Last weekend, I went on a Mindset Retreat. If I’m being totally honest, I was a bit unsure about going. I feared it’d be unbearably cheesy!

But when I got there, I was pleased to see a small group of friendly people who were looking at how to grow their minds, learn more about self-awareness, and how to build heart-centred businesses. (No cheesiness in sight – phew!).

During the retreat, there was a mixture of activities including workshops on fear and self-doubt, meditation sessions, yoga and chakra workshops, looking at how we take risks, how to build consistent habits, and a session on living by your values.

It is this last session that I wanted to talk to you about today. I found it SUPER insightful. And so wanted to share it with you, in hope that you do too.

Values… What does that even mean?!

Are they internal? External? A mix of both? A belief system?

What does the word mean to you?

Here’s the dictionary’s definition,

“principles or standards of behaviour, one’s judgement of what’s important in life.”

But there was another definition mentioned that resonated with me more (I’m afraid I didn’t note down who it was by though):

“Your values are like a compass: a reliable tool that can help you out when you’re trying to figure out which way to go.”

During a breakout session, the coach – a fabulous human being called Phillippa – handed out a huge list of words. And with my fave pastel-coloured highlighter (pink obvs), I went through every word on the list (there were 288 words in total so it took me a bit of time!) and highlighted some of the words that rang true for me. I coloured 49 in total. Some of the words, to give you an idea, were:

• Kindess
• Empower
• Wonder
• Joy
• Gratitude
• Playfulness
• Prosperity
• Fun
• Curiosity
• Creativity

Seeing the words I’d resonated with compared to the words I left un-pinked, actually surprised me a little. Not the choice of words, but more the fact I had never given it a moment’s thought before. Never taken the time to think and connect with what’s most important to me.

It gave an eyes-wide-open approach, actively looking at what’s important. Enabling me to purposefully go about my life with them in mind.

I found the exercise super insightful. And one of the biggest insights was that I became acutely aware of when I was highlighting words that resonated with me and when I was tempted with words that were true to my mum  or society, but were perhaps not mine as much anymore. And boy, did I find that tricky! That struggle from what I felt “should” be my values, compared to the ones I innately new were most important to me.

I found it an opportunity to see me for who I am. Not as a daughter or a family member, but as me, my own being.

I’d love to know what values you live your life by… or maybe like me, you’ve not given it much thought before?

If you’d like me to send you the list of words so you can have a read through, drop me a comment below and I’ll happily ping them over to you. The highlighting exercise probs takes about 10 -15 minutes, and once you’re done be sure to let me know which value words resonated with you most. I’d love to learn more about what drives you and what’s most important to you in your life right now.

Here’s to living a purposeful life 💖

Becky xoxo