Core Values
Often, the loudest voice in your life comes from your self-talk.
Without clear direction and foundation, your self-talk becomes easily influenced by the perception of others, your ego, and myriad stimuli available to you from external sources. What helps you find your ‘center’ are your core values. Your core values are the intangible beliefs that serve as your moral and ethical compass through life. Your core values are often described indirectly as: your ‘true north’, your guidepost, your lighthouse in the storm, or your intuition (gut feeling).
To live in congruence and in accordance with your core values is a form of conscious mindfulness. It requires intentionally slowing your emotional impulses and knee-jerk reactions to stimuli. It requires a level of deep listening and trust in your foundational beliefs. It requires patterns of deliberately speaking in a manner that conveys your beliefs and values. Most importantly, it requires the unwavering confidence that your core values are solely yours - freely chosen and internally cherished and praised. Your core values afford you the gift of wisdom (being content with oneself and exercising self-control) and the willingness to assume 100% responsibility for your thoughts and actions.
I encourage you to make time to complete a values assessment to arrive at the core values that will drive your decisions, guide your behaviors, and filter your words. There are various exercises available to you online or schedule an appointment with me to walk through a values exploration experience. Whatever the method, what’s evident is that you owe it to yourself to get crystal clear about your core values: identify your ‘true north’, clear the debris covering your guidepost, detoxify your intuition, and chart a course that leads to your lighthouse!
- Coach Chris
Quote for Growth
“Core values serve as a lighthouse when the fog of life seems to leave you wandering in circles; when you encounter that moment where every decision is a tough one and no choice seems to clearly be the better choice.”