“VALUES” shape the way people live their lives, how they interact with others and how they feel about themselves. Values shape an individual’s character and behavior; they are the essential foundation for their personality, behavior, attitudes, and perceptions. We always make decisions about right and wrong based on our values. They help us grow and develop. They help us create the future the way we want. Values can emerge from a combination of background, experiences, and an evolving sense of self. The values of a person can be influenced by various factors like religion, culture, and society. Values are ideals in life that mean something to a specific person or group of people.
The values are learned, usually passed down from generation to generation. However, a family or individual may decide to create new values depending upon what they find important in their own life. We are not always aware of our values but knowing what they are can help you make the right decisions, such as taking a job with good opportunities, change, and spontaneity or good opportunities for security and tenure. We deem our values necessary and include concepts like equality, honesty, education, effort, perseverance, loyalty, faithfulness, conservation of the environment, and many other concepts. Each individual may have different values include enthusiasm, creativity, humility, and personal fulfillment and they can be quite different. Some people are competitive, while others value cooperation. Some people value adventure, while others prefer security. Individual values reflect how we live our lives and what we consider essential for our self-interests. A person can change his values over time, and an individual with high moral values displays honesty, integrity, courage, loyalty, respect, fairness, and compassion.
Personal values are the things that are important to us, the characteristics and behaviors that motivate us and guide our decisions. The values will be easy to figure out. If you wrote a loving relationship in response to the question about what’s important to you, then “love” is a significant personal value for you. If you wrote being happy then you value “happiness”. Values matter because you’re likely to feel better if you live according to your values and feel worse if you don’t have. It applies both to day-to-day decisions and to more meaningful life choices. We learn most of our values from our parents and extended families, and our family values stem from our social and cultural values. Sometimes new life experiences may change values we previously held. Values can help solidify a family unit and bring people together, so they must feel as if the value is essential to them as an individual and the family. Values can have a considerable impact on a family in both a positive and a negative way. Positive values, such as acceptance and trust, can help families avoid secrets or help members cope with fundamental developmental difficulties. Negative values, like a belief in violence to solve problems or a fundamental belief in racism, can be unfavorable to younger family members who are easily influenced and may carry on a life of bias and hate after growing up in such families.
If you don’t understand your values, you may violate them without realizing them. This can lead to feelings of guilt and shame without knowing why. Everybody is different, and what makes one person happy may leave another person feeling anxious. Defining your values and then living by them can help you feel more fulfilled and make choices that make you happy, even if they don’t make sense to other people. Here are some questions to discover your values.
What’s important to you in life?
what have you been most proud of doing in your life?. When you don’t work, what do you spend most of your time on?
What do you want to change about the world or yourself?
What type of story or behavior makes you angry?
What are you most proud of?
Whom do you admire the most?
If you could have any career without worrying about money or other practical constraints, what would you do?
What do you love to do the most?
When were you the happiest?
When were you at your best?
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