Make Life Easier – Be Clear on Your Values

The last few weeks we have focused on strategies to function at your best. They covered physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. This week, we are going to look at values. The reason is when we live a life that is aligned with our values, we are living a fulfilled life.

Values aren’t morals or principles. They are the essence of who you are—not who you think you should be. For example, some people feel having money is a value. Please be aware that money is not a value. The things that money may provide you such as free time, risk-taking, and being of service are values.

It is when we are aligned with our values, that we feel inner harmony, our choices are more easily made, and our actions are in agreement with our true self.

This is a quiz I found which allows you to see how well you are living in accord with your values.

1. I have spent time clarifying my values and can articulate them easily.
2. My values are my own. I have not simply adopted them from parents, teachers, friends or other outside influences.
3. I base my choice of occupation on my deepest values.
4. My values are in alignment with the company I work for (or own).
5. My associates and I regularly examine how we are living up to our values and mission.
6. I turn down money-making or status-building opportunities when they conflict with my values.
7. In resolving disputes at work, I look beneath the apparent problem to see if values are being dishonored, and then I seek ways to honor them.
8. Anyone looking at my life from the outside would see what I value.
9. I use my values as a guidepost for making decisions. I ask if a particular choice would bring me closer to—or further from—a core value.
10. When I feel upset, it’s almost always because my values are being trampled—either by me, someone else, or the situation.
11. I am not easily swayed by others’ opinions when they conflict with my values.
12.  To remain open and flexible, I am willing to re-examine my values to determine whether something is still true for me.
13. I find creative ways to honor all of my values—even when they conflict with one another.
14. My work values are in harmony with my personal and relationship values.
15. If I live according to my values, I will feel satisfied and successful throughout my life.

If you answered false more often than true, you may wish to clarify your deepest values and bring your life into greater alignment with them. Even if you answered true more than false, these questions provide a base by which you can ponder how you can improve living a value based life.

Take some time to think through these questions and don’t rush through them. Ponder and dig deep always looking for a better answer, a more considered answer, a truthful answer. Not the one you want to answer, but the answer you know is true and correct. If these questions were uncomfortable then don’t worry. Each week take one question, think of what you would love your answer to be and then start living that way.