that I can help you identify your highest value, prioritize your life, and awaken a sense of purpose that changes the trajectory of your life!
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Important Notice:
The content shared in this blog is for education and personal development. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any psychological or medical conditions. The information and processes shared are for general educational purposes only and should not be considered a substitute for professional mental-health or medical advice. If you are experiencing acute distress or ongoing clinical concerns, please consult a licensed health-care provider.
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