Affiliates' Page
This page is for our current Affiliates.
Please let neil have your news, comments and suggestions.
What do our Affiliates think and do?
From Andrei Stupu, IVET's Affiliate in Romania
I would say I am more blessed than inspired to live a values-based life. I am blessed because I had a nurturing family and a group of mentors that influenced my behaviour since I was very young, this is a privilege I am very grateful for. I see this as the most precious gift I could've got - the present of awareness, the freedom of choosing my values and developing my ethical intelligence.
My leading value, as I like to call it, is INNER HARMONY - there is nothing someone could offer me in terms of money, validation and status that would make me sacrifice this. My mission in this life is to educate people while bringing peace and I definitely cannot do this while not feeling the body-mind-spirit alignment within myself.
See Andrei's incredible work at Beehive Consultancy
From Jenny Swift in the UK
What does values-based living mean to me?
I have spent some time reflecting on both my own personal values and the values that I would like to guide my business. For me, these values are a compass and help light the way for my being and my doing. I have visible reminders of my values to help ensure they are active agents in my life and for the business, this means that all considerations around the direction it takes will be made through the lens of these values. Having these values as my guide means that I realise my own agency and that through consciously living them I can support others in their flourishing and contribute to the creation of positive societies, particularly in my field of education.
I understand that my values are aspirational and sometimes I may make mistakes and my values may not have been fully present - in this case, I will endeavour to reflect with self-compassion and resilience to bring them more into being. Through my coaching with educators, I actively encourage my thinking partners to reflect upon, and identify, their own values and to choose positive actions that they can take to truly live them. See Light Up Edu-Leadership. My studies in Positive Psychology and Coaching Psychology have as their aims the flourishing of humanity and I wholeheartedly support the charter of the IVET affiliation in promoting flourishing for all.
March Newsletter to Affiliates from Neil Hawkes - Founder
6th March 2023
Dear Affiliate
Foundation News
On behalf of the Foundation’s Trustees and Patrons, I would like to thank you for agreeing to help transform society to be more values-based, by being an affiliate and actively modelling values.
I am delighted that Affiliate numbers are growing, as more people realise the transformational power of living a values-based life and hear about the work of our Foundation or visit our website .
News from Affiliates:
Two Affiliates have written to me about how engaging consciously with values is affecting their lives.
Affiliate Dr. Danny Buckley, Programme Director – Help to Grow Management at De Montfort University recently wrote to me saying:
“I always try my best to live and work from a values-based foundation. Two values that are important to me are compassion and empathy. I feel these values provide me with a positive mindset and approach, which helps me during my day-to-day interactions with colleagues, students, friends, and family.
Although I feel that these values help me to become the best version of myself, I often struggle with them as well, after all, nobody’s perfect - right? For instance, sometimes although I try, I sometimes fail to see things from the perspective of others before making important decisions. I am currently working on this and now actively encourage myself to pause before I react or respond to specific incidents.
Another related area I am currently struggling with and working on is self-compassion. Although I feel that I prioritise compassion and empathy for others, I have recently found that I often struggle to show myself these same values when faced with personal failings.
Living with a values-based mindset is a journey, therefore I am considering myself to be a work in progress!
I wonder if you have similar thoughts when working with your values?
Affiliate, El (Xiaotian) Chen, creative arts teacher, gives us another insight. El helps people, such as prisoners, to explore character strengths (values), relational wellbeing, and communal bonding. She’s come to find performing arts as an incredible conduit for us to explore, practice, and integrate new ways of acting and being. She says:
The commitment I’m making for my work and life, is to open up the beauty aperture of myself and communities around me; to be courageous, trusting, and vibrant, and open spaces around me for these human attributes to be embodied through creative arts. It is reminding myself to renew my intentions, pausing when I'm in my head, and giving up being right or looking good as my priorities. I see my life filled with opportunities for renewal and nourishment.
Please email me if you would like to share how values are playing a role in your life and work.
Other news:
Values-based Education (VbE).
IVET’s successful educational side, led by CEO Bridget Knight, is continuing to profoundly affect thousands of children worldwide. You can download the latest newsletter here: VbE Newsletter
Admin support
Do you have an hour or so in a week that you can donate to support the admin of our Affiliate scheme? Do email me to discuss if you can help.
Donations
Thank you to those of you who have donated to our Foundation – so appreciated. Unfortunately, so many of the visitors to our website do not see the need to donate, as we are not an obvious charity needing funding.
Perhaps I can explain: You may have donated to help folk after the terrible earthquakes.
It has now been revealed that thousands of lives could have been saved if builders had obeyed the rules of construction, rather than acting corruptly (without positive values). If Turkey had invested in values-based living, then it can be argued that lives may not have been lost, because more people in the population would have been honest and living altruistically with integrity – the buildings would not have collapsed. Values determine the choices we make in life and how we choose to live our lives. Investment in values-based living is key to addressing the root cause of so many of the challenges that humanity faces.
The Foundation needs research evidence to show the impact of Values-based Education. We need donations and sponsors to fund this academic research project. Your ideas would be welcomed.
On a personal level, I will be taking part in triathlons this year to raise money for our Foundation. If you can help by giving a donation, or you know others who can support us, then please go to donate
and click on donate.
The IVET foundation is your foundation, a movement for social change that supports the flourishing of individuals, groups and our beautiful planet. Please email me with your suggestions how as a movement we can be more effective.
Warmest good wishes.
Neil Hawkes
Founder of the IVET Foundation – see IVET Foundation
Contact Neil at neil.hawkes@gmail.com