Are you being Congruent?

May 17th, 2011, by Shelley Riutta

One of my favorite things that I learned when I was in Graduate school was concept of being congruent with our values. We first would identify and clarify what our values were and then see how aligned we were with these values in our current life.  An example would be if we valued honesty -yet as we examined our life we found we were telling little white lies to avoid conflict–we would realize that we weren’t in full alignment with this value.  The more we move our actions in alignment with our stated values–the more peaceful and whole we feel.

This of course is a work in progress as we move to align with our stated values—and also our stated values and priorities may shift over time as well.  An example from my own life is I value simplicity and for things in my home to be neat and decluttered.  Over the last 6 months I have been busy with work projects and made a conscious decision that I wouldn’t have time to have things as organized as I would like.  A friend of mine who recently came to visit—had read my Simplicity article and came to visit and noticed I wasn’t in full alignment with what I was promoting in the article.  It didn’t feel good to be out of alignment –yet I worked on being compassionate with myself knowing that I had good reasons for not being in alignment- and I had a plan to get things back on track now that I was less busy.

Think of areas of your life—where are you in alignment with your values and where are you off track? Notice where you are off track and check to see if the value is still a value that is a high priority for you.  If it is then make a plan to get back in alignment with this–if it is not a high priority for you then note this and let go of putting a lot of energy into it.

Strive to live congruent to your most important values.