Saturday, January 22, 2011

Values

One’s values indicate what is deemed as worthy, what is esteemed.  Therefore, what you value let’s you know who you are and becomes a guide when making decisions.  Values are important because they allow you to know who it is that’s making the choices and why they are being made.  Let’s take some time to let you discover, or remind yourself, a bit about your values by answering the following questions:

The first thing you can remember wanting to be is important because when you were little there were no barriers.  You could be whatever you wanted to be.  As a result, your answer indicates a lot about what has always interested you.  You may not be able to engage in the occupation you first dreamed of, however you want to attempt to work at something that resembles what that first desire represented.  So, what is the first thing you can remember wanting to be?

The relationship that is the most satisfying to you is your groundedness.  It is what links you to someone/something else that is very important to you and that you do not want to harm or destroy.   Therefore, whatever you do in life will need to honor this relationship.  So, what is the most satisfying relationship in your life at this time and why is it satisfying?

Your answer to the question “How would you like to be remembered?” gives you your guidepost for determining who you want to be today.  This is because if you were to die tomorrow, you would be remembered for who you were today.  Therefore, thinking about how you want to be remembered will give you a good idea of how you want to run your life each day.  So, how would you like to be remembered?

And, here is a list of 25 words that represent values.  Rank-order the 10 that are most important to you and explain why each is significant to you:

Achievement   Art/Music   Beauty   Challenge   Community   Education   Fame   Family   Friends   Harmony   Health   Home   Love   Mission   Money   Nature   Peace   Pleasure   Religion/Spirituality   Respect   Security   Self-expression   Service   Status   Truth

Copyright 2011  Lynn Borenius Brown


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4 comments:

  1. If one had many barriers and was unable to answer this question, would I just move on to the next question?
    I have to say that I have always been jealous of people who say that they have always wanted to be X since they could remember. I realize that those are the people who are in jobs they love and are most sucessful.

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  2. If you need to skip the first question, that's okay. This question has more to do with what you'd dream about, imagine, etc. when you were a child. It is okay if this is abstract because it is the essence of your childhood dreams that is significant. The childhood imaginings reflect your True Self that never really changes over time.

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  3. If one's dreams were about safety, security, and normalicy (as you saw it), then as you got older any job that fit that bill was satisfying to some degree. Because of course it is a "job."Then I was going to say that maybe one's dreams would change over time-then you said that doesn't happen? Maybe mine haven't changed--the reason that I can not very easily--almost painstakingly difficult to answer this most crucial 1st question.

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  4. It sounds as though your dreams in childhood represented survival-type concerns. If/when these issues are resolved, you will have the luxury of having dreams that extend beyond this. When children grow up feeling safe, they are free to dream about what lies within them - their innate talents, etc. When this is not the case, they are limited because of the immediate needs that are not being fulfilled.

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