Aligning With Your Values
Have you ever had something on your body being out of alignment? Did it feel painful, uncomfortable, or something else? I remember the last time my back and whole body felt out of alignment. I was moving slowly, containing the gasps that tried to escape when the pain hit. It was a frustrating time.
But at least I knew it was my back or somewhere in that vicinity. I did my research, went to the doctor, and discovered my sciatic nerve was acting up. I decided to go to the chiropractor as the treatment option.
He did the maneuvering, popped my neck, and in two twos, I was back in business!
I had a similar process with one of those unseen, "invisible" aspects of life- values.
Well, to be fair, I didn't know it was a value issue. I just knew something felt out of alignment. Have you ever felt mentally, emotionally, spiritually, and economically out of alignment?
For me, something didn't feel right. And I struggled. I struggled to make decisions that honored myself rather than pleasing others. I worked to have solid ground to stand on. I struggled to know, name, and hold my boundaries. I struggled with feeling authentic. And I struggled to find an overall good vibe feeling.
I eventually realized that this discomfort was because I had lost track of my values, and having lost track of (and in some cases forgotten) my values, I could not align with them.
It then became my deepest desire to rediscover my values, discard values that no longer served me, and identify new values that made sense to the person I was becoming.
These new and rediscovered values included honesty, integrity, joy, adventure, connecting & bonding, helping others, taking risks, and learning.
When I finally had those values written down, life started to make sense again, and my decisions now felt right. I became less and less worried about what other people would think about me and more concerned with whether what I was doing was in line with my values.
I started finding more joy in doing the things that allowed my values to be in play. Life began to become better.
Not knowing our values is a hell of a thing. The feeling of being lost and floating in the middle of an ocean feeling is terrible. I never want to end up back in a situation where I forget my values.
How do you realign with your values?
