Hey there, welcome back to Mojo Monday. I'm Carly Taylor, and today we're diving into something that can really help us shape our lives in a good way. And that's how our character strengths or virtues and our values work together to create a meaningful life. It's often in those everyday moments when life throws a challenge or a curveball at us, that we get stuck. You know, maybe it's a tough day at work, or a disagreement with your partner or family member or friend, or maybe you're just feeling stuck for no reason. And what I've found is that getting really clear and tapping into our character strengths and our values can be a guide for us even when you're having a life wobble. But here's the thing. While we often talk about our values and our character strengths like they're the same thing, they're actually quite different. And so today I wanted to break that down for you. So let's start with character strengths, or what we call virtues. So these are those qualities that often arise naturally when we're faced with a challenge. So think about courage, or kindness, perseverance or curiosity, you don't necessarily have to force them. They're just a part of who you are, like they're in an invisible toolkit that you carry around with you. But it's also important to know that we can develop them. So let's take a strength like resilience. By deliberately doing stuff that makes you feel uncomfortable increases your resilience. And so we should aim to do that as part of our personal growth. And another one is gratitude. Gratitude is something that you can develop by doing a daily gratitude ritual. Now, psychologists Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson came up with something called the VIA, which stands for Values in Action Classification, and it identifies twenty four human character strengths that fall under six overarching virtues. And it so happens that the four of these virtues that Seligman used are the stoic cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. And we can use the term character strengths and virtues interchangeably. That values are different. So I will get to values in a minute. I'll give you another example. So kindness. Kindness is being generous and caring towards others, and it's something that can show up when a friend needs support or perseverance, which is that grit that keeps you going when things get tough, or curiosity. The curiosity is kind of what makes you ask questions and want to learn more. So I've got a personal example for you. So right now, I try to tap into the virtue of courage. And that means that when I'm faced with a challenge, or even when I'm experiencing negative self talk or anxiety, which can you pull me back into my comfort zone and stop me from doing the things that are important, I try to intentionally draw on courage too, so I can move forward despite how I feel. And it's important that you understanding that courage doesn't mean confidence. So even without confidence, I will try and do what's important to me by breathing into the virtue of courage. And that might mean I've got to sit with some discomfort for a while, but confidence comes from practice and experience, so it's really its courage is an important virtue for me to build my confidence. I mean, I've done things now that ten years years ago I would never have done because I didn't consciously know back then or intentionally know to tap into that virtue of courage. I just relied very heavily on emotions to guide me in my decisions, which was not always pretty and it didn't often lead me down the path of growth, that all path that I wanted to be on. So having an awareness and a awareness and intention around courage has really helped me stay on that path. So let's move now onto values. So values are a little different. They're more like a life compass. They point you in the direction that feels meaningful for you. Values are deeply held beliefs about what's important to you, deep in your heart, and for some it might be family, for others it might be achievement or health. Your values really shape your decisions and help you to prioritize what really matters to you, which is really important in this world of distraction right now. So my top values family, and that focuses very much on my immediate family. But I also use that this value as a compass for me to prioritize my extended family. So making sure I call my dad regularly and I meet him for lunch. And you know, now I'm talking out loud about this, I realize I probably could call other members of my family a lot more. But when we're clear on what is important to us deep down in our hearts and what can make a difference to others, we can choose to give this part of our lives attention and action over the things that are maybe not as important. So here's a simple way to think about it. So virtues or character strengths are how you show up and values are why you do it, So they guide you towards what feels important and meaningful. For example, you might use that strength talking about of courage to speak up at work, but the reason you speak up could be because you value contribution or you value progress. It's about understanding that these two forces and how they work, how they work together to help you navigate your life. And let's talk now about how these effective are really effective for intentional living. So when you know your virtues and your values, it's like you've got this map for personal growth and for resilience. So first of all, knowing your strengths gives you clarity around your natural tendencies. You know, maybe perseverance is one of your top strengths, and that helps you push through the tough challenges. But it's also knowing what strengths you would like to work on. So if you need to work on perseverance, then you can intentionally tap into that. And then values, on the other hand, gives you give you this sense purpose. So for example, if you value creativity, you might choose a career or hobby that lets you express that, like you know, painting or writing. So when you align your decisions with your values, life feels more authentic. If you value integrity, you are more likely to make honest choices, even when that choice could be a difficult one. And when you combine that with the strengths like courage or leadership, pick at this powerful combination that can really move you towards what matters in your life. And without this compass, we're more likely to react to our circumstances rather than respond intentionally. And if we allow our emotions to take control, which are not always an accurate indication of what we should do, we can end up down a path that we don't want to be on, or we can end up doing things that we may regret later on. And I say that from direct experience that our strengths and values don't just serve us individually as well, they're the glue that holds our relationships together. You know, things like strengths like kindness and empathy help us connect with others, and shared values can deepen those connections. You know, if you value family, you're naturally going to prioritize and nurture those relationships and create those strong bonds. And when we share values with others, it can create a deeper and more authentic connection. And I'm sure you have all experienced that. When you've met somebody for the first time and you start talking to them and you kind of get that sense that you share the same values, you can connect with people a lot deeper and a lot quicker. But I also find that when others don't share my values, rather than getting swept up in judgments, I can draw on my value of curiosity in order to have an understanding of others but not necessary barely means I've got to agree with them, but I can understand them more and understand their perspective of things. And finally, character strengths can build resilience, and traits like perseverance and humor can help you navigate life's inevitable bumps. And when you're guided by your values, maybe a value like personal growth you can see adversity as an opportunity for learning even when it's hard, and that perspective can change everything. So to wrap it all up, virtues or character strengths and values are like they're like a dynamic duo for living a full and meaningful life. And character strengths are the tools that you can use every day to face challenges and values are the compass that points you towards what really matters. And this is all part of intentional living. So if it's something you think that will help you do that, spend some time thinking about what's strength and values that you have or you would like to have, and once you know those, you'll have this powerful guide for making your decisions and building relationships and finding resilience when life throws you those curveballs. And if you're not sure what strengths you have or you're curious, then you could do the free via Character Strength Survey, which I can put the link in the show notes for you. As I said, it's free. We don't have any affiliation with them, but we've used this link a lot. I use them with my clients and it can be really helpful to either validate what you already know, or maybe it will highlight some strengths that you didn't even know you had. So thank you for joining me on this episode of Majo Monday. I hope it's sparked a bit of insight for you. I hope you'll all have a good week and I will catch you next week

Hey there, welcome back to Mojo Monday. I'm Carly Taylor, and today we're diving into something that can really help us shape our lives in a good way. And that's how our character strengths or virtues and our values work together to create a meaningful life. It's often in those everyday moments when life throws a challenge or a curveball at us, that we get stuck. You know, maybe it's a tough day at work, or a disagreement with your partner or family member or friend, or maybe you're just feeling stuck for no reason. And what I've found is that getting really clear and tapping into our character strengths and our values can be a guide for us even when you're having a life wobble. But here's the thing. While we often talk about our values and our character strengths like they're the same thing, they're actually quite different. And so today I wanted to break that down for you. So let's start with character strengths, or what we call virtues. So these are those qualities that often arise naturally when we're faced with a challenge. So think about courage, or kindness, perseverance or curiosity, you don't necessarily have to force them. They're just a part of who you are, like they're in an invisible toolkit that you carry around with you. But it's also important to know that we can develop them. So let's take a strength like resilience. By deliberately doing stuff that makes you feel uncomfortable increases your resilience. And so we should aim to do that as part of our personal growth. And another one is gratitude. Gratitude is something that you can develop by doing a daily gratitude ritual. Now, psychologists Martin Seligman and Christopher Peterson came up with something called the VIA, which stands for Values in Action Classification, and it identifies twenty four human character strengths that fall under six overarching virtues. And it so happens that the four of these virtues that Seligman used are the stoic cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, justice, and temperance. And we can use the term character strengths and virtues interchangeably. That values are different. So I will get to values in a minute. I'll give you another example. So kindness. Kindness is being generous and caring towards others, and it's something that can show up when a friend needs support or perseverance, which is that grit that keeps you going when things get tough, or curiosity. The curiosity is kind of what makes you ask questions and want to learn more. So I've got a personal example for you. So right now, I try to tap into the virtue of courage. And that means that when I'm faced with a challenge, or even when I'm experiencing negative self talk or anxiety, which can you pull me back into my comfort zone and stop me from doing the things that are important, I try to intentionally draw on courage too, so I can move forward despite how I feel. And it's important that you understanding that courage doesn't mean confidence. So even without confidence, I will try and do what's important to me by breathing into the virtue of courage. And that might mean I've got to sit with some discomfort for a while, but confidence comes from practice and experience, so it's really its courage is an important virtue for me to build my confidence. I mean, I've done things now that ten years years ago I would never have done because I didn't consciously know back then or intentionally know to tap into that virtue of courage. I just relied very heavily on emotions to guide me in my decisions, which was not always pretty and it didn't often lead me down the path of growth, that all path that I wanted to be on. So having an awareness and a awareness and intention around courage has really helped me stay on that path. So let's move now onto values. So values are a little different. They're more like a life compass. They point you in the direction that feels meaningful for you. Values are deeply held beliefs about what's important to you, deep in your heart, and for some it might be family, for others it might be achievement or health. Your values really shape your decisions and help you to prioritize what really matters to you, which is really important in this world of distraction right now. So my top values family, and that focuses very much on my immediate family. But I also use that this value as a compass for me to prioritize my extended family. So making sure I call my dad regularly and I meet him for lunch. And you know, now I'm talking out loud about this, I realize I probably could call other members of my family a lot more. But when we're clear on what is important to us deep down in our hearts and what can make a difference to others, we can choose to give this part of our lives attention and action over the things that are maybe not as important. So here's a simple way to think about it. So virtues or character strengths are how you show up and values are why you do it, So they guide you towards what feels important and meaningful. For example, you might use that strength talking about of courage to speak up at work, but the reason you speak up could be because you value contribution or you value progress. It's about understanding that these two forces and how they work, how they work together to help you navigate your life. And let's talk now about how these effective are really effective for intentional living. So when you know your virtues and your values, it's like you've got this map for personal growth and for resilience. So first of all, knowing your strengths gives you clarity around your natural tendencies. You know, maybe perseverance is one of your top strengths, and that helps you push through the tough challenges. But it's also knowing what strengths you would like to work on. So if you need to work on perseverance, then you can intentionally tap into that. And then values, on the other hand, gives you give you this sense purpose. So for example, if you value creativity, you might choose a career or hobby that lets you express that, like you know, painting or writing. So when you align your decisions with your values, life feels more authentic. If you value integrity, you are more likely to make honest choices, even when that choice could be a difficult one. And when you combine that with the strengths like courage or leadership, pick at this powerful combination that can really move you towards what matters in your life. And without this compass, we're more likely to react to our circumstances rather than respond intentionally. And if we allow our emotions to take control, which are not always an accurate indication of what we should do, we can end up down a path that we don't want to be on, or we can end up doing things that we may regret later on. And I say that from direct experience that our strengths and values don't just serve us individually as well, they're the glue that holds our relationships together. You know, things like strengths like kindness and empathy help us connect with others, and shared values can deepen those connections. You know, if you value family, you're naturally going to prioritize and nurture those relationships and create those strong bonds. And when we share values with others, it can create a deeper and more authentic connection. And I'm sure you have all experienced that. When you've met somebody for the first time and you start talking to them and you kind of get that sense that you share the same values, you can connect with people a lot deeper and a lot quicker. But I also find that when others don't share my values, rather than getting swept up in judgments, I can draw on my value of curiosity in order to have an understanding of others but not necessary barely means I've got to agree with them, but I can understand them more and understand their perspective of things. And finally, character strengths can build resilience, and traits like perseverance and humor can help you navigate life's inevitable bumps. And when you're guided by your values, maybe a value like personal growth you can see adversity as an opportunity for learning even when it's hard, and that perspective can change everything. So to wrap it all up, virtues or character strengths and values are like they're like a dynamic duo for living a full and meaningful life. And character strengths are the tools that you can use every day to face challenges and values are the compass that points you towards what really matters. And this is all part of intentional living. So if it's something you think that will help you do that, spend some time thinking about what's strength and values that you have or you would like to have, and once you know those, you'll have this powerful guide for making your decisions and building relationships and finding resilience when life throws you those curveballs. And if you're not sure what strengths you have or you're curious, then you could do the free via Character Strength Survey, which I can put the link in the show notes for you. As I said, it's free. We don't have any affiliation with them, but we've used this link a lot. I use them with my clients and it can be really helpful to either validate what you already know, or maybe it will highlight some strengths that you didn't even know you had. So thank you for joining me on this episode of Majo Monday. I hope it's sparked a bit of insight for you. I hope you'll all have a good week and I will catch you next week