Have you ever felt like you were doing everything right but somehow it still felt like you were going in the wrong direction? Or have you found yourself pouring your energy into something or someone without feeling your cup fill up in return? Or maybe you feel like you have all of the puzzle pieces in front of you, and yet they just won’t connect?. And if you are like me, then it might be time to reevaluate your values and realign your life. I have come to realize this year just how much I have changed and how that has affected and altered the values I used to hold closest. I have reassessed my life plenty of times, but I have yet to take a good hard look at the core values that influence how I actually move through my life.
You see, core values are like your inner compass. They are deeply held beliefs that guide your behavior and influence how you see yourself and the world around you. Your core values are like a guidepost or like your heart’s lighthouse, and they help you own your true identity and move through your life with intention. But here is the thing we do not talk about often enough: Core values change because we change. We grow up. We grow out of people and places. We evolve. We see more of the world. We open up our minds. We unravel over time. We fall and we rise. But when we do, we hardly ever spend time reevaluating our core values too. If you are still living your life with an old set of values, that is where the disconnect is. This is why the pieces aren’t connecting. Because the values that felt so authentic and intrinsically linked no longer align. And that is why where you put your time, your energy, and your faith feels off or out of place.
This does not mean that you have been walking in the wrong direction or living your life all wrong, because that is all a necessary part of our evolution. It is in these places that we discovered what we value (and what we do not). And now we pause to ask ourselves, where am I headed? and why? Now we pause to ask directions from ourselves. Because it is when you identify these core values and beliefs that you can effectively draw up a map that takes you forward toward your larger purpose, and that is where you reconnect to your heart.
So, where are you headed?
