This activity is about finding the 3 main root values you always want in your life and how to manifest them in reality.
Design a tree made out of 3 main qualities, these are the roots of the tree.
You choose the ones that are vital for you and then you'll end up by finding actions that align with them.
1. How does it work?
3 main values you always want in your life
Find 3 main basic ingredients or qualities that you want present in your life 100% of the time, wherever you are, whatever you do. 3 words. For this matter think of some moments in your past where you felt fulfilled in that present moment or something you still experience sometimes.
For instance, I remember when I used to live near the beach as a child, I felt happiness simply rollerblading along the promenade under the sunlight with the perfume of the see. It can also be a small detail, like autumn leaves dancing in the wind on the street, which evokes peace to me. Or a cup of coffee sunday morning in bed…
So e.g. my main qualities would be:
-Happiness
-Peace
-Community
Define the 3 concepts you've chosen step by step
Of course, each person has their own way to understand the concepts they choose. So you need to break them down in a meaningful way for you. For this purpose, you're going to use funnel system by asking at each stage of definition a couple of questions (see below). The progression is going to guide you from the most general meaning (feelings) to the most specific and concrete one. You're going to end up referring to actions. Each path or branch will represent your own vital guiding threads.
2. Ready...Go!
Now take a piece of paper (landscape format), write your 3 words at the bottom of the paper, column wise.
Then for each main word these questions, ask yourself:
What is XXX for me? What do I need in order to feel XXX? (XXX stands for your main value)
Write down any words that pop up in your mind and connect them to the word XXX, as branches. For instance I choose Happiness as a main value for me, and personally, in order to be happy I need to feel Freedom.
But as you see, Hapiness and Freedom are still quite general words. So ask yourself again the same question: What is Freedom for me? What do I need in order to feel Freedom?... Write down your answers. For me Freedom would be "feeling no boundaries of time and space". And also feeling my body Healthy. Do as many secondary branches as you need!
As you go down this funnel you're going to be naturally more and more specific in the realm of feelings. For instance, I would break down the sentence feeling no boundaries of time and space with I need to feel free to travel, meet people of different cultures, wherever and whenever I want.
This continues till you end up satisfied with the last qualities you've found. The previous sentence seems ok to me. But for instance, to feel that my body is Healthy I need to feel strong, flexible and dynamic. I also need my body to challenge itself and overcome boundaries of time and space: stay young and be able to move everywhere. Now I've found enough qualities to describe specifically those general notions. Oh! by doing this, I realize something interesting : both branches of Freedom -feeling no boundaries of time and space and being healthy- are related to the main quality of Movement. I write this word down, I place it under Freedom and link the qualities all together with branches.
This first stage will be completed when you're not going to be able to define your words or sentences with other qualities any more. Now you have the need to describe them with actions.
3. Now write down your actions
You're ready to answer this question:
What do I need to do in order to have/feel this/to make this happen? We're talking about taking specific actions, which would represent the leaves of your tree. That means that, in order to chose actions that are aligned with your being, you need to take into account all the conditions that you mentioned above, all the knots of your branch!
For instance, if I want to feel my body strong, flexible and dynamic, what actions do I need to take? I have to practice a sport that makes me jump, move fast, use my flexibility, feel young, go beyond mental and physical barriers. Gymnastics is a good option, parkour when in the city is a great one.
Another exemple: meeting people from different cultures can work with travels or through social media. I then decide to make friends this way.
This exercise is a beautiful piece of artwork. Do it with your heart, not with your head.
Be kind to yourself if you don't finish everything. You can fill it up at your own pace. Have fun! ;)
Tip! Do you like working with affirmations?
Your life tree is a good tool to make your own organic daily mantras. You make sure each word resonate with the knots of your branches, which means the values you chose for yourself.
For instance: "My body is freedom and movement " « I am complete happiness wherever I am » (Happiness is my main word).
4. Fully integrate your values with a Reprogramming Exercise
Now you can use this powerful exercise explained in this video to deeply reprogram yourself using your affirmations. This exercise is very quick and powerful!
It’s taken from Dr Lipton’s methodolgy Psych-k (https://psych-k.com/).