Today’s healing event is a little different – it is directed at understanding and healing yourself.  We talked about defining your values in the Working with Taurus Full Moon Energy.  It’s difficult to live your values if you don’t know what they are.   So, with that in mind, I am excited to guide you through the process of identifying your values.   My dictionary defines a value as “something (as a principle or quality) intrinsically valuable or desirable.”  Sounds good to me!

Discovering and clarifying your values develops self-awareness.  For many of us, life has gotten in the way by telling us what we SHOULD value.  Many true values have slipped unseen into the cracks of modern society – leaving our core selves feeling entrapped and embittered.

However, knowing your own values, you then know your own self – whether you are fighting the ‘good fight’ or battling your true nature.  Please remember that values can change!

Step 1 – Take out your journal, or a blank piece of paper, and write at the top ‘My Core Values.’ Then answer this important life question:

“What, in life, is most important to me?”

As I read out this list, write down whatever resonates with you as being worthy.  A little tip here is not to make any judgments at this stage. Just write it all down – no matter how weird, strange, amusing or scary!

This is by no means a comprehensive list – if you Google Values, you will find hundreds of online lists:

health        security     respect for others        education   creativity

equality     appearance        happiness   competition        health

hope conforming social recognition authority    religion

perfectionism      relationships       responsibility       trust  loyalty

pleasure     peace        altruism (care for others)      participation       honesty

assertiveness      caring        forgiveness       courage       kindness

loyalty       tolerance   unity integrity     power

joy    influence    love  justice       success

spirituality  friendship   family        career       fame

truth  status        authenticity               wisdom       acceptance

health        passion      risk   enthusiasm   optimism

caring        compassion           excellence       innovation  balance

teamwork  fun    open-mindedness        results

achievement       fairness      decisiveness       ? ?    ? ?

Step 2 – Look at your list, ask yourself: What does each word mean to me?

Jot down your responses and you will begin to see key words jumping out at you.  Perhaps Money and Spirituality both lead to the one thing: Freedom.  Neither money nor spirituality are your true value here, freedom is!

Step 3 – Choose no more than five values from your total list. These should be the things that are the most important to you in life. Now put your list of values into order from what’s most important to least important.

Writing each value on a separate sticky note can help you with this process.  Asking the following question can help you identify the ranking of your values: “If I had to live my life without one of these values, which one would I give up?”

I know! It is a difficult process as all your values are important to you.  Keep asking until you have your most important – you cannot live without – value.  Write them all out in the order you created – make a bright, memorable poster, poem, sign or just stick the sticky notes to your mirror.

Step 4 – Rewrite your top three values in order on the blanks below. Then for each value, write a definition, a statement of what it means to you to be successful in living that value. At the end of your life, looking back, how will you know if you’ve been successful in that area?

Congratulations! You’ve just created a core values creed for living your own life – it reflects the essence and the importance of you. Let your creed become your standard for being the person you truly be. Referring to it regularly, helps you align your behaviour to your core values.

For example, if spirituality is important to you – yet you do not find time for communion with your Divine Being of choice, your values and behaviours do not match.  This is where the Taurus Full Moon energy asks you to be the spiritual being having a physical existence.  Make changes to your life to reflect your creed!

If you are a little like me, your head may be hurting. This exercise will be going up on my website as a blog post for you to access at a later date.  At least, hopefully, you have a start!