Exploring Your Internal Map Of Reality Part 5a: Values (Part 1 of 2)

An important part of the Internal Map Of Reality is Values. These work in conjunction with the other filters to create what you experience in life.

What are Values?

The 6 Levels of Change

A ‘value’ is simply an idea of what is important to you. It is a chunked up  concept that oversees things such as your beliefs.

In the hierarchy of change, they represent the third highest level upon which we can change. The only other things higher are your ‘identity’ and your ‘purpose.’

However making changes in those 2 areas is considerably more difficult than at the level of your values.

There is a popular definition of values that refers to such things as ‘family values,’ ‘western values,’ etc. However these definitions are largely things that are shared by different groups in society.

This article is referring to personal values, and they can be found in any area of your life from business to leisure to relationships.

Some examples include ‘family’, ‘freedom,’ ‘fun,’ ‘money,’ ‘learning,’ ‘security, ‘ ‘entertainment,’ ‘love,’ etc.

There is no hard fixed number because, being ideas they are infinite in number and scope.

Belief Organization

If you picture a wardrobe with drawers and hangers, the wardrobe is the encompassing value, with the beliefs being stored in the drawers and on the hangers.

Like beliefs, values can be both empowering or disempowering. Similarly, not valuing something can be empowering or disempowering. And like beliefs, your values were formed very early in life when you had no critical faculties to challenge them – you simply absorbed them uncritically from your parents or care-givers.

If you want a clue to what is important to you, consider what you spend the most time doing. There’s a fair chance that your values are served if it your spend a lot of time surfing or being at the beach. If you find yourself unhappy at work and would rather be at the beach, then your current activity is not serving your value of beach life.

Motivators

Essentially, your values are a source of motivation. So next time you find yourself highly motivated it will be a value that you are trying to fulfil.

In that sense, a value can also be defined as a ‘void’ – it is something in your life that you need to fill up, or keep full. If you value love but experience none, you will be motivated to find it. If you value family life but have none, you will also be motivated to fill the void by forming a family.

Measuring Sticks

Values also give you a measuring stick for both your and others’ behaviour. If you do something against your values, you will probably have a negative feeling such as guilt or dissatisfaction. If you see behaviour from others that is against your values, similar negative emotions will be felt: if someone cheats you, you most likely will feel anger.

Click here for Part 2 of this article.