Values I Admire

You’ve probably seen plenty of examples of values that you don’t respect or admire in the world lately. What about the values you do admire though? Do you praise and encourage them when you see them?

Here are some values I admire that I like to praise and encourage when I see them in others.

Growth

I admire people who embrace growth. I’m impressed by those who keep turning towards opportunities to make positive changes. I especially respect people who do this when dealing with challenging circumstances by staying focused on what they want. People with fixed mindsets are so dreadfully dull. I prefer to connect with people who keep changing and evolving, as opposed to those who live like they’re frozen in time.

Generosity

I admire people who are generous, especially with their time. People who are overly self-absorbed tend to yield stagnant connections, whereby it feels like you’re spinning in circles with them. The flow of connection is so much more interesting with people who put some effort into giving and contributing to others, whether it comes naturally for them or they had to work at becoming that way.

Creativity

I have a deep respect for creative people such as writers, artists, musicians, and other creative types. Creativity is hard, and I feel such an affinity towards people who lean into this challenge. Just making the effort impresses me, regardless of whether or not people think they’ve succeeded in creating something beautiful. Another aspect that impresses me is when people confront their fear of criticism; creating ripples are more important than fussing over naysayers.

Courage

Courage is such an essential skill when you’re on a path of growth. I’m inspired by people who deliberately move towards their fears, especially by framing fear as an invitation to grow. I so love hanging out with other people who’ve conquered the stage in some fashion. I feel like when I’m chatting with people who’ve amassed some decent stage time, there’s an extra potent flow of energy in our connection because we’ve all pushed ourselves to transform our relationships with that scary stage. Being around people who feel awake and alive on a stage is so inspiring.

Technophilia

I admire technophiles who see the potential of technology. Hearing someone say, “Oh, I’m just not good with tech,” makes me cringe. I love seeing the progression of technology and how much it has enhanced my life. I feel right at home in the presence of other technophiles, especially those who can geek out about what’s coming down the pipeline next. I question whether technophobes are on the right planet. Tech is an ever-increasing part of our lives; resistance is futile.

Intelligence

I love brains. Stupidity and irrationality are such huge turn-offs. I banish and unfriend people on social media for falling below a certain minimum threshold of basic intelligence, including Trump supporters, which must be among the dumbest people on the planet. I admire people who have some intellectual horsepower, preferably when they flow it into interesting projects. I’m actually a bit turned off by really smart people who lack ambition and enthusiasm.

Ambition

I admire ambition when it’s strongly heart-aligned. I love seeing people stretch themselves, especially when they’re creating interesting ripples in the world and keeping their egos from running amok. Without the heart aspect though, it’s a turnoff. Ambition without heart is just too cold to be around. But ambition with heart? More, please!

Trust

Truth alignment is very important to me. Lying is so ridiculously creepy. I especially love it when people can be open, honest, and authentic right away instead of needing so much time to warm up. I can build and enjoy interesting relationships more quickly and easily with people who are honest and trusting. I usually don’t have the patience to complete the lengthy process of building trust with those who are jaded, cynical, and guarded – the interfaces they present are too inefficient, and connecting with low-trust people is simply too tiresome. Participating in high-trust communities is among the greatest joys of my life. I spent many years dealing with trust violations and low-trust environments when I was younger, which may be why I appreciate high-trust relationships so much.

Curiosity

I admire people with a healthy sense of curiosity. It’s great watching people explore what interests them. I really don’t get people who aren’t curious to learn, grow, and explore more of life. I especially love to co-explore a curiosity with someone who’s equally curious. Some of my fondest memories involve spending time with a likeminded explorer, even for seemingly mundane events like an all-day scavenger hunt – and winning first place. 🙂

Speed

I admire people who like to go fast, both in business and their personal lives. It’s great to see someone get an idea and act on it within 24 hours. I also love it when someone is open to going fast on the personal side – people of action are often like this. It’s refreshing to see someone express their interests and desires with courage and speed instead of being so cautious and slow. If you like to go fast, you’ll make more mistakes perhaps, but you can recover quickly if you develop resilience as well. Sometimes speed is a sign of recklessness, but if the person is good at adapting and recovering, I tend to find this quality more admirable than problematic. It’s nice to connect with people who aren’t so risk-averse and who know that if a connection doesn’t work out as well as we hoped, we’ll both recover just fine.

Caring

I admire people who care about people and animals. Apathy and indifference are disappointing, especially when used to justify violence. Expressions of caring and concern for the wellbeing of other creatures are beautiful and light me up inside. People who don’t care much don’t seem fully awake to me – they feel more like NPCs than humans.

Worldliness

I admire people who see themselves as global citizens. Nationalism creeps me out. I like having friends from many different countries and cultures; they add so much richness to my life. On the recent 4th of July weekend, our local community leaders deciding to put up lots of American flags around some of the parks in the area, calling it “Flags around Summerlin.” Apparently some local businesses sponsored it. I just thought it looked really creepy and was glad when they were all taken down a few days later. I tend to regard the American flag as a symbol of arrogance, ignorance, and stupidity these days… probably because I associate it with people who love to wrap themselves in it.

Lust

I admire people who are in tune with their passions and who are willing to take some social risks to express and explore those desires, especially in the face of potential judgment from others. I think it’s healthy to lust after what we want, including each other as long as there’s mutual consent. Lust can be a lot of fun to explore. Even when someone else’s lusts don’t align with mine, I wish them good luck in their explorations. It’s nice to see people experiencing what makes them happy, especially if they had to overcome a lot of repression to get there.

Commitment

It takes a lot to really commit ourselves, and I admire commitment when I see it. It’s delightful to see someone invest in a long-term commitment that aligns with their values. That’s so much better than seeing people going through the motions and not really committing boldly to anything. I love seeing highly committed people make progress over time. People get interesting results when they commit, and they gain clarity about their desires as well.

Cooperation

While some healthy competition can be fun now and then, I love seeing people co-create harmoniously together; such synergy is beautiful to behold. It elevates us when we relate to each other with an attitude of abundance instead of being mired in scarcity. Scarcity is an interesting learning phase, but it can get pretty boring to remain stuck there for too long – oddly the solution to that is to cooperate with scarcity and embrace its many lessons instead of trying to escape it. Scarcity is an interesting teacher too.

Playfulness

I admire people who really know how to play, especially when they’re at work. It’s wonderful to see people inject some fun and personality into what they do – that really adds tremendous value. It saddens me to see people living like cogs in a machine, bereft of joy. How can you live on this planet and not find something to laugh about every day?

Self-Acceptance

Lastly, I respect and admire people who love and accept themselves as they are. They appreciate who they’ve become and who they’re becoming. It’s nice when people don’t hide behind their flaws as an excuse not to connect. We all have our issues – some people are just better at hiding or reframing them.

I love to see people expressing these values, which add some wonderful sparkle to my life as well. When I see opposing values being expressed – there’s a lot of that going around these days, especially stupidity – it reminds me to appreciate and acknowledge the expression of these healthy values even more.