It took me quite some time to actually understand my own values. But when I found them, everything became so much easier.
The approach that most helped me to crystalize my values was to start listing just the values that were important to me. Then I started to group them. And in the end, I forced myself to pick 3-5 core values. This was my starting point. If you need help with listing your values here is an example.
For me, starting to think about values at a deeper level was a challenge. Thanks to the Heroine’s Journey course offered by Canay Atalay, I realized that fairness and justice were the values most important to me – if I was in an environment where these values were essential. But in an environment where I wouldn’t need to face injustice or unfairness, peace was actually the deeper value to me. That is how I recognized that peace was my most central value.
So, when it comes to actually thinking about values, I realized that you should have them in 2 different forms. You should know the ones that would be your true values in a world that is positive without any negativity. And then you should think about your values in a hostile environment, the ones that will rise in importance under disruption.
Besides discovering your values, it is also good to think about your non-values – the characteristics that you wouldn’t want to feel or face, but that you do face often in your life, like fear, jealousy and anger. Sometimes, it is even more important to see those issues and work on them before you start to work on your own personal values.
You can find my values on my Prönö profile https://app.prono.fi/app/profile/helene-auramo
(By the way, they are curiosity, peace and creativity.)
