Hi, and welcome to your Daily Mindfulness. Today I'm going to talk about living from your values. So we all have values. They're as much a part of us as our blood type or our genetic makeup. They're also as unique to us as our individual thumbprints.

Our core values determine what's really important and meaningful to us in life. So values are the qualities that reflect who you are in your deepest nature, not who you think you should be in order to fit in. And they're like a compass that points to true North. So think of it like this, when the way that you think speak and behave matches your values, then life feels really good. You feel w,hole in your element contentm in your power.

But when they don't align with your personal values, then things just feel uneasy. You know, you tend to feel a bit out of touch, out of alignment, discontented, or unhappy with yourself and your life. It's that feeling of something just not sitting right or not feeling quite okay. So I have a bit of challenge here in today's Daily Mindfulness, because I usually take people through a full day process to get clear on their values, but we can make a really simple start here and start to get the gist of something. So I'm going to invite you to bring to mind right now, someone you really admire.

So this person could be a fictional character. It could be somebody that, you know, somebody in the media, they could be living right now or they might've passed away. So just seeing what person brings to mind right now. And don't overthink it too much. And as you bring this person to mind, just thinking about what qualities that they have that you really admire.

Is it their bravery? Is it their kindness, their honest?. Is it their determination, their playfulness, their passion for life? Just taking a moment to ponder, what are those qualities you admire. So it's likely that would ever the qualities of this person you admire are, they're very close approximation to your own values and what matters to you in the way that you live your own life. And the research from Martin Seligman and other psychologists shows us that the more you live in alignment with your own values, the more you cultivate authentic happiness and meaning in your life. So every moment of every day, whether we realize it or not, we're making decisions on how we spend our time, what we pay attention to, where we direct our energy.

And our values can be the guides that when we're in alignment with them will constantly be reflected in the way that we choose to behave. So today, as you go about your day, see if you can keep in mind your values. You might even like to write them down. And that's a really handy thing to get clear on because in this fast paced world, around us, with all its demands and influences, we can sometimes get pulled off course from what our true values are. But the more clearly we are about who we are, what's right for us and what matters deep down in our heart, the more we can cultivate lasting fulfillment and contentment in our lives.

So in today's meditation, we're going to continue to focus on this kind of intentional living. So I invite you to settle in for that now. And then as always thank you for your practice and your presence here with us.