Living by my values

During my journey, one of the most defining moments was when I listed and began living by my core values. When considering my values, I had to determine what was the most important thing to me at that moment in my life. You see, values will change as you achieve goals, get older, or reevaluate their importance.  They are what you can always look back on to see if you are truly aligned with the life that you desire. When I was not intentionally living by my values, I did not know why I was doing certain things nor did I have any real motivating factors.  To put it bluntly, I was just floating through life with no real direction. Once I knew and lived by my values, I was able to make all of my decision based on them. Life began to get very easy because there was no confusion or questioning if things were right or wrong.  When making decisions on relationships, business, activities, events, and everything that had to do with day to day life I would think back to my values. If the decision was aligned with my values I would move forward, and if they were not then I would know that it was not the right choice for me.  Once my values were determined, every goal I made had a purpose and every opportunity that I chose to act upon moved me closer to those goals.     

In determining my core values, I first decided to categorize the different areas of my life.   I needed to decide what I was going to focus on first whether it was career values, relationship values, family values, spiritual values, wealth/money values, quality of life/personal values, or health values.  Knowing that all areas are important, I had to determine what was the MOST significant at this stage in my life.  I had to ask myself, “What do I really want? What is important to me right now, at this moment, in my life?” 

I decided to begin with my personal values and realized that many of these values carried over into every area of my life.  As I wrote down my values, I also added a few sentences describing why that value was of the upmost importance.  I was also able to combine certain values by doing this.  Here are a few of the values that I began with:

1. God- Having faith and knowing that God is always with me allows me to see the trials and challenges in my life as opportunities for growth (not just my successes). 
2. Meditation- Meditation allows me to have a sense of clarity and focus.  It keeps me calm and positive, seeing only possibilities and opportunities.  It is through meditation that I form and visualize my grandest visions.
3. Success- Success, to me, means adding value not only to my own life, but to the lives of others. I consider myself successful when I inspire and empower others to live up to and reach their full potential.
4. Personal Growth and Development- Continuing to grow and learn more about myself will, in turn, add value to everyone around me. It enhances my mind, spirit and confidence. The effects of personal growth and development are self reflection, openness, and taking responsibility for my life and its outcomes. When I become better, I attract better people, situations, and circumstances.
5. Authenticity-  Being authentic helps me to spread my message in a way that is comfortable to myself and others. People notice that I am compassionate, genuine, empathetic, respectful, willing to communicate and be of service to others. Being authentic leads to quality relationships which, in turn, leads to partnerships and collaborations towards the greater good of all.

Easily listed, these are my personal values:

God

meditation

vision

success

add value

inspire

empower

personal growth and development (living up to my fullest potential)

self reflection

openness

taking responsibility

authenticity

compassionate

empathetic

respectful

willing to communicate

service

quality relationships

Each bolded word is a value that I choose to live by.  I make choices and decisions based on these values because this is what I stand for and they are what is important in my life.  Interestingly enough, once I developed my list of personal values, I realized that these values carried over into other areas of my life.

What values do you live by?