Step One of Living a Purposeful Life
In the last few weeks I have spoken a great deal about living a purposeful and meaningful life – a life that is shaped and guided by our values.
Let’s dig a little deeper today and examine what values are and three ways to identify yours.
What are values?
Values lie at the very heart of personal meaning and purpose. They are defined by Acceptance and Commitment Therapy as “verbally constructed, global, desired and chosen life directions.”* Values are not goals, they are the guiding principles which shape and define our lives. You can think of values as a direction, with no end point, whereas you can think of goals as something that can be finished, checked off, or accomplished. We set goals in service of our values.
Values tap into what really matters to us as individuals, and what we perceive as a well-lived life to look like. You’ll know if you’ve tapped into a value because talking about it, thinking about, and acting in service of it will ignite in you a powerful feeling of vitality, energy and inspiration. Our values have the potential to light us up and wake us up… (more…)