There’s an easy way to quickly step into the most powerful and empowered version of you: that’s by living according to your core values.
Whether you’re conscious of it or not, your core values are the pillars of your life! They’re the foundation that everything else is built on.
While you can get through life just fine without knowing what yours are, knowing them is a powerful tool in your personal self-care box.
It makes it easier to focus on what’s important and to leave the rest behind.
Simply identifying what our overall mission is allows us to also see what isn’t worth our time or attention. They can bring amazing clarity into complex situations.
If life is a video game, this is like having some cheat codes! But there’s no actual cheating involved of course. All you need to do to find yours is to take the time to self-reflect and listen to what your soul has to say.
It would be difficult to create a truly fulfilling and amazing life with no awareness of your own internal value system.
A conscious life doesn’t just happen (at least for most of us!). Most of us don’t just wake up with this internal knowledge. So we need to ask ourselves these important questions and notice our own patterns.
Some of our best wisdom can only be found from looking deep within. That’s just another reason why ongoing self-work is so important to your overall happiness.
Think of your core values as just another key to authenticity–and as I’m always saying, authenticity is power! Knowing what’s right for you in this life makes you something of a supernova.
Truly knowing what’s a priority for you allows you to really focus on what matters.
How To Find Your Core Values
Find Your Core Values Step #1:
Brainstorm
To find your core values, take a few minutes for yourself and start writing down any ideas that spring to mind. You might have some very clear ideas right away, which is wonderful! But I’d still suggest working through these additional questions to bring yourself a little more clarity.
Taking stock of your life from differing viewpoints offers clear insight and an overall more accurate vision of you.
To help you uncover your own personal core values, here are some key questions to ask:
Get started by noticing what’s most near and dear to your heart. What do you absolutely need to feel fulfilled and happy in this life?
Where do you spend your time?
What do you absolutely love to focus on?
What activities do you most enjoy doing?
Where do you spend your money?
It’s also helpful to think about your life experiences. Think of your most shining moments. What was going on for you then? What made those things stand out. You might also want to think about the negative experiences in your life and what they taught you. What makes you really upset or angry? What can you learn about yourself from those strong emotions?
Find Your Core Values Step #2:
Group Similar Ideas Together
Take a look at what you’ve come up with and start looking for common themes. Perhaps you’ve come up with travel and freelancing. Together, those might actually indicate freedom: the ability to live life truly on your terms. To make it easier, grab another piece of paper and start grouping like-words together until the concepts seem a bit more solid.
Find Your Core Values Step #3:
Choose 3-4 Core Values
By now, some major themes should be popping out on you! Narrow down your selections until you come up with three or four major themes. And voila! Now you’ve got your own personal core values right in front of you.
Find Your Core Values Step #4:
Living In Integrity
As you move through life this week, keep your core values in mind. Simply understanding these key pieces of your personality can bring so much clarity about matters both big and small. Notice how your existing routines reflect your findings then make any necessary adjustments. Perhaps (like me!) creativity is a major theme for you yet there are few outlets in your normal week that show this. Enrolling in an art or music class would be a great example of embracing your code.
My Core Values
Curious about what this looks like in practice? Today I’m sharing my top three core values.
Freedom
I do my best work when I’m not feeling watched or controlled. This is a big reason why I left the corporate world! My soul craves doing things on its own time. I don’t want a boss micromanaging me nor do I really think it’s truly essential to have to show up somewhere at 9am on the dot. (Argh!) I used to think all that stuff made me kind of lazy but since becoming an online entrepreneur I’ve come to understand that’s not true at all! I love working, especially when I’m inspired and am working on projects that really light me up. So creating this job (and to a greater degree moving to Berlin) has given me all the freedom I never had at my previous 9-5 life.
Creativity/Expression
Waking up every day and being able to express myself is of high importance to me. Yes, it’s another reason why I’m a digital entrepreneur! I channel my words every day into Instagram posts, my books or blog posts. But as someone who technically started blogging in 2001 on Livejournal, I can’t really even imagine life another way! Although I’m not chronically my daily ups and downs anymore, my blog and Instagram accounts still provide me with an amazing creative outlet. It’s all essential to my happiness.
Authenticity
Living your truth is of key importance to me! That includes both honoring your unique inner mission as well as being honest with your words. Few things make me more wary than people who lie or misrepresent themselves. Ironically, one of my past relationship partners was a “chronic embellisher” and it was a huge source of contention. Just being privy to it made me feel out of alignment! Conversely, I’m honest to a tee and am sometimes prone to just randomly blurting things out that perhaps I really didn’t need to. However, knowing this about myself is so powerful. (And if I ever encounter a “chronic embellisher” again, I’ll be out the door ASAP.)
We’re all meant to live our own unique expression during our time here on earth! The more you can get curious and learn about what’s important to you, the more you’ll be able to step into your true strength. From a manifesting perspective, there’s nothing more powerful than authenticity! The more you make living from your core values a habit, the more magnetism you’ll ultimately create.
So tell me: what did you learn today about your authentic code? Which of your core values surprised you? How are you going to incorporate what you’ve learned into your day-to-day life?
Good luck discovering your own core values! I’d love it if you came back here and shared what you came up with.
PS Looking for more? You might also want to check out this post about signs that you’re operating from fear or this one about 7 signs that love is on its way.
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