Guest Post by Jerry Ryan
Self-awareness is often described as the cornerstone of personal development and growth. It is the ability to objectively observe and understand your thoughts, emotions, behaviors, and motivations.
Developing self-awareness (also known as mindfulness) is a journey that can lead to profound self-discovery and transformation. One of the most significant benefits of self-awareness is the ability to uncover and define your core values. Knowing your core values can serve as invaluable guidelines for setting and achieving meaningful goals in your life.
In this exploration, we will delve into how improving self-awareness helps you discover your core values, and how these values can shape your goals for a more purposeful and fulfilling life.
The Foundation of Self-Awareness
Before we can understand how self-awareness leads to the discovery of core values, we must recognize the foundations of self-awareness itself. Self-awareness involves two primary components: introspection and self-reflection.
Introspection: Introspection is the process of examining your thoughts, feelings, and inner experiences without judgment. It allows you to identify patterns in your thinking, recognize your strengths and weaknesses, and gain insight into your reactions to different situations.
Self-reflection: Self-reflection is the deliberate contemplation of your actions, behaviors, and their impact on your life and the lives of others. It involves considering your values, beliefs, and aligning your actions with these principles.
Improving self-awareness requires time and effort. Practices such as mindfulness meditation, journaling, and seeking feedback from trusted friends or professionals can help you develop these skills. As your self-awareness deepens, you become better equipped to discover your core values.
The Significance of Core Values
Core values are the fundamental beliefs and principles that guide your life. They are the ideals that you hold near and dear to your heart. Your core values represent what matters most to you on a deeply personal level. Learning to use your core values as a compass that helps you navigate the complexities of life, make decisions, and set meaningful goals.
When you align your goals with your core values, you create a sense of purpose and fulfillment that goes beyond mere achievement. When you’re living in a way that doesn’t match your core values, you will be unhappy, unsatisfied, unappreciated, and even unloved.
Discovering Your Core Values through Self-Awareness
Identifying Patterns: Improving your self-awareness enables you to recognize recurring themes in your life. By taking a deeper look at your thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, you can start to identify patterns that point toward your core values. For example, if you consistently feel a sense of fulfillment when helping others, it may indicate that one of your core values is compassion or service.
Reflecting on Past Experiences: Your past experiences hold valuable clues about your core values. Think about moments in your life when you felt most alive, fulfilled, or proud. What were you doing? Why did it make you feel so good? These experiences often reveal the values you were expressing.
Values Assessment Tools: There are various self-assessment tools and exercises designed to help individuals uncover their core values. These tools often present a list of common values, and you select the ones that resonate with you the most. While they can be helpful, they are most effective when used in conjunction with a plan for your life goals.
Seeking Feedback: Engaging in open and honest conversations with trusted friends, family members, or mentors can provide valuable insights into your core values. Others can often see patterns and values in your life that you haven’t recognized quite yet.
Journaling: Keeping a journal allows you to record your thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Over time, reviewing your journal entries can reveal recurring themes and values in your life.
Using Core Values as Goal-Setting Guidelines
Once you’ve identified your core values, they can serve as powerful guidelines for setting and achieving meaningful goals. Here’s how:
Clarity and Focus: Core values provide clarity about what truly matters to you. When you set goals aligned with your values, you gain a sense of purpose and direction. Your goals become more meaningful and motivating because they align with your innermost beliefs.
Prioritization: Not all goals are created equal, and not all are worth pursuing. Core values help you prioritize your goals by highlighting which ones are most in line with your authentic self. This ranking of goals prevents you from spreading yourself too thin and helps you invest your time and energy where it matters most.
Built-in Motivation: Goals aligned with your core values are inherently motivating. You’re more likely to stay committed to these goals because they tap into your deepest desires and beliefs, creating a powerful source of deep-rooted motivation.
Resilience: Life is filled with challenges and setbacks. When you encounter obstacles on the path to your goals, your core values act as a source of resilience. They remind you why the goal is important and can help you bounce back from adversity.
Authenticity: Pursuing goals that align with your core values allows you to live authentically. You’re not conforming to others’ expectations or chasing external validation. Instead, you’re making choices that reflect who you truly are.
Examples of Core Values and Goal Alignment
Let’s explore a few common core values and how they can guide your goal setting:
Family: If family is a core value, your goals might include strengthening bonds within your family, spending quality time with your loved ones, or providing for your family’s well-being.
Adventure: For those of you who value adventure, goals might revolve around travel, exploring new hobbies, or seeking out exciting experiences.
Health: If health is a core value, your goals may include maintaining a regular exercise routine, adopting a balanced diet, or prioritizing your mental well-being.
Creativity: For those of you who value creativity, goals could involve pursuing artistic endeavors, writing a book, or exploring innovative solutions in your career.
Environmental Sustainability: If you hold environmental sustainability as a core value, your goals may focus on reducing your ecological footprint, supporting conservation efforts, or promoting sustainable practices in your community.
Conclusion
Improving self-awareness is a transformative journey that can lead to the discovery of your core values. These values, once identified, become the compass by which you navigate your life.
When you align your goals with your core values, you create a path of purpose, authenticity, and fulfillment. Your goals become more meaningful, motivating, and resilient. You begin moving towards a life that truly reflects who you are at your core.
In the end, the power of self-awareness and the discovery of core values can be the keys to unlocking a more purposeful and fulfilling life.
Jerry Ryan is a certified life coach and retired professional counselor. He has helped hundreds of people to live less stressed, from abuse survivors to war veterans.
Jerry drew on life experiences and thorough research to put together an evidence-based, stress reduction program that has been successful in helping people with even the most severe forms of stress.
From being bullied throughout school, surviving two life-threatening head injuries, and living through a rollover car accident that left him with quadriplegia, Jerry developed an array of coping skills and a body of research that became the foundation for this book. He lives in Oregon City, Oregon.
Website: www.LivingLessStressed.com
Links to Jerry’s book, Living Less Stressed: Keeping Calm in the Chaos
Barnes and Noble – https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-less-stressed-jerry-ryan/1140168977?ean=9781982256869
Balboa Press – https://www.balboapress.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/771474-living-less-stressed
Please note: Images on this site are for illustration purposes only unless otherwise indicated. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.
Michael Avery
Thank you for clarifying “mindfulness” as deep self-awareness, Jerry. Informative post!
Sammie Thompson
Yes, thank you Jerry. Very timely, as I am discovering more of these points for myself
in this current cycle of my life!
Catherine Ganci
Oh yes, I’ve always believed that what we value the most is what drives us. For me, it’s been freedom ~ interestingly, I’ve never been married. Ha !
Thank you Jerry for digging deeper into self awareness & what it can mean for us as individuals. Just recently I had a wake up call to a surprise new awakening of self. Now, what to do with that is the challenge. Time alone to gently contemplate on it is what I’m doing.
Thanks again, so good to hear from you ! May the blessings be
Pichaya Avery
Thank you very much, Jerry, for your expertise and words of wisdom. We can always learn more about the power of awareness. I love this beautiful statement: “In the end, the power of self-awareness and the discovery of core values can be the keys to unlocking a more purposeful and fulfilling life.”