During the course of the past year the concept of needs took a lot of my attention and I have written a couple of articles about it. I begin this year with an interest in getting closer to better understanding values and the dynamics that we go through while living our core values.

In many self help books, workshops and training sessions - including our own iDecode Workshop - we talk about the importance of living our core values on continuous basis as it forms a very essential pillar to our life balance.

The importance of living our core values goes beyond the short term goal of living a balanced life, it is - as iDecode Workshop explains - the stepping stone to discovering and living our life purpose which is the base element in living a fulfilling life.

Such emphasis on the positive side of living our core values might lead the reader to think that such a practice acts like a magic wand to transform our lives to the other side the moment we start implementing and living our core values. This might be true in the short run, but there is a pitfall here that we need to be careful with.

Within the definition of "Values" we see the words; principles, life philosophies, qualities and beliefs. Then we remember that it is said that a true test of implementing a principle is when it is not within our own interest to abide by it. This brings us to a very important conclusion, which is as much as it is important for us to maintain living our core values to live a balanced life, and in as much as it is said that core values are programs that are already in our system and it should be very easy to abide by them as they form our nature, it is not always easy to abide by them.

There are many cases in which we find ourselves having to look the other way, away from our values to satisfy a the nagging shout of a short term need. This is the true test of how much we insist on living our core values.

Let us take "honesty" as it is the most classical and simple example to use when talking about values. If honesty is one of your top core values, haven't faced numerous situations in which you perceived that the price of honesty is too high for the time being, which might have caused to be dishonest at that particular incident? I guess many of us can related to such situations. To make the situation even harder, for those who have chosen to follow their values and not listen to their needs at such moments, the price of the experienced consequence would actually be too high and they would wish that they have not lived that value then and they might even start doubting the positiveness of the value as a whole. Some might go to the extreme and because of such experiences they might drop the value all together from their lives and would start living at the opposite end of such a core value.

Living core values might seem in many cases not beneficial in the short term. It might even appear in some instances as disastrous. Still the long term of effect of a balanced, healthy and fulfilled life is achieved by living your core values. Yes this is what the books say, but I also speak from personal experiences and experiences that my life coaching clients went through. Regardless of the short term pain that living a particular core value in a particular situation might cause, the long term effect makes it worth it.

Remember though that we are human beings and not machines, our minds are very dynamic and very powerful. The rule that says that every rule has its exceptions is totally true. Yet use this rule wisely and not hastily. The temptations of satisfying a need can be so powerful to dismay us and sway us away from living our core values that bring true balance and fulfillment to our lives.