HOLISTIC - Values and a meaningful life
- Ronalyn
- 2 hours ago
- 2 min read
Jamie Milne
“Your values determine your perceptions, decisions, and destiny” — Dr John Demartini
The foundation that governs all human behaviour: your values.
Values are not just ideals or things we think we care about. They are the priorities that already run your life, shaping how you spend your time, energy, money, and attention—often unconsciously.
When your daily actions align with your highest values, life feels purposeful, energising, and sustainable. When they don’t, motivation fades, discipline feels forced, and burnout becomes likely.
What Are Values? According to Dr. John Demartini, values are a hierarchy of priorities—from what is most important to least important in your life. This hierarchy determines what motivates you naturally, what feels draining or energising, where you excel or procrastinate, how resilient you are under stress, and how disciplined you appear (or don’t).
Importantly, you already live by your values—even if you’ve never defined them. Your life demonstrates your values more honestly than your words do.
For example, if you say health is important but consistently sacrifice sleep, training, or nutrition, then health is not yet a top value. If you consistently show up for work, learning, or family without external motivation, those areas likely rank higher in your values hierarchy.
Values are descriptive, not prescriptive. This program is not about judging your values—it’s about clarifying them and learning how to build your life around them.
Over 2,300 years ago, Aristotle taught that everything in nature has a telos—an ultimate aim or purpose.
An acorn’s telos is to become an oak tree, a knife’s telos is to cut well. A human being’s telos is to live in accordance with their highest potential.
Aristotle believed that fulfillment (eudaimonia) comes not from pleasure alone, but from living in alignment with one’s true nature and highest purpose.
Modern psychology and neuroscience echo this idea: People thrive when their actions align with intrinsic motivation.
Meaning and resilience increase when behavior is value-driven. Sustainable habits form more easily when they serve something deeply important.
Your values define your telos. When your training, nutrition, sleep, and mental practices align with your values, they stop feeling like obligations and start becoming expressions of who you are.
It’s refreshing to read a piece that focuses on living with purpose instead of chasing constant pressure. A lot of people forget how important balance and self awareness can be in everyday life. Even something simple like keeping up with a doctor appointment can reflect how much we value our wellbeing. The thoughts shared here felt grounded and honest, which made the whole article easy to connect with. Nicely written and worth the read.