I'm Dr.
Diana Hill,
A clinical psychologist,
ACT specialist,
Author of the ACT Daily Journal,
The Self-Compassion Daily Journal,
And this meditation is about values.
In ACT,
Your values are personal and chosen by you.
There are ways of being in the world,
Things like being kind or being adventurous or being willing or being creative or being humorous.
There are things that you do with your hands and your feet and your voice to demonstrate what's most important to you in your heart.
So let's do a meditation together to help clarify your personal values with ACT.
Go ahead and find yourself in a comfortable position.
You can sit on the floor or you can lie down.
Settle in to the present moment.
There's so many things that happen before this moment and so many things that are going to happen after this moment,
But you've dedicated your time to being here,
To contacting your heart,
Your values.
Slow your breath down and allow yourself to really settle into your skin,
Into your body,
Into this moment.
You can feel the temperature of air on your skin.
You can feel your body being breathed and you can feel your whole being here and now.
Our values show up in two distinct ways in our life.
They show up as reflections of what brings us the most vitality,
What makes us feel the most alive,
What makes our heartbeat,
Gives us meaning.
And they show up with what is most painful to us,
Our sorrows,
Our anxieties,
Because it is our very values that when they are threatened or at risk,
When we hurt,
That tell us what we care about.
So beginning with vitality to help clarify your personal values,
I want you to scan through the last week in your mind and think about a time when you felt the most vitality,
A sense of meaning or a sense of connection or a sense of purpose or just a sense of energy about you.
What were you doing?
How were you touched?
What were you engaging in?
And it could be something as small as noticing a tree blooming on your morning walk or something as big as engaging really meaningful,
Purposeful work or connection with another human or animal.
But just land on one memory from this week.
And when you land on that memory,
I want you to ask yourself a few things.
What is it about this that's so important to me?
It may be that I value being present with another human.
It may be that I value creative pursuits and maybe that I value justice or fairness.
What is it that's so important to you that this showed up as a source of vitality?
And see if you can distill it down into just a few words.
Values include words like being curious,
Being reliable,
Being respectful,
Being patient,
Being brave,
Being determined,
Being flexible,
Being accountable,
Being friendly,
Being playful,
Being supportive,
Being humble.
How were you showing up in that moment that reflected your values?
And then I'd like for you to go back over the week.
And think about a time in this past week when you felt sort of that pain of being out of alignment.
You weren't acting in a way that really showed how you want to be.
Maybe you have some regret.
Maybe there's something painful.
Maybe you treated someone in a way that you don't like to treat people or even your own self-respect.
You didn't treat yourself in the way that you like to treat yourself or you didn't show up at work or show up with your family or show up with the environment in the way that you wish that you would.
And remember that moment.
See if you can remember it.
And again,
I want you to ask yourself,
What is it that I value here that makes it so painful?
What was important to me that was out of alignment?
Values can include things like being thoughtful,
Being persistent,
Being sincere,
Being trusting,
Being ambitious,
Being grounded,
Forgiveness,
Or kindness.
What are some of the values that this moment highlights about you,
Things that are important to you,
How you want to show up where you were out of alignment?
And so maybe now you have a collection of a few words here,
Words that demonstrate you when you're feeling vitality and the values that come with that and words that demonstrate the values that show up when you're out of alignment with your heart,
With what matters to you.
And those words can be an organizing principle of your life.
It's like a balance beam.
We're walking across over the course of our life and we're constantly making adjustments to get back into alignment with our values.
It's normal to have regrets just as much as it's normal to feel vitality.
With awareness of your values,
With clarity of your values,
You can return to the type of person that you want to be and you can strengthen your values so that your heart is manifested in your actions so that you demonstrate what you care about,
How you want to be in the world by how you act.
And when you do that,
You will feel more meaning and purpose.
You will feel more engagement and alignment.
And the good news is that you can always come back to these principles over and over again.
As this meditation comes to a close,
Consider taking the values that you've extracted here into your day-to-day,
Into your actions.
Maybe you write a few down on a post-it note or a note card or in your phone and you carry them in the forefront of your mind as you move through your day.
This is what brings you vitality,
Meaning,
And purpose.
And you can live it out no matter where you are.
Many blessings.
