What Are Your Values In Life?

Values are principles, themes, ideas, concepts that give life meaning and purpose. They represent what is important to you, what your boundaries are, and how you will live your life. Having a solid, clear set of values is like having a constitution, the way that a country has its constitution. Your values encapsulate what you, as a person, stand for. If you don't stand for anything, then really, who are you? What are you?

When you know exactly what your personal values are, decision making becomes easier. Any time a dilemma comes up, all you have to do is consult your values and act according to them. It might be hard at times, but at least you'll have a far better idea of what your options are than you would if you had nothing to base your decision on. No longer will you find yourself drifting from one thing to the next, because you'll have a personal guide to make it obvious to you how you should act. 

Another benefit of having a good set of values is that when you consistently behave in accordance to your principles, it gives you self respect and integrity. So no matter what you find yourself having to do in life, you'll always be able to hold your head up high, knowing that it wasn't some arbitrary whim based on how you felt in the moment. You'll always know that your choices are based on what you genuinely think is right. And when you do that, the reward is personal pride.

People often wonder, speculate on and debate over what is the true cause of happiness. Well, when you observe people who one might assume would have little reason to be happy, in other words, people who lack the things that so many of us tend to chase (money, comfort, pleasure, popularity and so on), they actually turn out to be far happier than you might think. Why? What is it that is giving them happiness?

Although it's true that material things can contribute a certain amount towards happiness, it's the deeper things in life which are the true source of it. Things like being loved, appreciated, being part of a community, doing things that bring out the best in you, gratitude, humility, and living according to good values. How is it that a poor person can still have a smile on their face? Have you ever thought about that? Could you honestly say that you could be happy if you were poor or homeless, and struggling every day for the basics?

So, what can you do today to find out what your values are? I'll tell you what I did. I sat down and I made a list of everything that I could think of that I consider important. And for every idea that I thought of, I came up with as many related ideas as possible. Then when I couldn't think of any more, I started grouping them together, and for each group of similar ideas, I tried to sum it up as a general concept. I tried my best to phrase each concept in a way that would express it completely, so that there would be absolute clarity.

This took me many days. The list was huge. But I continued breaking everything down into a concise, simple set of values. If you decide to do this, it's going to take a long time too. But you need to go through it because along the way you'll find yourself really thinking about what life means to you, and what doesn't matter. This process itself is useful and valuable and you'll most likely learn some things about yourself. You'll also realize that however complex life seems, when you unravel it all, it really only boils down to just a few very simple principles. These principles are your values.

No longer will you concern yourself so much about what people think of your decisions. No longer will you see problems as unsolvable. Never again will you be unsure of yourself, because you'll always be operating from your simple but immensely powerful list of values that you will have pledged to live by. So first you have to discover your values, then you must accept that this is who you really are and what you're about, then you have to internalize those values and reinvent yourself as the representative of them.

My values are : Happiness, Positivity, Strength, Friendships, and Creativity. Happiness is number one. I have decided to never let anything or anyone stop me from being happy. I don't care who you are, you will not ruin my life by getting in the way of my happiness.

If you were on your deathbed right now and someone asked you what were the most important things in life, I bet it would only take you a few seconds to answer. That's how simple life is. So what will your answer be? If you grab a pen and some paper right now and rack your brains for an hour or two a day, in a week you'll have a very good idea. Walk away from this screen and do it now.