What are your Core Values? 

The first step to finding your path is to know yourself. To know yourself-really know yourself necessitates divorcing from all the programming you’ve been given since birth. 

If you were lucky enough to grow up with conscious parents, this may be easier. As parents evolve, they are learning to cultivate their children’s personalities, and desires, and empowering them to be themselves. However, for those of us who grew up from the previous generations, from Baby Boomers, I have heard that many of us have had to abnegate many of the false teachings that no longer serve us.

These teachings include those coming from schools, religions, society, television, movies, learned histories, family traditions, peer pressure, music, and much, much, more. 

Meanwhile, I’d like to believe that most of our parents did the best they could. Each parent (hopefully) wants the best for their children.

The truth is, that many parents are ill-equipped to raise whole, confident, consciously-minded, self-aware humans. Unfortunately, many parents expound upon the already innate genetic traumas that are passed down to the child. They further exacerbate this trauma with more damage! 

At the same time, for a myriad of reasons, some parents give their children up. My generation saw a lot of single-parent households. Many children grew up in the foster care system, some were adopted where their lives were exponentially better, and some were worse. Some were given up due to unsafe living conditions like, neglect, drugs, or abuse-or all of the above. 

You see, regardless of how your early years were, what’s important is what informed your values. How you grew up will continue to play a significant part in how you see the world—that is, if you don’t make the conscious decision to recreate what you value. 

Explore Your Past: Reflect on your life experiences, upbringing, and cultural background. Consider the values instilled in you by your family, community, and society. Examine how these influences have shaped your beliefs and priorities. Acknowledge both positive and negative experiences, and discern which values resonate most authentically with your true self.   

The greatest accomplishment for a human is to learn who she/he/they are. 

What are your core values?

I remember hating when someone would ask me that. It seems like such a pretentious, arrogant question. Like, the person who’s asking has it all figured out; and somehow, you’re supposed to have it figured out. 

But Queen Afua tells us to connect with our Inner self. Take time for introspection and self-reflection. One of the first things I do in any new space is to create a sacred space for where I can quiet my mind, listen to my intuition, and connect with my inner wisdom. 

Through meditation, journaling, or prayer, you too can delve into your thoughts, feelings, and beliefs to uncover what truly matters to you.

Here’s an exercise to help you explore what principles and beliefs are most important to you. What values do you prioritize in your spiritual, personal, and professional life?

If you’re honest with yourself in this exercise, you can uncover your core values. 

Let’s dig into your thoughts about these controversial topics. Thinking of the first words or phrases that come up for you as you read these words, what is your honest opinion? Saying what comes up for you makes it real, giving you room to rationalize, accept, change, and/or come to a realization. The goal is not to judge yourself. The goal is to hear yourself vent deep or dormant feelings. 

This is not an exercise where you audibly render your sanitized, politically correct ideas. If it helps, imagine you are alone on a deserted island, where no one can hear you. 

How do I feel about:

• Myself, family, mother, father, siblings, children
• People: Human Population
• Marginalized Groups: Melinated people, LGBTQIA, Persons with disabilities, Single Mothers, Transgendered folks, White men, Fat people
• Poverty/Welfare
• Prison System/Its practices
• Immigration/Immigrants
• Sex/human trafficking
• Domestic Violence
• Ending White Supremacy
• Protecting White Supremacy
• Capitalism
• Ending Capitalism
• Social Welfare
• Abortion
• Financial Support to other countries
• Wars
• Genocide
• Religion
• World Issues: Hunger, Clean Water, Technology
• Food shortages in USA
• Homelessness

How did you do? Did you find that you had not thought about some of these topics? Maybe your response was strong, or apathetic. Either way, it’s not a judgment. There are so many things that affect the world that you may or may not be aware of. The point of this exercise was to see how you felt about it. I hope walking you through this exercise helped you pay attention to your physical and emotional responses to different situations and choices. Your body and emotions can provide valuable signals about what resonates with your core values and what feels misaligned. Trust your intuition and inner guidance system to lead you towards choices that honor your authentic self.

But what if I told you, that regardless of what you learned about yourself from this exercise, this was just the beginning of your journey to self-discovery?