Personal Values List
A working list of values, virtues, qualities, traits, emotions, needs, and ways of being.
Use this list as a doorway into deeper reflection.
You do not need to choose perfectly or know your core values immediately. Begin by reading slowly and noticing which words feel meaningful, important, familiar, energizing, uncomfortable, grounding, or alive.
Some words may name qualities you hold dear. Others may point to qualities you want to practice, cultivate, embody, or bring into fuller expression. Some may reveal what feels needed, missing, or quietly important. Others may help you recognize what has been guiding your choices, relationships, and direction over time.
As you move through the list, simply notice what resonates. You may collect words that stand out, then begin to notice which ones seem connected.
In a Values Orientation session, the words that stand out become entry points into a fuller exploration of your Character Compass.
The words are not the destination. They are pointers toward what matters.
How to Read This List
This list includes more than strictly defined “values.”
You may notice words that could also be described as virtues, character traits, personality traits, emotional states, needs, qualities, gifts, aspirations, or ways of being. That is intentional.
Human meaning does not always fit neatly into one category. A word like courage may be a value, a virtue, and a character quality. Peace may be a value, an emotional state, a need, or an aspiration. Creativity may be a value, a gift, a practice, and a way of relating to life.
You do not need to determine exactly what kind of word something is before it can be meaningful.
In Character Compass, the more useful question is:
How does this word function for you?
Does it name what matters?
Does it describe a quality you practice?
Does it reveal a felt state, a need, or an aspiration?
Does it point toward something you are learning to embody?
These distinctions can be helpful, but they are only starting points:
A value names what matters.
A virtue is a value practiced through action.
A character trait is a quality revealed through repeated choices.
A personality trait describes a tendency or style of expression.
An emotion names a felt state.
A need points to something that supports your well-being.
An aspiration points toward who you are becoming.
As you move through this list, do not worry about choosing or sorting perfectly. Begin by noticing what resonates.
Later, Values Orientation can help you explore what these words reveal, how they relate, and how they can help you navigate what matters with greater clarity through your Character Compass.
A place to return to what matters.