core values

When we embark to name those crucibles in our lives, we set out on a multi-layered, confusing journey.

Core values are the things (3-5 words is a good boundary) most central to your life and longings. Thematically, they can be found in the past, through childhood memories and major life shifts. They can be found in the future through examining deep desires and aspirational goals. Here is the first place we experience dissonance: we have to set apart the person we want to be from the person we are at our core, just until we find an anchor.

There are lots of great people we could be, great virtues we could want to pursue, but we have each been created uniquely different, and there are parts of who we are that will be missed if we grasp only aspirationally to a new 'us'.

I believe the best approach to finding our values lies in finding one word we know is true about our identity, that resonates deeply for us to be firmly rooted in truth. From there, we can reiteratively ensure our processing is remaining in the arena of our 'self', warring not against the mind, but against the heart as we transform into our called purpose.