I recently participated in a leadership conference called Leadershape. During which we had to identify our core values. This is an exercise that I had underestimated. There is a world of difference between vaguely holding a bunch of values and precisely and publically defining those values. I will do that here.

Additionally,

A while back I tried to develop my own perfect formula for well being. I distilled all the lessons I’ve learned in my life, from science, to meditation from self-help books to painful personal experience into a triangle of happiness (because everything good comes in threes).

I decided there are three axis of well being: mental, physical and spiritual.

From holism we know that these separate aspects are actually not separate but comprise a singular whole human. We are familiar with connections between mental and physical health but they exist between all aspects of human life, linking them into a greater whole. I find these the most natural viewpoints into human life.

Within each category I define the important aspects that should be attended:

Mental: education and community

Physical: diet and exercise

Spiritual: Meditation

Many of my values directly reflect aspects of this triangle. Truth and Love are the only concepts that don’t explicitly appear but are part of education and community and so they are important to mental health. I do ignore the physical health in my values, not because I don’t value it, but perhaps because it is the default concept when one speaks of human health. We tend to think of lack of sickness and physical pain.

I will speak to the importance of physical health but for now, it does not have a unique space in my top values. Perhaps I will change that. Even though the value is in my mind implied, making it explicit is better.