We have two choices when it comes to living our lives. We can make it through the day, hope for the best, and live by default. Or we can decide to live an intentional life. An intentional life means we must define ourselves, who we are, and who we want to be. We take responsibility and make deliberate decisions based on our values and goals in life.
We defined our inner compass in July and August, clarifying our values, beliefs, and personal philosophy. Now we move from inner knowing to outer living, asking: how do we live, what we know?
The September theme is living your philosophy. After defining your personal philosophy, how are you going to live accordingly? The central question is,
How does your personal philosophy become a lived experience?
We are shifting from internal clarity to embodied expression. According to the Oxford Dictionary, embodied means to give a tangible or visible form to an idea, quality, or feeling. To embody something means giving it form, allowing your values to show up in your choices and your presence. Embodiment is about living in alignment with your inner and external environments.
The journey this month will be a workshop on embodied values, authenticity in relationships, creative expression as self-actualization, and purpose-led visibility. It is about becoming a living expression of your philosophy.
What Are Embodied Values?
Embodied values come from the felt experiences that we have every day. They are the conscious and unconscious actions, decisions, and expressions that declare our core principles in daily life. Felt experience is a bodily feeling or sensation that carries a meaning you cannot quite put into words yet. It is more than a simple emotion. More like an intuitive, holistic knowing that connects your mind and body. A gut feeling, or butterflies in your stomach, when excited at the same time. A felt experience could also be a vague feeling of discomfort, some nagging feeling that something is off.
Identifying your values is the first step to embodying them. Reflect on what your values look like in action. Then, commit to taking steps to align your thoughts, words, and actions with those values. Feelings and values intertwine and affect us both physically and emotionally.
You want to build relationships that last. This requires a foundational value of trust, respect, and open communication. These values allow for collective understanding, growth, and navigating our personal and professional challenges.
Another example would be the core value of challenging yourself. Then, you are embracing a set of values such as growth, learning, ambition, and determination. You may also value self-improvement and accountability.
What truly matters?
What type of person do you want to be?
Embodying your values is about transforming your values into actions and behaviors. It is how you present yourself to the world. It is a matter of living your values physically, emotionally, and mentally. Connecting who you are today to who you want to be tomorrow.
Identify Your Values
Values are about what truly matters. Here are some examples:
The Ultimate Core Values List: Your Guide to Personal Growth, Nir and Far
Reflect on what makes you feel fulfilled
For each value, think about what it looks like in action and how it influences your decisions.
- Create a list of your potential values.
- Put them into categories and determine your top 3-5 guiding principles. Examples of categories could be health, relationships, work ethics, or intellectual pursuits.
- Define them in action.
- Identify the people you admire. What qualities do they possess that you value?
- Identify what feels wrong. If you truly value something, such as honesty. You know you’ve done wrong when you are dishonest.
Use your emotions as a guide. Notice your feelings when your values are aligned. Notice conflicts between your values and your actions.
How to Embody Your Values
You embody your values by first defining them and then living them. They are not something to put on a shelf and admire or show to others. You must align your daily actions, decisions, and behaviors with your core values. Our values are deeply held beliefs about what is important. They guide our choices and actions.
This involves making value-based decisions, establishing goals that reflect your values, and holding yourself accountable. Consciously make choices that honor your values.
Rituals, Boundaries, and Micro-Decisions
“The secret of your success is found in your daily routine.”
John C. Maxwell
Routines and rituals are predictable, repeated daily actions that provide structure and stability based on our values. Through formal, repeatable actions, rituals provide solid experiences that anchor abstract values. The predictability and structure of rituals can help reduce anxiety and bring a sense of stability in uncertain times.
Rituals also act as powerful tools for passing down beliefs, traditions, and values from generation to generation. Yes, some of our values are shared with family and community; they are a part of our social structures. Rituals create shared experiences that promote a sense of identity, comfort, and closeness within families, communities, or organizations.
By linking actions to values, rituals provide a sense of purpose and highlight what matters most to individuals and groups. So, value is an ideal, a general rule that guides you. A ritual is a behavior.
Integrating Philosophy into Daily Choices
Your actions reflect your values. Clarifying our values shapes our daily micro-decisions and habits. When your values are clear. Every choice you make becomes an expression of your commitment.
Knowing yourself helps you to avoid things that don’t agree with your values. At the end of the day, living your values helps to reduce mental fatigue.
For example, saying no as a boundary of your authenticity. Designing a daily ritual that reflects intentional living. By embodying your values, you create a filter that helps you say yes or no to decisions, honoring your true self.
Ask yourself: Where in my life am I spending energy trying to be someone I’m not?
How Will Intentional Living Change Your Life? by Jordan Traver
This is the stage where a philosophy clicks and becomes who you are.
- Regularly evaluate actions and decisions. Journaling is great for seeing patterns and finding chances to improve.
- You will occasionally act against your principles. But don’t give up; use these moments to learn, self-correct, and get back on track.
- Explaining your philosophy to someone else can deepen your own understanding and commitment. It forces you to fully grasp and articulate your beliefs.
- This is important! Surround yourself with people who share or respect your core values.
- Be mindful of your internal experiences and how you are showing up in different situations, using this awareness to respond from intention rather than react.
Final Thoughts
Values provide the meaning behind the rituals. Rituals are repeated, intentional actions that carry symbolic meaning, and values give those rituals their depth and direction. The relationship is complementary; values shape the creation of rituals, and rituals reinforce those values. Rituals are where values become visible. They shape how we show up, how we connect, and how we remember who we are.
A common metaphor describes values as a compass, representing the principles that guide our decisions. Using your values as your compass filters your options through your core values. This becomes your guide for where to devote your time and energy.
Lived philosophy is not a static list of rules but a dynamic, ongoing cycle. Through introspection, we examine experiences and clarify our core values. We implement these principles through deliberate habits. Life experience creates new experiences. By reflecting on these new experiences, we can reframe and deepen our philosophy.
Once core values are clear, you must bridge the gap between thought and action by translating them into observable behaviors. Take abstract values and give them a tangible form. For example, if you value “kindness,” define what that looks like in daily life: “Offer to help a neighbor,” or “Sitting with a friend in need.”
Create intentional habits by integrating these actions into your daily routine until they become automatic. Your philosophy becomes a lived experience through repetition.
Your Guide to Habit Transformation Reset, Refresh, Renew, by Linda L. Pilcher
The heart of embodied values is becoming the living proof of your philosophy in presence, action, and relationships.
What’s one value you want to embody more fully this week?
What’s one small ritual that could help you live it?
Next week’s blog will be about translating your personal philosophy into authenticity in relationships.
Recommended Reading
Embodied Mind, Meaning, and Reason: How Our Bodies Give Rise to Understanding, by Mark Johnson
The Embodied Mind: Cognitive Science and Human Experience (MIT Press), by Francisco J. Varela, Evan Thompson, and Eleanor Rosch
The Live Your Values Deck: Sort Out, Honor, and Practice What Matters Most to You, by Lisa Congdon, and Andreea Niculescu
Citations
Photo by Caleb Gregory on Unsplash
Photo by Jamie Street on Unsplash