Your Internal Compass: Finding What Actually Matters When Everything Shifts
- aryaforyoga
- Jul 27
- 4 min read
The ground beneath our feet seems to shift constantly these days. Career paths pivot overnight. Relationships evolve in unexpected directions. The future we thought we were building suddenly feels like someone else's blueprint.
In moments like these, when external anchors feel unreliable, your values become your North Star—not the values you inherited or adopted to please others, but the ones that genuinely resonate with who you are becoming.
The Difference Between Inherited and Authentic Values
Many of us carry values like hand-me-down clothes—they might have fit someone else perfectly, but they never quite feel right on us. These inherited values often reveal themselves during uncertain times through a persistent sense of misalignment, like trying to force puzzle pieces that almost, but don't quite, fit together.
Authentic values, on the other hand, create a felt sense of rightness in your body. They're the principles that make you stand taller, breathe deeper, and feel more like yourself—even when the world around you is spinning. You will realise this specially when conflicting decisions arise.
Your Body Knows Before Your Mind Does
After two decades of working with the deeper aspects of yoga and mindfulness, I've learned that values aren't just intellectual concepts—they live in your nervous system. Your body holds the wisdom of what truly matters to you, often long before your thinking mind catches up.
When you're in alignment with your authentic values, your nervous system settles. There's a sense of expansion in your chest, a grounding in your core. When you're operating from inherited or misaligned values, your body contracts. You might notice tension in your shoulders, shallow breathing, or a persistent sense of restlessness.
This is your internal guidance system at work, and it's more accurate than any external measure of success.
Why This Happens: Your values aren't just concepts - they're deeply embedded neural patterns formed through lived experience, relationships, and what felt genuinely nourishing to you. When you encounter a situation that resonates with these patterns, your body recognizes it as "safe" and "right" before your analytical mind even starts processing.
The Practical Reality: Think about times you've walked into a workspace and immediately felt "I belong here" or met someone and sensed a deep resonance before you'd even spoken. That's your nervous system recognizing alignment with your authentic values based on thousands of micro-cues your conscious mind hasn't even registered yet.
The Uncertainty Advantage
Here's what I've discovered in my coaching practice: uncertainty isn't the enemy of clarity—it's often the catalyst. When familiar structures fall away, we're forced to discern what truly matters versus what we thought should matter.
The question shifts from "What should I value?" to "What do I actually value when everything else is stripped away?"
A Simple Practice for Value Discovery
Try this simple practice that has helped many, including myself:
The Values Check-In:
Sit quietly and bring to mind a recent decision you made that felt genuinely right—not perfect but aligned.
Notice the physical sensations in your body as you recall this moment.
Ask yourself: "What value was I honouring in this decision?"
Allow the answer to emerge naturally rather than thinking your way to it.
Notice how this value feels different from the expectations you've carried.
Repeat this process with 3-5 aligned decisions to identify patterns. These recurring themes often point to your authentic values.
Values as Your Internal Compass
Your authentic values don't eliminate uncertainty—they give you a reliable way to navigate through it. They become the lens through which you evaluate opportunities, relationships, and life changes. When a decision aligns with your core values, you move forward with confidence even when you can't see the entire path ahead.
This is particularly crucial for professionals navigating career transitions and anyone feeling the pull to live more authentically. Your values become the bridge between who you've been and who you're becoming.
The Ripple Effect of Aligned Living
When you operate from authentic values, something shifts in your presence. Others sense it—your energy becomes more magnetic because it's more genuine. In business, this translates to attracting ideal clients and opportunities. In relationships, it means deeper connections with people who appreciate the real you.
The uncertainty that once felt destabilizing becomes a space of infinite possibility, because you're no longer trying to fit into someone else's definition of success.
When you reach this place of alignment, you discover that your values aren't just personal compass points—they become the foundation for creating meaningful impact in the world around you.
Why I'm Offering This Work
In my many conversations with professionals, creatives, and seekers, I've discovered something that both surprises and concerns me: when I ask people "What are your core values?" most pause, struggle, then offer me values they think they should have rather than ones they genuinely feel, or at times even say ‘I genuinely do not know my values’
We live in a world that's incredibly skilled at telling us what to want, what to strive for, what should matter to us. But somewhere in all that external noise, we've lost touch with our own inner compass. I've watched brilliant, capable people make decisions that look successful from the outside while feeling hollow and disconnected on the inside—all because they're navigating by someone else's North Star.
This is why I'm offering these Free Value Alignment Strategy Calls. Because finding your authentic values isn't a luxury—it's essential. It's the difference between living a life that looks good on paper and living one that truly feels right in your bones.
Ready to Discover Your Authentic Values?
If you're feeling called to explore this deeper and ready to move from confusion to clarity, I'm offering complimentary Value Alignment Strategy Calls through the end of August.
During our time together, we'll:
Discover your authentic core values using a specific coaching technique
Distinguish between values you've inherited and those that truly belong to you
Experience how your body's wisdom can guide you toward what genuinely matters
Explore how these insights can transform your approach to life's uncertainties
Book your free call now—because living in alignment with your values is how you build a life that actually feels right.
[Email: aryaforyoga@gmail.com to Schedule Your Free Value Alignment Strategy Call ]
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