Defining Your Values With the Bull’s Eye Exercise

Before you begin a psychedelic experience, defining your values and intentions is crucial. The psychedelic state is a heightened state of consciousness that can offer unique insights into yourself and what matters most to you. To fully benefit from those insights, however, preparatory self-reflection is essential. If you are still in the early stages, our guide on preparing for a psychedelic trip walks you through the wider groundwork.

That is why at FLO Coaching we often use the Bull’s Eye values exercise as a framework for pre-session coaching. The Bull’s Eye is a powerful tool to clarify your personal values across the important life domains of work, relationships, personal growth and leisure. By defining values in these areas, you gain an intention and a compass to navigate any insights that arise during your psychedelic session.

Rooted in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), the exercise begins with an open reflection on what matters most to you in these four domains. The instructions encourage you to follow your heart and feel your deepest desires for how you want to live, relate and grow. This prepares you to connect with your core values. Next, you plot on the Bull’s Eye dartboard how well you are currently living according to those values. This visual representation highlights the gaps between your ideal and current state. Finally, you identify obstacles and commit to action steps to live more in line with your clarified values.

Part 1: The Bull’s Eye reflection

The first step of the Bull’s Eye exercise is reflecting on your values across four key domains: work/education, relationships, personal growth and leisure. Consider the following prompts:

Work/Education: How do you want to be towards colleagues, employees and clients? How do you want to show up at work as a person?

For example: “I want to be seen as a thoughtful, supportive leader who empowers my team members to develop their skills.”

Relationships: What kind of relationships do you want to build? How do you want to show up in these relationships?

For example: “I aim to be a loving, attentive partner who nurtures intimacy through open communication.”

Personal growth: How do you want to develop as a person? What is spiritually important to you? How do you want to care for your health?

For example: “I aspire to keep growing towards my most authentic, expressive self through creativity, service to my community and spiritual practices such as yoga and meditation.”

Leisure: How do you want to relax, have fun and follow your passions?

For example: “I want to make time for activities that stimulate me intellectually, such as reading, writing, taking courses and making art.”

Take your time with this reflection until you have put your core values into words for each domain. Write them down for clarity.

Next, plot where you currently stand in relation to these values by placing an X in each quadrant of the Bull’s Eye. Place your X close to the bull’s eye if you feel aligned in that life area, or further away if you have lost connection with your value.

By visually representing your current alignment across the four domains, you can see which areas you want to focus on.

Part 2: Identify obstacles

Now consider: what is holding you back from living according to your clarified values? How strongly do these obstacles hold you back?

For example, you might value being an engaged partner but identify the obstacle that you are often distracted and disengaged. Or you might value a consistent meditation practice for personal growth, but see a lack of motivation and procrastination as obstacles.

Name the obstacles and then rate how much they hold you back from living by your values, on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 7 (completely). This highlights the gaps you need to focus on.

Part 3: Values-based action plan

The final step is committing to actions – small steps you can take regularly – to move your X closer to the bull’s eye for each domain. Think of realistic, values-aligned actions you can integrate into your daily or weekly routine.

For example:

• Relationships: Having a focused conversation every evening to catch up with my partner
• Personal growth: Meditating for 10 minutes within an hour of waking, every day
• Leisure: Scheduling a new recreational activity each week that stimulates my creativity

By clarifying your values and committing to ongoing actions, you develop the self-awareness and motivation to align your life with what matters most. This lays the foundation for a powerful psychedelic experience centred on your unique values.

In the next part, we explore how to carry this values clarity into setting your intention for your psychedelic session.

Setting intentions with values clarity

Now that you have clarified your values through the Bull’s Eye exercise, you have an anchor point for setting meaningful intentions for your psychedelic session.

Intentions help direct your focus, but they should be connected to your broader life values and aspirations. Otherwise it is easy to get lost in abstract thoughts or rumination during an expanded state of consciousness. Your values are like roots that anchor the tree of your journey.

Some tips for setting values-based intentions:

• Reread your Bull’s Eye answers before your session to get back into the values mindset. Remind yourself of the core areas where you want to see growth.
• Consider one or two specific questions to explore related to the obstacles you identified through the Bull’s Eye. For example: “How can I motivate myself to meditate consistently?” “How do I stay present when connecting with my partner?”
• Use concise intention statements that tie back to your values words. For example: “I intend to gain insight into how I can build deeper intimacy in my relationships.” “I intend to find creative inspiration that connects with my purpose.”
• Speak your intention statements out loud to your facilitators and remind yourself of them as you move into your psychedelic space. Return to them if you feel adrift during your journey. Planning the timing and structure of your session beforehand – including whether you might redose and how long the experience lasts – helps you stay anchored.

By anchoring yourself in your values when setting intentions, you direct the psychedelic experience towards expanding your self-knowledge in service of your highest aspirations. Instead of just having a “trip”, you turn insight into embodied growth.

After your session, it is recommended to return to your Bull’s Eye for integration of insights. Coaching can support you in bridging the gap between your vision and your new knowledge. Ultimately, values exploration is a lifelong process of clarifying how to lead a meaningful and fulfilling life.

We hope this introduction has clarified how fundamentally values work can guide and anchor your psychedelic journey. The Bull’s Eye reflection is a simple yet profound exercise to centre yourself. When combined with values-based intention setting, it gives you the perfect springboard for a dive into your inner depths.

Frequently Asked Questions About the Bull’s Eye Values Exercise