This week I was inspired to talk about values. I’ve pulled an extract from my conversation with Dr Steven C Hayes (Episode 34), bestselling author of A Liberated Mind.

I love how Steven explores the topic of values; bringing more intentionality and presence into our life, seeing the sweetness in our pain, the yearning behind our hurt. Our values inform how we spend our time and energy, but its not always as straightforward as it seems. Connecting to our innate values can be challening. Society can often send some mixed messages around what “matters”, be that receiving more popularity, attaining more financial status or adhering to certain beauty standards. But as we grow and evolve we have the opportunity to really uncover what truly matters and when we start to live out our life in a way that aligns to our vlaues we feel that deeply, it builds an inner peace.

Often times, we walk through this world not really knowing what our values are, but tuning into what makes us tick is available to each and everyone of us. In the second half of this epsiode, Steven offers up some great ways to begin to open up to what matters, what we value, what we truly care for.

There are many definitions of values, one I find helpful is that of Dr. Gregg Henriques of James Madison University:

“Values are what we deem important and worthy in life. They inform how we spend our time and energy. We often inherit them from our families of origin, and then add, swap, and/or modify our values based on education and experience as we age. Often times, we walk through this world not really knowing what our values are, which can be problematic. If we don’t have a clear understanding of what makes us tick, then we’ll have a hard time trying to change pieces of ourselves (or authentically responding to others in a healthy manner). Awareness first, choice second.”

If you think this episode could help someone else, please do share.

As always, thanks for listening.

Sinéad x