What Do You Believe...

Photo Credit:  SweetonVeg

Yesterday I posted about facing some of my own fears when it comes to growing my business.  One of the lessons I have learned is you have to know what you are working towards, know what you value and what you believe in.  If you don't have this foundation it is a lot more challenging to forge on when things get challenging.

Yesterday, Lynn at Power Chicks wrote a similar post talking about her own fears and how she recently came back to figuring out what she believes as her guiding force.  When you can name what you stand for, what you believe, or what you value, you can return to that foundation as the road gets bumpy, curvy and just plain fogged in.

For example, if you believe living a life of integrity is most important, than decisions you make, careers you think about and people you engage with should all support your integrity value.  Similarly, if you believe a loving family eats dinner every night, than the priorities you set and the decisions you make all support that belief.  Or if you believe responsible people pay their bills on time...you will do everything in your power to make that happen and fulfill that belief.

Our beliefs are like a guiding light, they make us who we are and structure our day to day lives. It is just a rarity that we say them out loud.  One of the exercises I have all my clients do is a Values exercise,  I have them name their top 5 values and then I have them share how they are living those values in their life and career right now.  So frequently the pain and discomfort we feel in our lives is when we aren't congruent with our values.  I believe one of the keys to being happier is to align our values with our day to day actions the best we can.  Admittedly we can't always do that do to life circumstances, past decisions or the people around us.  However, the goal is to start building awareness around what you really believe is important to you and what are the small changes you can implement to make those beliefs congruent with your lifestyle.

So today I ask you to think about and share in the comments (if you are so inclined)  What do you believe?