A journey to the center of your core

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“ Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion.”- Rumi.

Having said that, I think we should all look within ourselves and for once just stop and notice what we are and who we are. What makes up our soul, us. It is necessary that we understand our own personal values, our beliefs, our choices. Knowing all this helps us to act upon what the universe wants us to do, our calling. They say the purpose of life is to fulfill your own destiny. To achieve this purpose, you need to understand where it lies and that is within you. This is why it is important that we comprehend the concept of core values and how to find them.

What are our personal values? Why are they necessary?

Personal values are the abstract things that matter to us or that we follow strictly by them through some moral obligation or some attachment. They help us make our decisions and overcome conflicting thoughts. They motivate us into being what we stand for and live by those means. Examples of certain values could be kindness when you share this unbreakable bond with yourself that you need to help those in need. Then there is honestly, where you stand by the truth and prefer no other option than the truth, and henceforth. These were just a few examples out of so many values out there.

Personal core values are important because you feel better when you follow them and live by them and if you don’t you will have this uneasy feeling that you are not doing something right. Also, these values affect all our decisions, the daily ones, and the life-changing ones.

Everybody is unique in their own ways, therefore their values are different. What makes one person feel safe and secure can make the other person feel stressed or anxious. That is why it is okay to have different values.

How does it affect us?

The values that we carry defines us as who we are as a person. They tend to play an important role in our lives and how we behave. The morals and ethics that you stand upon makes you unique and separates you from the rest. They also affect our daily lives. Most of the decisions we make are based on our core values. Even when we go through an internal conflict, subconsciously our mind sides with the side which we stand for, which goes by our code.

These values keep changing as we grow and mature. Even they grow up with us. Values become a lifetime partner, something that we can always be familiar with and something that we always go to in the darkest of times. They change us too. Who you were last year and who you are now are two different people, and that is not bad. It is the things and the new values that you come across and the way you perceive things change and thus you change.

How to discover your personal core values?

The journey that you make to understand yourself is an adventurous one. It is a never-ending journey and you try to keep understanding yourself until the end. But the joy does not lie at the end, no, it lies in the journey. As you wander through your soul, you keep unfolding secrets. Here are a few ways as to how you can begin to discover your values:-

Start completely new:

Start with a beginner’s mind. Many times we just tend to assume that we already know quite a few things and try going beyond through that point. That is completely unnecessary. Whenever we begin a journey, we cannot just begin from the middle of it. We need to proceed from the beginning. It is through this way that you feel find various truths about yourself of which your conscious mind is not aware of. Take deep breaths and empty the occupying thoughts and let go. Create an atmosphere of peace and understand that you will not get answers straightaway. You need to acquire patience with yourself and be kind to yourself in this process.

Write a list of your personal values:

Another important thing to do is creating a list of your personal values. It can be in any way you want it to be in. To get in the process of it, you can start asking questions to yourself. The answers you give will help you determine the things that matter to you. The list can be as long as you would like it to be. And you should not feel ashamed of it for even a fraction of a second. It is who you are and in times of need, when you feel lost and require guidance, you can always take a look at your list and have a few things set right for yourself.

Categorize your values:

You can start making smaller groups and categorize your values. Choose related themes and start grouping them under it. Most of the time values are interlinked with each other. So this should be an easy task. When you look at values such as responsibility, punctuality, and accountability, you can put them in one group. Then there are values such as intimacy and connection which can be put in another group. This helps in clearing the clutter and proves to be useful when you require the kind of group values.

Highlight your group theme:

Now, it is important that when you make the groups, you make them according to a few moral lines. For instance, you make a group of values such as honesty, integrity, nationalism, etc. You can put them in one group and the central idea could be put as integrity. This way you can easily access your ideas.

Decide your priorities:

After categorizing your values and putting them into groups and then giving a central theme to the groups, you can then choose which set matters to you on which kind of level. It is important that you put forth your main values before anything else. They are the foundations of who you are and are really essential to this journey.

Create a spark in your values:

Put forth creativity in your values. Try to make them unique and something extraordinary. Try to remember your core values and try creating catchphrases for them so that when you need it, you can just recall it and make decisions. It will help you in making your values sentimentally more important to you and will add emotions to them. It will also make your values memorable for you. Try using inspirational quotes or things that stirs an emotional response within you.

Test the environment of each value:

Now that you’ve done everything there is to do, you put your values to a test. See how your values affect your relations, your environment. Ask yourself, do they have any effects on you, and if they do what are those? How do you feel with these values? Have they made things better or worse? Find answers to these questions and based on the responses, you can work on them accordingly.