Today I am writing about the values that keep relationships happy and safe. I call them The Essential Values Staircase because one builds on the other and the absence of one makes the others futile. So let’s see how the essential values staircase looks like:
1.Respect/fairness/equality. They are in my mind the same thing and I consider them the foundation of a good character and the essence of morality and a good life.
2.Freedom/independence/autonomy. I feel that they mean the same thing and I see them after respect as the next mandatory value towards a decent life.
3.Authenticity/honesty/integrity. They mean the same thing for me. I find authenticity essential for good mental health as I noticed that most illnesses (if not all) tend to develop in the space of secrecy and deceit.
4.Kindness/care/compassion. I feel that kindness, care and compassion lead to empathy, acceptance, tolerance and forgiveness and are all expressions of love in its larger form. These values are absolutely vital to a happy relationship with the self, family, others and the world.
5.Openness/peace/aliveness. When you are rigid and inflexible you cannot open to happiness and enjoy life. A curious attitude, accommodating of different opinions and receptive to new ideas and experiences brings aliveness and vitality into your life.
6.Awareness/presence/consciousness. We can be honest and respectful, we can feel independent and compassionate towards ourselves and the world and we can experience vitality in life, but without awareness they mean nothing as we cannot capture them in the “now”, in the present moment.
The important questions are:
Can we grow these values or we are born with them?
What are these values about?
How do they change your life?
What if you can’t always stay true to your values?
To find out more get your full The Essential Values Staircase pdf guide: