Knowing Your Values

Years ago, I purchased a workshop to help me determine my values and to learn how live in alignment with them. The opening statement of the workshop was: “If you don’t know your top five values, you are living unconsciously and you are allowing others to determine your value including how you spend your time, your money, the quality of your relationships and how you manage your power.” That statement resonated deeply and I was committed to this learning.

During that workshop, I could see that by allowing others to determine my value I was giving them my power; I was unconsciously doing exactly what I didn’t want to do. I could also see that if my unconscious values were not in alignment with what I desired for my life, I could be sabotaging myself and wouldn’t even know it. When it came time to dive into the exercise to determine our values, I was determined to walk away from that workshop with my top five values in the forefront of my mind. And that is what I did!

After the workshop, I would take time every week to sit down with my list of values and reflect on the past week.  Where had I lived in alignment with my values? Where could I improve? I constantly questioned if the values on my list supported the life I desired to live. Once a year I took my list of values and discerned if it needed to be revised. As my consciousness expanded, some of the things I once valued were no longer important to me. 

Knowing my values helped me see clearly what was out of alignment in my life and guided me to be true to my purpose. As I continued to work with my values, I came to see that I actually had two lists: 

Ego Values                                                      

Freedom                                                         

Health and wellbeing                                  

Life experience                                              

Relationship                                                    

Beauty                                                             

Heart (Soul) Values                                                       

Universal love                                 

Compassion                                             

Kindness                                                    

Truth                                                             

Trust

In time, I learned that when I lived my ego values through my heart values, I was aligned with my purpose. Aligned with my purpose, I was able to engage in life more fully from my power. I no longer needed my value to be validated by others. I valued myself and my value could not be determined by another or measured. Another thread of the patriarchal story had been unraveled and I was no longer giving my power to the ‘need to feel valued’ pattern. 

If you struggle with knowing your value and look to others for validation of your worth, knowing your values and living in alignment with them can lead you to living your deeper truth.