The Pursuit of Core Values
6 MINUTE READ
My foundational values are the roots that hold me in times of sway. They are the principles and beliefs that I continually revisit, so that I may never forget who I truly am and how I want to be known. Constant cultivation allows their essence to remain at the forefront. Like mining any treasure, it is the best parts of us that require the most searching and once found, the most tending.
My values are complex in terms of what they mean to me and how I want to utilize them in my life. Everybody experiences things differently when pursuing the discovery of their own core values. My own awareness led me to my three core values of autonomy, contribution, and spirituality.
Autonomy is my first core value. My mission regarding this value is to aspire to manifest the qualities of self-determination and independence. I strive to do this by embracing the intuition of my own creatively unique essence. It is important for me to govern this road via internal not external influences. This creates the space and clarity needed for me to appropriately question and challenge authority and norms. This journey allows me to then empower myself and others through my actions and purpose.
My second foundational value of contribution is significantly influenced by autonomy. My mission in connecting with contribution is to aspire to affect communities and the world in meaningful, lasting, and positive ways. I want to accomplish this by sharing my innermost experiences with others and to create opportunities to fully know and be known by others. It is my goal to create deeply empowered relationships and to remain aware of opportunities gifted to embrace rooted connections with communities at large.
Spirituality is my final core value that brings everything together. Spirituality, for me, is the canopy under which the heart of autonomy and contribution are able to thrive. My mission regarding this value is to always aspire to seek connection with my subconscious. I explore this through the energies, forces, and signs presented by the universe. I do this in the hopes that it will help me to care for and nourish my mental and emotional well-being through channels inclusive of conscious awareness, meditation, connecting to nature, journaling, and intuitive resonance. This foundational value acts as a bridge between shadow and light and allows me to appreciate the symbolic knowledge that exists all around us.
The truth and strength of my values lies in how they balance one another and work together in my life. I believe, without a doubt, that how I understand and integrate all three of them will continue to evolve and transform. This is inevitable as I continue to have new experiences, epiphanies, and seasons along the way. Discovery never has to end.
Questions worth exploring when building a relationship with your own decided values:
1) How do my values relate to previous traumas being a driving force in my life?
2) How does each value connect to or impact my work and my overall creative being?
3) What positive and negative experiences in my life can I connect to each of my values? Why do those threads exist? How can I use them meaningfully?
4) What parts of me, both good and bad, do these values awaken?
5) How can these values and the knowledge of self I have attained from them help me to heal my own wounds?
6) How do these values relate to my own personal journey with the archetype of the wounded healer?
7) How do I want to utilize these values in my personal life and out in the world? Why?
8) In what ways do I turn towards my values during times of struggle? Or do I run from them instead?
9) What possibilities might keep me from acting upon my values? What are my obstacles here?
10) What are my fears pertaining to each of my core values? Why do those fears exist?
Challenge: I recommend Mimi Kuo-Deemer’s short YouTube videos on Qigong for the elements practices as being a wonderful way to start each morning. These are beautiful expressions of purposeful forms of physical movement. Consider experiencing at least 10-15 minutes of her videos each morning for a month (or through independent searching maybe there are other Qigong videos that might resonate better with you). What I experienced was healing, restoration, clarity, and balance. Qigong for the water and the earth elements seem to impact me the best. My favorite exercise is cloud hands which activates the water element. This form of movement reminds me of how important balance is in all aspects of life and when performing it, I feel such a wonderful sense of peace.
Hint: This challenge may help support you in finding the balance of self that is needed to discover and learn more about what your foundational values are, as well as the threads that bring them together. You may also come to understand what makes them one source of power in your life by helping you to listen better. Qigong’s wisdom lies in the ability to harmonize the mind, body, and spirit.
Journal: Start researching foundational values or core values. In time you will find your own values that make sense for you and your life. Consider how you feel they connect and flow with one another. Once your values become clear to you, ask yourself what you can do to better validate their presence in your life.
Fact: You may have difficulty at first narrowing them down and maybe you can’t, maybe that will not come until further along on your journey. Start somewhere and evolution will happen.
Hint: One thing I realized when I was having trouble narrowing things down for myself was that several of the values that I resonated with on my journey could be found under the umbrella of one particular value.
Ex: I resonated with independence, perseverance, accountability, authenticity, and freedom, all of which for my purposes can be encompassed under the umbrella that is Autonomy.
Ex: I resonated with compassion, connection, collaboration, generosity, and communication, all of which for my purposes can be encompassed under the umbrella that is Contribution.
Ex: I resonated with open mindedness, creativity, balance, faith, and knowledge, all of which for my purposes can be encompassed under the umbrella that is Spirituality.
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