Do you know your values?

If you don't know what your values are, then you won't know how to behave when tricky decisions need to be made.

A good example of how values inform behaviour is taken from an excerpt from an interview with Desmond Tutu of South Africa. Here he is talking about one of the defining moments in his life.

The biggest defining moment in my life was when I saw Trevor Huddleston (the former president of the anti-apartheid movement), and I was maybe nine or so. My mother at this time was working as a cook in a school for black, blind people. And she was cooking for the women in this institution, and I was standing with my mother on the veranda when a white man went past wearing a long black cassock - he was a priest - and as he strut past, he did something that I found striking. He doffed his hat to my mother. And I, I was just surprised that a white man should do that to a woman, black woman, who was a simple domestic worker.

It's the little things that matter.  Every thing we do makes a difference.

The seemingly small human act of recognition - the doffing of a hat - made a difference. It became a defining moment for a boy who later became a powerful activist in the struggle against apartheid. 

Trevor Huddleston had values. Those values showed him how to act - whatever the circumstances and whatever the prejudices that surrounded him. That's what values do - they guide behaviour. 

We all need to know what our values are if we want to avoid the pitfalls. If you want to uncover yours and make your life a little simpler when it comes to deciding what to do in difficult circumstances then click here for a bit of guidance.