Values Duel · Values library
The 91 values,
defined.
A guided ACT values clarification exercise
Created by Dr. Marie Claire Bourque, MD, FRCPC
These are the 91 values used in the values-clarification exercise, drawn from ACT (Acceptance & Commitment Therapy) values work. A value isn't a goal you finish — it's a direction you keep choosing to move in. Browse the full list below, or jump into the 10-minute exercise to find your own core 5.
Find your core 5 →- Acceptance
- Welcoming what is, even when it's hard.
- Adventure
- Seeking new experiences, risk, and the unknown.
- Ambition
- Striving for meaningful achievement.
- Assertiveness
- Speaking up for what you need, directly and respectfully.
- Authenticity
- Being genuinely yourself, not a performance.
- Autonomy
- Charting your own course; self-directed living.
- Balance
- Keeping the different parts of life in proportion.
- Beauty
- Noticing, creating, or surrounding yourself with what's beautiful.
- Belonging
- Feeling part of something larger than yourself.
- Boldness
- Acting despite fear or doubt.
- Calm
- Staying composed and steady under pressure.
- Caring
- Tending to the wellbeing of others.
- Challenge
- Choosing what stretches you beyond what's easy.
- Commitment
- Sticking with a chosen path over time, even when it's hard.
- Community
- Building and contributing to a collective.
- Compassion
- Meeting pain — yours or others' — with kindness.
- Connection
- Genuine, real relating with other people.
- Contribution
- Adding something useful to the world.
- Cooperation
- Working well alongside others toward shared goals.
- Courage
- Acting in the face of fear.
- Creativity
- Making something that didn't exist before.
- Curiosity
- Following the next question wherever it leads.
- Dependability
- Being someone others can lean on when it counts.
- Discipline
- Doing what matters even when motivation dips.
- Diversity
- Valuing different perspectives, people, and ways of being.
- Empathy
- Feeling with someone else, not just for them.
- Equality
- Treating people as equal in worth and dignity.
- Excellence
- Doing things with real care and quality.
- Excitement
- Seeking energy, enthusiasm, and intensity.
- Fairness
- Giving each person what they're due.
- Faith
- Trusting in something larger than what's provable.
- Family
- Prioritizing the people you call family.
- Fitness
- Caring for the body's strength and capacity.
- Flexibility
- Adapting gracefully when things change.
- Forgiveness
- Releasing resentment — toward others or yourself.
- Freedom
- Having room to choose how you live.
- Friendship
- Closeness with no strings attached.
- Fun
- Enjoying life out loud.
- Generosity
- Giving freely of time, care, or resources.
- Gratitude
- Noticing what's already good.
- Growth
- Becoming more than you were.
- Harmony
- Seeking peace among people, or within yourself.
- Health
- Actively tending to body and mind.
- Helpfulness
- Showing up for others practically.
- Honesty
- Telling the truth, even when it's inconvenient.
- Hope
- Holding onto a sense of what's possible.
- Humility
- Knowing your size — neither too big nor too small.
- Humor
- Laughing, and helping others laugh.
- Independence
- Standing on your own feet.
- Inner Peace
- A settled inner stillness that holds whatever's happening around you.
- Integrity
- Acting in line with your values, even when no one's watching.
- Intimacy
- Letting someone see you up close.
- Justice
- Standing for what's right, especially for those without a voice.
- Kindness
- Being warm, considerate, and gentle.
- Knowledge
- Pursuing understanding for its own sake.
- Leadership
- Guiding others toward a shared goal.
- Learning
- Always staying a student.
- Love
- Caring deeply for someone or something.
- Loyalty
- Standing by the people and causes you've chosen.
- Mindfulness
- Being present with what's actually here.
- Nature
- Time in — and care for — the natural world.
- Nurturing
- Helping something or someone grow.
- Openness
- Willingness to consider ideas that aren't already yours.
- Parenting
- Raising children with intention and presence.
- Partnership
- Building a shared life with someone.
- Patience
- Staying steady through what's slow or hard.
- Perseverance
- Continuing despite setbacks.
- Playfulness
- Keeping lightness and curiosity alive.
- Pleasure
- Savoring enjoyment and the delight of the senses.
- Power
- Having the ability to make things happen.
- Privacy
- Protecting your inner life from unwanted view.
- Purpose
- A reason bigger than yourself.
- Reliability
- Consistently doing what you said you would do.
- Respect
- Treating others as they deserve.
- Responsibility
- Owning your actions and their effects.
- Rest
- Letting yourself slow down and truly recover.
- Romance
- Cultivating love and attraction with a partner.
- Safety
- Protecting body and mind from harm.
- Self-awareness
- Knowing your own patterns and reactions.
- Self-care
- Tending to your own needs, not just everyone else's.
- Self-expression
- Showing the world who you are.
- Service
- Putting your gifts to others' use.
- Sexuality
- Honoring your sexual and sensual self.
- Simplicity
- Keeping life uncluttered and intentional.
- Solitude
- Finding renewal in time alone.
- Spirituality
- Connecting to something transcendent.
- Stability
- Building a steady, predictable life.
- Tradition
- Honoring the practices that shaped you.
- Trust
- Relying on others — and being someone who can be relied on.
- Wisdom
- Understanding earned through experience.
- Wonder
- Staying open to awe.