When we are on a path of self-discovery, growth or development, or desiring to achieve a more satisfying life, it is important to recognise, revisit and/or reform our values.

Values tend to be a somewhat challenging concept. Firstly are not goals, although they can assist us in determining our goals and aligning with our them in spirit of living our lives in the most authentic, true-to-ourselves way. Of course, like anything, as we grow and develop our values might grow and develop with us. This is something we can continue to revisit at different stages of our lives to keep refreshing our mind and perspective. Through this, we can help ourselves gain a better understanding of ourselves. 

Learning what our values are can be an incredibly enlightening experience: we can begin to live life according to our true intentions and experience a greater sense of satisfaction. At the very least, we can garner a deeper understanding of ourselves and what matters to us and live accordingly. 

A good example of this is time. Someone once said “time is the most important currency because once it is spent it cannot be earned back”. If we can identify our values, it can help us get the most satisfaction from our time. If we can spend time doing activities that align with our values it can give us a sense of meaningfulness.

Working out our values can take some time and reflection, and ongoing revisiting will continue this process. Some questions we can ask ourselves to help us figure out our values include the following:

• Who is important to you? Who do you love/care about/enjoy spending time with?
• What matters most to you in life?
• What do you enjoy doing most in life?
• What are you passionate about? 
• What gives you a sense of inspiration? What upsets you, or what do you find frustrating? 
• What makes you feel happy, hopeful, sad, angry, hopeless or scared?
• What things do you enjoy doing? What makes you feel alive?
• What do you feel grateful for? When do you feel this most? 
• What gives you a sense that you’re living life true to yourself? When do you feel this most? 
• What would your perfect day look like?Are there any values you can identify within this image?
• What would I do if there were no limitations in terms of time or money? What would I choose to do?

It can help us to look through a list of established values to assist ourselves in finding out what is important to us. We have shared one at the bottom of this page. We can say, time spent doing this activity can be beneficial in helping us make more time for the things we love. It can be an excellent investment to ourselves. 

List of values (taken from the University of Edinburgh).

• Acceptance: to be open to and accepting of myself, others, and life.
• Adventure: to be adventurous; to actively seek, create, or explore novel or stimulating experiences.
• Assertiveness: to respectfully stand up for my rights and request what I want.
• Authenticity: to be authentic, genuine, real; to be true to myself.
• Beauty: to appreciate, create, nurture, or cultivate beauty in myself, others, and the environment.
• Caring: to be caring towards myself, others, and the environment.
• Challenge: to keep challenging myself to grow, learn, and improve.
• Compassion: to act with kindness towards those who are suffering.
• Connection: to engage fully in whatever I am doing and be fully present with others.
• Contribution: to contribute, help, assist, or make a positive difference to myself or others.
• Conformity: to be respectful and obedient of rules and obligations.
• Cooperation: to be cooperative and collaborative with others.
• Courage: to be courageous or brave; to persist in the face of fear, threat, or difficulty.
• Creativity: to be creative or innovative.
• Curiosity: to be curious, open-minded, and interested; to explore and discover.
• Encouragement: to encourage and reward behavior that I value in myself or others.
• Equality: to treat others as equal to myself.
• Excitement: to seek, create, and engage in activities that are exciting, stimulating, or thrilling.
• Fairness: to be fair to myself or others.
• Fitness: to maintain or improve my fitness; to look after my physical and mental health and well-being.
• Flexibility: to adjust and adapt readily to changing circumstances.
• Freedom: to live freely; to choose how I live and behave, or help others do likewise.
• Friendliness: to be friendly, companionable, or agreeable towards others.
• Forgiveness: to be forgiving towards myself or others.
• Fun: to be fun-loving; to seek, create, and engage in fun-filled activities.
• Generosity: to be generous, sharing, and giving to myself or others.
• Gratitude: to be grateful for and appreciative of the positive aspects of myself, others, and life.
• Honesty: to be honest, truthful, and sincere with myself and others.
• Humor: to see and appreciate the humorous side of life.
• Humility: to be humble or modest; to let my achievements speak for themselves.
• Industry: to be industrious, hard-working, and dedicated.
• Independence: to be self-supportive and choose my own way of doing things.
• Intimacy: to open up, reveal, and share myself- emotionally or physically in my close personal relationships.
• Justice: to uphold justice and fairness.
• Kindness: to be kind, compassionate, considerate, nurturing, or caring towards myself or others.
• Love: to act lovingly or affectionately towards myself or others.
• Mindfulness: to be conscious of, open to, and curious about my here-and-now experience.
• Order: to be orderly and organized.
• Open-mindedness: to think things through, see things from others’ points of view and weigh evidence fairly.
• Patience: to wait calmly for what I want.
• Persistence: to continue resolutely, despite problems or difficulties.
• Pleasure: to create and give pleasure to myself or others.
• Power: to strongly influence or wield authority over others, e.g. taking charge, leading, and organizing.
• Reciprocity: to build relationships in which there is a fair balance of giving and taking.
• Respect: to be respectful towards myself or others; to be polite, considerate and
  show positive regard.
• Responsibility: to be responsible and accountable for my actions.
• Romance: to be romantic; to display and express love or strong affection.
• Safety: to secure, protect, or ensure safety of myself or others.
• Self-awareness: to be aware of my own thoughts, feelings, and actions.
• Self-care: to look after my health and well-being and get my needs met.
• Self-development: to keep growing, advancing, or improving in knowledge, skills, character or life experience.
• Self-control: to act in accordance with my own ideals.
• Sensuality: to create, explore, and enjoy experiences that stimulate the five senses.
• Sexuality: to explore or express my sexuality.
• Spirituality: to connect with things bigger than myself.
• Skillfulness: to continually practice and improve my skills and apply myself fully when using them.
• Supportiveness: to be supportive, helpful, encouraging, and available to myself or others
• Trust: to be trustworthy; to be loyal, faithful, sincere, and reliable.

(Adapted from the list of values based on the work of Dr. Russ Harris, author of ACT Made Simple.)

https://www.ed.ac.uk/reflection/reflectors-toolkit/self-awareness/values