These are the guiding principles by which you live your life, inform your decisions and interact with the world. Your values are your priorities, the things that matter most in your life, beyond your ultimate purpose. Values encompass concepts such as freedom, equality, justice or fairness, compassion, integrity, honesty and service. Power, wealth, fame, beauty and pleasure are also highly valued by many in society.
Values determine character as well as quality of life. Choosing moral values and living them results in moral character. Our brains have evolved to enhance our higher reasoning and creative powers. We have consciousness, as well as the ability to understand the influence of subconscious motivations. We are gaining a greater understanding of how our brains work and the interplay between consciousness and unconsciousness. The more insight we gain, the more we can harness our power of choice. The more we understand human motivation, and ultimately, human happiness, the more we understand the power and influence of values on the quality and satisfaction of our lives. Moral, self-transcendent values do correlate with higher quality of life and life satisfaction. The continual pursuit of pure pleasure, while temporarily enjoyable, is a never ending pursuit of individual satisfaction which will remain ever elusive. We certainly need to appreciate the pleasures that life has to offer, but our ultimate happiness depends on the quality of the values we pursue and aspire to live through our daily behavior. Most people are endowed with a conscience, a partly subconscious guide that helps us distinguish right from wrong. Choosing values that help guide us toward the pursuit of that rightness will ultimately create more relief from suffering and a better world for all.
Start by writing down a list of all the things you are. Make it as long as you can. Start with I am... Fill in the blanks with all of the various characteristics that you and others would use to describe you. Are you fair, honest, trustworthy? Are you quiet, shy, soft spoken? Are you determined, focused, driven or perhaps lazy, tired and messy? When you have complete your list of all the ways you can describe yourself, make another list of all the ways you would like to be described. Between the two lists, there will be some things in common with both and some things that are only on one of the two lists. Of the things on the second list that you would like to change about yourself, try to determine the value that is conveyed by that characteristic. Once you determine the values that will help you to develop the character that you seek, start to incorporate those values into your everyday life. Start being that person that you think you want to be, daily, habitually, consistently. Soon, you will be that person.