Become who you want.

Your values reflect your deepest concepts about yourself and your world.  A value is something of worth, something that you prize.  However, it’s not a physical object, but a quality, a state of being.

We express our values, or lack of them, in action and words.   In the absence of values, belief systems will control our actions and words.

Lets get clear about this.  Values aren’t beliefs.  Nor are beliefs the same as values.

Values are in essence abstract qualities.  You and I may share the same values and we’d likely agree on the nature of them.  They tend to be universal.   Beliefs however are subjective.  We form our beliefs based upon our experience of the world, our childhood, parents, television and media.  Our beliefs are shaped by our successes and our fears.  Beliefs may grow stronger or weaker, and are liable to change.

Values tend to be more permanent.  We may change the emphasis on how we express our value systems, but it’s less likely we will ever discard one of our values.

For some strange reason, we want to have positive values, but often allow negative beliefs to control us.  We value health, but wrongly believe fresh food is too expensive, or that we don’t have time to be active.

Some values are considered almost universal in the human psyche.  In general they tend to emphasize something ‘greater than me’.  Other values can constructed from almost any noun, and although perhaps less powerful to many, may be extremely powerful to you.  Perhaps those values help you overcome a negative belief pattern?

Universal positive values

More Individualistic positive values

Why are values important?  When you consider the massive social changes wrought over the last several hundred years, one value stands out above all others in having shaped our world.  Equality.  The French Revolution stood for Equality, Liberty, Fraternity.  The opposing forces of Democracy and Socialism both have equality at their respective hearts.  This pursuit of freedom and equality still drives social change today as witnessed in what’s been called the ‘Arab Spring’.

Values have the power to drive social change, as well as create corporate loyalty and personal power.  Values which are felt universally can become a rallying point for or against any idea, or belief system.   They can also drive personal change, and become a rallying point for your own efforts as you strive to embody those values.

Consider which values you aspire to most in your life.  If, at the end of your life, you were to be summed up in three value driven words, which would they be?

Now put them to work for you – live your life by them.

At Luxury Health Retreats, we don’t just teach health or fitness, we help you to understand how to make it a part of your lifestyle.  Understanding values that drive you to achieve your goals is just one part of whats included in your retreat.