Values and Goals:

    In the past I have discussed living our lives in tune with our values so that we can be fulfilled when we reach my goals. I have also spoken about creating goals and how to design our lives so that we achieve our goals. These ideas are symbiotic with each other, one helping and supporting the other. Yet there is an aspect of these that we have not discussed. For some people, they do not understand the power of goals or the fundamental steps needed to reach goals, but that isn’t the way that their psyche works. They are the ones that many would call a free spirit, commonly with either a sense of wonder or a sense of derision. Yet these people can be just as successful as the planners. The reason this is simply that they have found and understood their values and live life according to those values.

    This is something that we can all do; we can live our lives according to our values and find happiness in that fact. It will create a form of contentment within us that is strong enough to fulfill our lives. For some, that life needs to be matched with goals and things to strive for. Objectives give some people a sense of purpose and a guide along their journey in this life. It creates comfort in a future that is known. The flip side to this is people who thrive off the unknown and the adventure that the world posses. For these people, they need to remember that as they travel, this life like a leaf on the wind, that it is their values that will keep them in a life that is fulfilling. These people need to come to an understanding in themselves that where they are and what they are doing is the outcome of living those values and derive their fulfillment from that.

    Just as the goals and methods to reach them is the lynchpin in some people to live a fulfilled life, the person that is blown around by events has to embrace that chaos and derive joy and fulfillment from it. If they are living their values, that should not be a difficult thing to do. It does take work though, as our values and joys change from time to time in our lives. We all need to be open to finding our own values again and again and living our life aligned with those values.

    Values and Goals create many roads that we can walk, one no better than the other. The thing that we have to do is find the one that works best for us and the lives that we wish to lead. Additionally, we need to be cognizant of ourselves enough to reexamine that life from time and time and decide if it is truly what we want, if it is truly fulfilling to us. Be we analytical goal setters or free spirits, our values will keep us on the path that we have chosen for ourselves.

-Dominic

What Dominic fails to mention in his above writing is that he is one who enjoys the physical goal setting and he is married to a free spirit.  We have overlapping and shared values tough which bring us delight in each other even when we don’t understand the things that bring joy to the other one.  Do your relationships have shared values?  Can they help bring you closer to people?  Yes they can!!!

–xiaoyi