How do ethics affect our daily lives? Do all virtues resonate equally with us? How has our conditioning as children in our families, communities, and cultures formed how ethics play out for us now as adults?Hello and welcome everyone. Today we’re exploring ethics and how our motivations and behavior reflect our personal ethics. As children we are conditioned by the ethics of our family, community, and society at large. We were probably taught how we should behave when confronted with an ethical dilemma as defined by our parents, teachers, and religious leaders. Most likely we carry around an ethical rule book in our heads based on our early life conditioning. This ethical rule book tells us what to do even when circumstances have changed.Life is complex and new. Complicated and confusing ethical situations arise all the time and the rule book in our head doesn’t come close to helping us wade through the complexity and ambiguity or aid us in ethical investigation and the appropriate choice of behavior in a given ethical situation. Ethics is about behavior and about motivation. It's not just how we act--how we respond, it is also about what is motivating us to respond and act the way we do.The more we are mindful—present, attentive, and curious—to ourselves and the world around us, the deeper our wisdom and compassion will be. We will respond skillfully when greed, hate, fear, or anything else that gets in the way of our ethical judgment. The more mindful we are, the deeper our understanding because we are willing to look under the covers and see the whole truth about something. This, in turn, enriches our discernment and allows us to make ethical choices that go beyond the surface; go beyond what we read on social media; go beyond what the rule book in our head says.This week I invite you to explore the rule book in your head. You might ask these and other similar questions that resonate with you. How was ethics viewed and practiced in my family?How did the prevailing culture inform how ethics were practiced in my family? What ethics training and teachings did you receive growing up?Speak with someone in your family to better understand the role of ethical formation in your family.Talk to someone—maybe a friend or colleague from another culture to explore similarities and differences with your own ethical formation growing up.Write down what you discover. Does spending time with your childhood ethical formation shed light on your motivations and behavior today? How and how not?I hope you enjoy the podcast and made you curious about your ethical formation as a kid, so that you can now explore more deeply your ethical motivations and behaviors today.A new guided meditation on vitality is available this week on the podcast member website at www.patreon.com/yourmindfullife.I hope you enjoyed the show. Thank you for listening and I’d also like to thank the people behind the scenes that make it possibleGorgias Romero for original music, audio engineering and production;Bill Rafferty for technical web support; Allie Allen for logo and podcast cover design; and Margaret Haas for announcing the showBe well. Be mindful. SUPPORT THE PODCASTFollow or subscribe to the podcast, download the episodes and share them with friends and on social media. And, don’t forget to review the podcast on Apple podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen. Become a member of the podcast via Patreon. Go to the member page at wwSupport the show Thank you for listening!Be well. Be mindful.

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