3. OVAX: Opportunities, Values, Actions, Experiences Definitions
This blog explains the boxes of the OVAX icon shown in Blog 1.
Opportunities (O) are the choices that life presents to us at different periods of our lives, i.e. our different Life Seasons. They are often called destiny, coincidences, openings. In Christianity, we believe that they are part of God's plan for us, like road signs that, in our "free will", we may decide to follow.
We may be able to create our own opportunities through our efforts and manifestations (if we believe that something will happen, then it will become real!).
The brown colour of the Opportunity box in the pictures signifies "reality", what is commonly considered "the outside world" in a materialist view, but still inside us if we accept the philosophy of idealism. Opportunities may come to us with alternative places and times for our choice of specific Actions.
Examples are:
Different choices of schools to attend, in our "School days" (one of our early Life Season);
Different jobs to apply for, at our "Start of Career" Season;
A special person we meet, who is willing to marry us, at our "Start of Family Life Season";
New job offers, career changes, opportunities to move abroad, … in our "Mid-life";
Our possible hobbies and activities at "Retirement".
When we take up an Opportunity (on the basis of our Values), it becomes one of our "chosen Actions" at a specific time and place.
Values (V) are personal objectives and intentions that last over long time periods, evolving across "Life Seasons", from childhood to retirement. The green colour of the Value box in the pictures signifies that Values are "inside us", they are connected to our consciousness, our self, our spirit, and may be part of our Eternity, at least in their spiritual/ contemplative expressions (this is shown by the dotted line connecting the Value box to Eternity). Values are different for each of us and include things we admire, we support, we consider important. I use the form "To xxx" for Values, for example "To make new friends", "To search for my purpose in life". I use "I, my, me" to refer to any of my readers, who can read those sentences as their personal statements. Each reader can assign to each of their Values a measure of personal importance (Vimp, 0 to 100%) and of a gap they need to fill with their Actions for their full achievement of that Value (Vgap, 0 to 100%).
Actions (A) are specific in place and time, and they can be in the present, or past (e.g. a past Life Story), or future (e.g. a future plan, or a Personal Mission Statement). The brown colour of the Action box in the pictures signifies "reality", what is commonly considered "the outside world" in a materialist view, but still inside us if we accept the philosophy of idealism.
Here are some examples, a couple of them from my own life story (I use the form "xxx-ing" for Actions): Going to art museum XYZ tomorrow morning, or every Sunday (a habit); Leaving London to get married in Jamaica; Taking up a computer consulting job in the Jamaican Government; Writing book XYZ; Developing my investment software; Developing habits XYZ for health and exercise; Contributing towards a better world by starting the XYZ project; Reading about spiritual issues and religion in books XYZ; Taking part in a campaign XYZ that supports environmental protection, control of climate change, and related international agreements.
XYZ shows that actions are specific in place and time. Ideas for possible Actions can be arrived at, by considering each Value and asking the question "How" several times. Vice versa, new Values can be discovered by considering a desirable Action and asking the question "Why" several times.
Experiences (X) are the results of the Actions we undertake, i.e. the Value achievements produced by these Actions (for Past Actions) or expected achievements from future plans. I measure this by "VAach", which is the achievement produced by Action y with respect to Value x. This measure can be my direct guesstimate, or the result of the following calculation:
VxAyAch = VxImp * VxGgap * VxAyPot
VxAyPot = VxAyTal * VxAySuit
("Pot" is potential; "Tal" is talents; "Suit" is suitability; all measures are 0 to 100%).
These formulae and variables will be explained in the maths blog.
Of course, experiences can be good or bad, satisfying or disappointing. For example, when going to a museum, we can enjoy its works of art and learn from them (the museum has a good "potential" for that) if we can use our knowledge of art, our ability to stand in the museum for a long time, etc. If we get tired easily, this Experience can be disappointing. The yellow colour of the Experience box in the OVAX icon signifies "inside us but conditioned by reality and destiny". Some Experiences may develop us spiritually, and therefore they connect with Eternity, as shown by the dotted line in the Experience box.
If you are interested in this methodology, read the blogs in order, starting from the first one.