Yesterday, I wrote about goals, and how they can be contradictory. Today, I give you my 10 Values, a piece I hope to run every day, perhaps later in the day.
Recently, I was feeling very unhappy and wallowing in what I felt were failures in all aspects of my life. Then, I came across a piece in a book which suggested choosing your number one value to base your life choices on.
One value!?!? Forgive the excess punctuation, but REALLY? ONE VALUE? Forget crack, were these people smoking the drug of low expectations? I shut the book with the Jenn version of a sonic boom and fumed.
Yet, later that same week, a loved one pointed out how I never seemed to give myself credit, or pats on the back for even the smallest things, and how could I feel happy or successful if I wouldn’t take credit for doing well?
These two things seemed connected somehow. And this is what bubbled up from my subconscious percolator:
The Values List and with it, The Commitment List, and with that, The Successes List.
However, to bombard you with three lists each day, seemed excessive, so I’ll try to contain myself.
Sometime during the day, I’m going to post my top ten list. I doubt the ten values will change, but if they do, that will be a fun surprise, right? More importantly, I’m going to make a SMALL (did you get that?) SMALL commitment to each of my values each day. Then I’ll see how I do. Join me if you like.
So, here are the ten things I value--in no particular order.
Health
Fun
Spirit
Creativity
Beauty
Gratitude
Family
Friends
Learning
Nurturing Others
Fun
Spirit
Creativity
Beauty
Gratitude
Family
Friends
Learning
Nurturing Others
I’d love to know what you value. Could you narrow it down to one thing? And while I wait to see what y’all come up with, I’m going to start with Health, and have a lovely cup of green tea--which supposedly does all sorts of happy things for the body. I like happy.
Let’s make more of it for ourselves, shall we?
This is exactly what I needed this Saturday morning. I have recently been overwhelmed with work, kids, home etc and been drawn to finding ways to grown myself again. Your post, Jenn, has given me the starting point to do exactly that. My goal for this weekend is to find some quiet time to think about my values! Thanks, Diar
ReplyDeleteI meant to say ground myself ... I am crossed-eye this morning : ) !
ReplyDeleteDiar, I'm glad. (And hey, I miss you)! The trick for me was then trying to think up small ways to actualize those values. I'm full of big ideas. Small ones? Way harder.
ReplyDeleteI love that you're doing this! It's a great reality check, and I will definitely be tuning in.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, Jennifer! In one of the leadership classes I took they had us identify our top five values on index cards and put them in priority order. Then they TOOK the last two cards. Some of us were almost crying with the concept of having those values taken away from us. It was a very weird but enlightening exercise. We're very attached to the things that are important to us and it's almost impossible to narrow the list down to something as short as three items, much less one.
ReplyDeleteSue, I've been thinking about your comment and how I'd cull the list. The key seems to be that many of these things feed others. If I could somehow narrow it to the main things which are fed by the other things, then I could make it smaller. But, my mind would never be able to grasp that daily. Too big. I need smaller categories. And ones that make sense to me.
ReplyDeleteAt the first of a year, I was hanging out with a group of women who each chose one word for their new year's resolution.
ReplyDeleteI thought about it for a long time and never was brave enough to share. They had such big, empowering words and my word seemed small in comparison.
The one word that ties everything in my life together?
NURTURE
Whether it be children, family, talents, colleagues--even myself--nurturing really does it for me.
I don't so much like building things since that requires so much control over all the elements. I like caring for organic processes and watching amazing results emerge. It's magic.
This post and discussion is so very time appropriate for me! I've been writing a blog post on losing oneself by giving all of yourself to others, and it's been enlightening! I'm not exactly sure what my list would look like, and will have to spend some time on that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThey see a rustic that has no future and know that occasion that they} stay, they will don't have any future both. By now, it's becoming clear, and not only to the 점보카지노 youthful technology, that Putin’s state can impose its rule only by way of violence. At least since Soviet instances, Russians have used dark humor to cope with dictatorship. There is not sufficient evidence that this roulette wheel is unfair.
ReplyDelete