Lao Tzu, depicted as a Taoist god.
Just knowing our personal values alone will not make us successful. We have to live our values and we do that by using them to guide our choices and our behavior. The problem is that if we do not constantly remind ourselves of them, we will inevitably forget them and they will fall into disuse. To avoid this, we should publish our values, even if it is only to ourselves. We do this by writing and perhaps illustrating our personal Values Statement.
Our values can be expressed in different ways. What is important is that we express them in a way that motivates us to honor them and that we publish them in a way that ensures we are constantly reminded of them.
The first choice we must make is whether to write one sentence or paragraph that incorporates all our values; e.g. I live my life with integrity, humor, and enlightenment, and continually strive to be of service to those in need whilst maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The problem with this approach is that we lose the meaning and importance of each values and are unable to express how we will go about honoring our values. That is not to say that this approach is wrong, but it is too brief to capture the fullness of the values is expresses. The other alternative is to write a sentence or two for each value. I will expand on this approach in this article.
One way of stating our values is by means of affirmations. There are six rules to writing value affirmations:
- Value affirmations are written using positive language, e.g. “I live a healthy life by eating healthily, exercising regularly and resting my body so that I have the energy and endurance to achieve my goals” instead of “I don’t eat junk food, go a day without exercise, or overwork myself”. We do not want to be repeating phrases like “junk food”, “without exercise” or “overwork myself” because if that is what our brain hears, it will play them back to us and tempt us into doing these things. Instead, we want to cultivate a positive mental image so that our brain gives us encouraging messages.
- Value affirmations are written in the first person – using “I”. The example above does not read “We live a healthy life…” or “People live healthy lives…”. By bringing ourselves into the affirmation we draw our attention to our behavior, which is far more powerful than referring to people generally.
- Value affirmations are written in the present tense. The example above does not read “I will live a healthy life…”. Telling our mind that we are already doing something is far more powerful than positioning it as something we may do at some unspecified future date.
- Value affirmations include the value itself. In the example above the value is Healthy Life.
- Value affirmations include what we will do to honor the value. The example above refers to eating healthily, exercising regularly and resting my body.
- Value affirmations state why the value is important. The example above states that a Healthy Life is important because it gives me the energy and endurance to achieve my goals.
Here are some templates to use when writing values statements. Use one template for each of your top five values.
- I am (insert value, e.g. living a healthy life) by (insert what you are doing, e.g. eating healthy) so that (insert why it’s important, e.g. I have endurance).
- To live each day with (insert value, e.g. health) so that (insert why, e.g. I have endurance) I am (insert what, e.g. eating healthily).
- I value (insert value, e.g. a healthy life) because (insert why, e.g. I have endurance). Accordingly, I am (insert what, e.g. eating healthily).
Healthy Life
Having written up our values statements it helps to illustrate them with images that convey what each value means to us. Our minds think in pictures, and as the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. These statements are for our own private use, so we should be honest and candid, and we should not worry too much about our lack of creativity in illustrating them.
For some people, completing a values statement can be quite daunting because they suddenly realize that they are not even close to honoring the value in question. Do not be discouraged. Living a fulfilling and resonant life is a journey and as the Taoist philosopher Lao Tsu said, “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” The important thing is to begin.
If you are feeling brave, share with us one of your values statements and how you illustrated the value.
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