avatarJohn Cunningham

Summary

The undefined website content discusses the importance of personal values as a guiding principle, showcases featured writers from the ILLUMINATION publication on Medium, and provides insights into their diverse and thought-provoking articles.

Abstract

The article emphasizes the significance of having a core set of values to navigate life's challenges and make better decisions. It offers a step-by-step guide to help readers create or revise their own list of core values, suggesting the use of resources like Brene Brown's extensive list. The piece also highlights the difficulty in selecting top writers from the ILLUMINATION publication due to the abundance of quality stories. It introduces readers to several featured writers, including Julfi, Jules, and Agustín Muñoz-Sanz, and summarizes their unique contributions, which range from personal growth and travel to philosophy and literature. The writers' stories explore various themes such as achieving a flow state, the value of life's struggles, the concept of good versus evil, the beauty of untouched nature, the complexities of revisiting past relationships, reflections on mortality, the power of love over hate, and the interplay between classic literature and modern-day life. The article concludes with a thank you to Marcus aka Gregory Maidman for his support and invites readers to subscribe for inspiration and join Medium to access ad-free content.

Opinions

  • The author believes that core values are essential for personal guidance and decision-making.
  • There is an appreciation for the serendipitous patterns and shared challenges observed among individuals seeking self-improvement.
  • The process of identifying one's core values is presented as a method of self-discovery that involves reflection and understanding of nuanced meanings.
  • The featured writers are commended for their impressive storytelling and ability to provoke thought on a variety of topics.
  • The author expresses a personal connection to the writers' works, suggesting that their insights resonate on a deeper level.
  • The article suggests that revisiting old relationships is generally not advisable, based on the author's experience.
  • There is an endorsement of the idea that love can overcome hate, echoing the sentiments of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • The author values the diversity of content available on Medium and encourages readers to engage further with the platform and the featured writers.

Let Your Values be Your Guide and Other Interesting Stories

The 3X3 — Featured writers from ILLUMINATION

Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

The beauty of being around others more is the serendipitous themes that reveal themselves throughout the week. It’s funny that even though these people are in different places and with different needs the patterns repeat themselves. So many people are facing similar hurdles to becoming better versions of themselves.

One such theme that kept recurring in the people I talked to this week was the improtance of having a core set of values. When you have core values, they serve as the rudder for keeping yourself on course. Likewise, not having these guiding principles leads to a state of confusion, especially when facing challenging dilemmas.

Here is how to create (or revise) your core values list:

  • Get a list of values. Brene Brown has an extensive list on her website.
  • Circle the values that relate to you
  • Cut your list in half (you may have to use a dictionary or thesaurus in this stage to understand the nuanced meaning of the words and phrases)
  • Cut your list to around 10 values
  • Reduce your list to 4–6 values — These are your core values
  • Post them somewhere you can be frequently reminded of them

Once you have completed your list, try using those 4–6 values the next time you need to make a tough decision. They will help you to see the situation with a broader perspective and guide you to a decision more aligned with the person you want to be, making your choice easier.

Selecting this week’s featured writers was not such an easy task. It seems that every week there are more and more quality stories showing up in the To Be Published tab of ILLUMINATION. These writers are a few I’ve been following for a while, and they continue to impress. I hope you like their writing, too.

Julfi likes to challenge conventional wisdom in his stories. Julfi even has a YouTube channel where he presents the ideas from his stories in video format. You can check that out here.

In 9 Concepts That Changed My Why, he writes about his personal journey to achieve a flow state, which is a super-high level of productivity.

Is Your Current Struggle Worth It? Is an exercise in reassessing the tasks, projects, and goals you are working on and their overall value to your life.

Nobody Fights For Good. Nor Evil considers if we are creating ourselves as angels or demons by the way we live our lives and what we value.

Julfi even has a YouTube channel where he presents the ideas from his stories in video format. You can check that out here.

Jules is a copywriter based in London that writes illustrative travel reviews, psychology stories, and whatever strikes her fancy.

If you’ve ever considered a vacation in the Galapagos Islands, Visiting the Galapagos: to cruise or not to cruise? Will help you to understand your options, including tips for seeing uninhabited islands. That would be worth the trip to me.

Sometimes, things are better left untouched. The more we tinker the worse it gets. And The Beauty of Leaving Things Alone is a photo essay that provides an escape to places that unlock the imagination.

Should You Give Your Ex a Second Chance? Discusses a dilemma many of us, or our friends, struggle with. From my experience, revisiting old relationships rarely goes well.

Agustín Muñoz-Sanz brings his lifetime of studying medicine and love of the theater to his writing. It is a combination that is philosophically deep with a dose of the attention to detail you’d expect from someone with a research background.

Letter from a Recent Deceased relates a memento mori moment from an elderly person in the throes of COVID. It’s a very moving piece.

Moral Ode For The People Of Good Will reminds us that, in the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “Only love can conquer hate.”.

Anna Karenina’s Principle And Some Non-Bach’s Fugues combines the expertise I talked about earlier, This homily compares ideas from classic literature with the balance of nature in the present day.

Thanks for sharing your time with me and these wonderful writers. I appreciate you.

I’d also like to thank Marcus aka Gregory Maidman for his ongoing support of this feature.

John

Click the envelop in the right tab to get a hit of inspiration whenever I post a story. You can also join Medium by clicking this link. You’ll get ad-free content from amazing writers all around the globe, and help sponsor me with a portion of your membership. Want to work with me to get more out of life? Visit my website https://www.synergypersonaldevelopment.com.

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