The New Year is generally a time when people reflect and review the previous year and all that has occurred.  It can also be a great time to clarify your goals for the coming year, revisit your core values and create your own personal mission statement.

“Values are like fingerprints. Nobody’s are the same, but you leave ‘em all over everything you do.” ~ Elvis Presley

To start the New Year we are going to explore the subject of ‘values’ and their roles in our choices and decisions.  We will consider our own personal, spiritual, family, and career values and how our own individual set of values define us.  I have included an exercise to assist you to create your own personal or business mission statement and an idea for a monthly Challenge to assist you to connect more fully with your own personal set of core values in 2016. It is my personal belief that every choice we make ultimately has consequences with regards to the ‘bigger picture.’ I believe that this is a universal or spiritual law that governs us and that all our paths are interconnected in some way with the paths of others. Our impact on another’s life can reach far in to their future and we may never know how we have influenced them, in either a positive or negative way. Imagine for a moment, that you witness the following situation:  You see an individual being intimidated by a small group of others. What would you decide to do… if anything? How would you come to your decision? This might seem to be a negative situation to ask you to consider, but it addresses some important issues. What are our own personal set of values and beliefs and what do we base them on? How did we arrive at these and how do they influence our choices and affect us in our everyday lives? Having your own individual set of values provides you with structure and purpose and assists you to establish what is important to you.  Your values define your qualities and spirit, what you stand for, and can impact all areas of your life. Becoming disconnected with your values will result in a feeling of not ‘going with the flow’ of life and may result in making impulsive decisions or uninformed choices.

“It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are.” ~ Roy Disney

Your set of values can be likened to your own personal design for living your life by. Some of the areas it can affect are: how you respond to the world around you, the things you feel passionate about, how your get on and relate to others, and what career you might choose to pursue. You might like to complete the following exercise to assist you in defining your own set of values. Firstly, pick the top three words from the list below that are most important to you: Romance    Acceptance    Status    Physical Activity    Family    Saving    Idealism     Curiosity    Order    Tranquility    Independence    Social Contact    Power    Honour Competitiveness    Spiritual    Creativity The three words that you have chosen represent the values that most resonate within your life. Next, ask yourself the following questions:

• Am I living in a way that reflects these values?
• If not, is there a reason why?
• How can I change my present life to incorporate these values?

Now, think back to when you were a child of 10 to 20 years of age. Did you feel more in tune with your values then? Can you think of a time in your life when you felt more in tune with your values and what were you doing at this time to make you feel this way? Now you have chosen or revisited your personal set of values, why not create your own personal mission statement? This will assist you to gain clarity, focus and a sense of purpose. A mission statement only needs to be short and about 3-5 sentences long. Here are some examples of mission statements from some well known people:

“To have fun in [my] journey through life and learn from [my] mistakes.” Richard Branson “To be a teacher. And to be known for inspiring my students to be more than they thought they could be.” Oprah Winfrey

Your mission statement should answer questions about your life and how you want to live it. Some of the common questions you might want to consider when creating your mission statement are:

• What are my values?  You will have already identified these from the exercise above
• What do I want from life?
• What do I hope to achieve?
• How do I want to be remembered?
• What am I good at?

It might also be helpful to clarify your beliefs, consider the roles you play within your life and create goals. Once you have created your mission statement, make sure you review it evey so often and change it a little as your life evolves. You can also complete the above exercises for your business. A business mission statement will encompass the essence of your business and what it stands for, it will say who your company is, what you do and why you do it. Why not make 2016 the year you choose to honour and express your values within your daily life? Why not challenge yourself to connect with one of your own personal values more fully each month and make it your mission to create the change you wish to see in the world. Visit the Helix Healing – Tina Paul or Angel Energies – Tina Paul Facebook pages, connect with us and share your personal mission statements or any tips you have found helpful when completing your mission statement or identifying your own set of personal values. The links to pages are provided at the end of the article. Every other month I will be providing a FREE reading for a Bellesprit reader. In February 2016, I will be providing a FREE ‘Love Connections’ Auragraph Reading for a single person or couple to celebrate Valentine’s Day. If you would like to be considered for this, please send me an e-mail by the 11^th of January 2016 to tmpaul13@gmail.com.  The recipient will be chosen at random and I will e-mail the successful reader a copy of their reading and it will also be published in the February edition of Bellesprit Magazine. Views:]]>