Embodying your values and taking a stand Values as points of orientation For each of us there are topics and issues, which strongly stir, agitate or move us in some way. Engaging with these topics and issues might trigger powerful emotions in us such as anger or sadness – or we might experience the awakening of enthusiasm and eagerness. Already when reflecting on your life path and biography you might have observed or discovered the emergence of your core values through reflecting on the things which have been of great importance for you. These values were formed by life experience, social and cultural settings, by encounters, relationships and events. Values are important signposts to your authentic vocation and serve as a compass when making a decision or choosing a path. They do not only give you ethical guidelines but rather determine your (inter)actions and ways of relating. They are therefore not concepts to be taught or preached about.
What is the first thing which comes to your mind when you hear the word “value“? Is it something rigid like a rule, something one should take into consideration even if one does not really feel like it? Is it something dusty, connected to “morals“, which shall be taught by elders to the younger generation as guidelines of behaviour? Or is a value something which evolves through time and experience? Something to act upon, something to stand for? Is it something which sets limits?
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