Hi all! Life values are practically the foundation of a person’s personality, his core and support. Remember the saying: “Tell me who your friends are and I will tell you who you are”? This is exactly how you can characterize anyone by finding out what is most important to them, what they strive for and crave.
Role and significance in human life
Values help us make decisions and choose the path we want to take. Or rather, they define it. Because, thanks to them, we navigate this world and understand what should be done and what should not be done. Otherwise, it will not be possible to satisfy your needs and realize your dreams. They often give us . They bring stability and confidence in a successful future. The main thing is to refrain from starting to impose them on others, otherwise they will turn into ideology. And this does not always promise a good outcome.
They are the ones who inspire, motivate and give us strength to achieve. Because a person who knows exactly what he wants and firmly believes in the correctness of the chosen path cannot be stopped. We can say without a shadow of a doubt that they help us find the meaning of our existence. They build character and help create close, deep connections with people who have similar priorities. Agree, it is very difficult to be close to someone who devalues. Or he doesn’t understand at all the importance of some processes that are significant for the interlocutor or partner.
They also allow you to form beliefs and a clear position regarding political and, in principle, social issues. Form self-esteem. They are guided in society, in the form of norms and rules of behavior.
Classification
In addition to material and spiritual, professor of psychology and pedagogy, Philip Lersch, identified three main types:
Life
These are our passions, hobbies, desires and feelings. To put it simply – an image and lifestyle. For some, quality rest is the most important thing, which is why they try to get pleasure and satisfaction from traveling as often as possible. For some, it is more important to invest in material things, rejoicing in the addition of a collection of stamps or figurines.
Self-importance
This category is more typical for individuals who strive to realize themselves, achieve heights and success, receiving recognition and respect from others. That’s why all resources and free time are directed to work. An example is avid careerists who strive to come to power at any cost and so on.
Semantic
Based on the name, you can understand that they give meaning and significance to actions, desires, and dreams. This is the desire for creativity, the search for something ideal and perfect. Sincere impulses to serve for the benefit of society and help those who need help.
7 core values
Man is in a continuous process of development, with the exception of cases of degradation. He is completely different at different stages of his life. This is why there is a constant change in values.
For example, there are often cases when successful businessmen left their business, sold their houses, cars and went to live in deserted places. To connect with nature and feel the joy of life. Their system of priorities was completely changed, old stereotypes and aspirations “fell away”, and new ones were developed. They were aware of their problem and sought to correct it, to make up for the wasted years. And sometimes, on the contrary, the world received geniuses and simply creative individuals who were satiated with solitude and hungry for communication.
So, despite the fact that everyone has their own views on the world around them and needs, there are still areas that in no case should be ignored. So that, as in the previous examples, it is not taken to extremes. So, the core values:
Health
In the first place, since it is quite difficult to do without it, and sometimes even impossible. Agree, without pain and any physical limitations it is much easier to realize your goals and dreams. Good health is the best companion on the path to success. A surge of strength, vigor and energy – isn’t this what most of us dream about?
Therefore, it is important to exercise, consult a doctor on time and undergo periodic examinations to make sure that the body’s condition is normal, or to anticipate the occurrence of any disease. Listen to the sensations in your body, follow your desires and stop with any kind of addiction. After all, as they say, a healthy mind in a healthy body.
If you don't know where to start, it doesn't matter. You will receive recommendations on how to lead a healthy lifestyle so that it is useful and enjoyable, and does not consist of only restrictions, by clicking on.
Spirituality
Spirituality is quite multifaceted, and consists of faith, ethics, internal balance and harmony with the surrounding world, nature, understanding of the meaning of life and one’s purpose. It also affects the moral side of the individual. All this together helps to feel happiness, to understand what actions are worth doing and what not. Coping with difficulties, because what, if not faith, gives us the strength and motivation to act and move on, no matter what? It is very important to develop spirituality in yourself, and you will learn how to do this.
Proximity
It is important to receive it both in friendships and in family relationships. Communication in fact is our most important need, after, of course, physiological ones. To continue your family line, to feel support and support behind your back, to know that there are comrades-in-arms and people in general who care about you is truly valuable.
Many, not receiving intimacy, try to replace it with material things that give the illusion that, in principle, one can live without love. But in fact, the saturation and satisfaction from this are superficial and short-lived. Nothing can fully replace contact with another person, healthy and full of feelings.
Financial position
Financial independence provides a person with comfort, peace of mind, stability, and sometimes even health. Each of us simply must be able to plan expenses, have a passive form of income and avoid falling into a debt trap. Otherwise, anxiety, stress and poor health will be constant companions.
Thanks to money, we can purchase quality products and arrange our home so that it is comfortable. Travel the world, expanding your horizons and boundaries of consciousness, learning new things and so on. The problem arises when a person tries to replace all other needs directly with money, ignoring relationships, recreation, and hobbies. Therefore, take it into account and begin to improve your financial situation.
Career
The realization of your ambitions and abilities is sometimes vital, as they allow you to gain recognition from colleagues, loved ones, and society as a whole. Achieving career success and professional competence, a person experiences self-esteem, and this has a positive effect on his self-esteem.
This includes not only professional activities, but also charity. Helping others increases self-worth in the best possible way, and for some it also gives them an understanding of their purpose.
Rest
To be inspired and recharged with energy, it is important to be able to get quality rest. And believe me, not everyone is capable of this. Life's troubles and grandiose plans are sometimes so addictive that a person is afraid to relax even for a minute. Lounging in front of the TV or spending time playing computer games and on social networks actually takes up time and does not allow you to sufficiently restore your strength and resources.
How many are there anyway? The list of all life values is huge, but everything that is too big can be divided into parts. In the synton approach, the basic life values of a healthy personality can be grouped into three main circles of values:
- Personal life and relationships
- Business, business, work,
- Own development
If we divide these parts into smaller ones, we get the following list.
Love, excitement, fun and relaxation.
These are the values of joy - have fun, enjoy, live to the fullest. Travel to a distant, warm country, where there is an azure sea and white sand. Playing in a casino where the bets will take your breath away. The romance of meeting in a cafe, where there is cozy twilight and a wonderful person opposite.
Family, mutual understanding, children.
This is a long-term relationship in a couple, parents and children, friends and loved ones. This is the value of relationships with other people. There is love here too - like joyful care, affectionate attention, warm respect. Here is a man who happily goes home after a day of work - his family is there, his wife and children. Here is a young guy who drops everything and goes to help his parents with their garden - because it’s already hard for his parents, but he loves them. Here is a woman ruffling the child’s hair and sitting down next to him to read a fairy tale.
Home, comfort, money.
This is the value of an orderly life. It lies at the junction of two spheres - after all, “home, comfort, money” are very necessary for the family and will not interfere with rest. On the other hand, money is already an outlet into the sphere of “Business, work, business.” A young couple goes to IKEA for the day to buy furniture for their new apartment. They carefully choose every chair and every shelf - they want to buy a lot, but they have less money than they want.
My business, my projects.
What do you do for a living? What do you do with your time when you go to work? What plans do you make when you fall asleep in the evening? This is all the value of the matter. Everything related to your work, your ideas and plans for creation and development is collected here. The guy has been interested in photography and videography since adolescence. Everywhere I tried to catch something unusual. Ten years have passed - he’s making expensive, high-quality videos and wants to branch out into cinema.
Career, power, status.
This is the value of social development - obtaining a higher social status, new opportunities to influence and do. The man changes his car over and over again, buying more and more prestigious brands. A woman only goes to expensive boutiques. Each of them shows their status and each of them has worked hard to reach this height.
Education, professional development.
It is difficult to do your job well without education and experience. Therefore, the value of developing skills is in the sphere of “Business, work, business.” On the other hand, any education and professional development necessarily leads to personal development. Therefore, the value of developing mastery simultaneously belongs to the sphere of “I and my own development.” Here is a girl carefully watching what a Hollywood star looks like at the Oscars. The girl is a stylist, she watches the ceremony to catch the most fashionable trends. The girl is at work.
Personal growth, social and psychological skills.
This is the value of personal development. Personal growth can be briefly called the word “wisdom”. This is maturity, balanced conclusions, attention to other people. Social skills are behavior in society, for example, the ability to speak with a worker in one language, and with an intellectual in another. Psychological skills are overcoming your fears, mastering your emotions, purity and clarity of thinking. The girl was sarcastic and hot-tempered, it was difficult to be around her. She took care of herself and became softer in communication, more careful in expressing feelings. People immediately appeared nearby.
Beauty, health, harmonious development.
Appearance, a slender figure, well-developed muscles, the ability to dance and move beautifully - this is all the value of the body. This value lies at the intersection of two spheres - when a person takes care of his health, he necessarily develops, so the value rightly falls into the sphere of “I and my own development.” On the other hand, beauty and health greatly influence relationships and therefore belong to the sphere of “Personal life and relationships”. It is easier for a sporty, fit guy to interest a girl. It’s easier for a flexible and graceful girl to attract a guy’s attention.
Spiritual growth, knowledge of life, realization of purpose.
If you live not only for yourself, if it is important for you to leave a good mark in life, you have the highest motives, you can be called a person with spiritual aspirations. If you are a lover of literature about spiritual practices, which sells a standard set of astrology, yoga, esotericism and healing along with psychotherapy and Eastern teachings, then you are simply a buyer of literature in this genre.
Life values are of greatest importance in a person’s destiny. This category denotes what he values on his path, what he wants to strive for, what he considers the main thing and what he gives the greatest attention to. These include: family, health, friendship, love, wealth, that is, everything that can have any value on top of all the other little things in life. If two people share the same point of view and have similar basic life values, then their communication is usually conflict-free and even. Such people often achieve maximum mutual understanding among themselves, and relationships develop quite close and close.
However, people are not inclined to talk out loud about life values. These are not discussed because no one can formulate them. They just are. The subject of discussion in conversations is most often common interests, which are very closely tied to life values. They usually manifest themselves in actions and behavior, but very rarely in words. Often people not only avoid mentioning such things, but also try not to think about them, to comprehend and be aware of them. And this is a big mistake, since a person’s system of life values is his core. All fate, actions and desires depend on them. There are many things that an individual does not even know about himself. However, attitude to life values is an important component of self-realization. And awareness of some personal categories will not allow a person to develop as a full-fledged conscious personality.
Now we will look at important life values that need to be rethought in order to understand yourself and change your attitude towards yourself and others.
1. Tomorrow may not come for words of love.
Sometimes we overthink and don't openly share our feelings with the people we really love. But in life there are different circumstances. At one point it may happen that it will no longer be possible to talk about true feelings. The fate of a person is rich in incidents that can randomly take the object of love out of sight. And then there will never be an opportunity to say kind words out loud.
2. Your judgments about people are not always correct.
No one ever knows what is going on in another person's head. Therefore, do not try to talk in the third person about the actions, thoughts and feelings of another. You cannot know what is happening and why he can do such things. A person's life values are a mystery to us. Don't try to jump to conclusions, speak for someone else, or make hasty decisions. No one can know for sure about other people's motives.
Many of those who appear successful are actually very unhappy. Many of those who look rich are actually in debt. Many of the people you think are getting everything they want in life are actually working very hard. You cannot know based on your personal observations. You can get to know another person only by asking him, or by waiting for him to share with you. Do not create stereotypes of perception - they are always wrong.
3. Fail because they don't even try.
Don’t think about imaginary mistakes or failures - this is just an unnecessary waste of your energy and nerves. By thinking about potential failure, you can never begin to try to change your world. Even the presence of mistakes leads to self-development. This is an invaluable life lesson that you simply must learn in order to grow and become taller. The result is always the sum of the sum of attempts and activities. You won't get anywhere by sitting still. To start your journey, you need to take the first step, even if it consists of mistakes.
4. Tolerate is to act productively, not to wait.
Patience is important in life. But in fact, this quality denotes volitional effort in the performance of a specific activity. Be careful, patience has nothing to do with waiting, but only with endurance in achieving the goal. In fact, patience is the epitome of understanding and accepting the importance of quality of life. After all, this is more significant than the number of things you do every day. It is the willingness to accept difficulties with gratitude and apply perseverance in achieving something greater.
5. You have everything to be happy
Many people think that material values in life are more important than other aspects of life. But in reality this is not the case at all. Things are only what we can surround ourselves with. The main human needs are reduced to the very minimum - to the satisfaction of physiological needs (food, sleep). But this list does not include increasing material wealth. All other life values of a social and interpersonal nature (love, friendship, work) are much more important. They need to be protected and understood. If you have this, you are already happy.
6. You are not perfect, the whole world is not perfect.
There is no ideal person. All people are imperfect. And you as a person are not perfect either. You need to understand this and not worry too much about it. Yes, we all want to strive for something perfect, but this goal is unattainable. Do you want to become a better person? Okay - go ahead. However, do not get hung up on it, but treat it with understanding. Life values cannot be perfect.
7. The little things in life matter
Life is a long journey on which you will encounter many failures and downfalls, successes and upliftments. Everything, down to the smallest detail, that happens to us matters. Don't try to downplay it. What makes our existence unique and inimitable is something small and less significant. The path of life is not a path with big stops, but a whole road of 1000 small steps worthy of your attention. Appreciate them.
8. Excuses are always lies.
If there are many excuses along the way to achieving your goal, then this indicates the presence of self-justifications and lies about why you cannot achieve it. Don't lie to yourself. If you really want something badly, there will be no time left for excuses. This is the biggest and most insidious enemy on the way to your goal. Try to challenge yourself, because all excuses are a meaningless fear that you will not be able to achieve your goal. Believe in yourself, don't lie to yourself. Remember: you can achieve success under any circumstances.
No one knows how to succeed except you. Success begins with thoughts, life values and awareness of them. Do not build self-deception around them about their unattainability. There are many perspectives and many opportunities. You just need to make your choice and decide to follow the path of life.
Life values are the main content of the foundation of your “I”, self-culture and self-development. Your attitude towards them is the main basis for realizing your goals. Therefore, you must learn to analyze yourself and understand how you are made. To understand the outside and inner world, you must first of all learn to understand how you yourself work. This is what you should be doing.
Don't lose it. Subscribe and receive a link to the article in your email.
What is important to you and what is it? Each person who is asked such a question will answer it individually. One will say that the most important thing in life is career and wealth, another will answer that this is power and status in society, the third will give the example of family, relationships and health. The list could go on for quite a long time, but we just need to understand that what is important to a person controls his actions. Based on what his priorities are, he will make friends, get an education, choose a place of work, in other words, build his life.
And the topic of this article is life priorities, or, more precisely, life values. Next we will talk about what they are, what kinds of values there are, and how their system is formed.
What are life values?
So, a person’s life values can be called the scale of assessments and measures with the help of which he verifies and evaluates his life. During various periods of human existence, this scale was transformed and modified, but certain measures and assessments were always present in it and continue to be present now.
A person’s life values are absolute values - they occupy the first place in his worldview and have a direct impact on which areas of life will be a priority for him, and what he will perceive as secondary.
What are the life values?
First of all, it should be pointed out that a person’s system of life values can consist of several elements:
- Human values
- Cultural values
- Individual values
And if the first two elements are determined mainly by people’s general ideas about what is good and what is bad, what is important and what is secondary, as well as the characteristics of the culture in which a person was born and raised, then the third element can be attributed to purely subjective worldviews peculiarities. Although in this case, something in common can be identified that unites the life values of all people in general.
Thus, the general system of human life values includes:
- Health is one of the main values in life, shared by many people and valued quite highly. But health can include not only spiritual well-being, but also social well-being, expressed in the absence of social crises in life. Particular attention is paid to indicators of physical and social well-being, which are reflected in external attractiveness and in attributes of social status, such as social status, possession of certain things, compliance with standards and brands;
- Success in life is another value that has been held in high regard for a long time. Receiving is the key to a stable future, a successful career, availability and public recognition - all this is important for many people. But at the same time, the number of adherents of the so-called downshifting is also quite large - a phenomenon in which people who have already managed to achieve success and social status come to the understanding that they no longer have the strength to endure social pressure, retire from business and go into a simple life. in order to maintain peace of mind and integrity. Today, the skill of adapting to different conditions and circumstances of life and the ability to earn money without being hired are especially valuable;
- Family remains one of the main life values for people all over the world, despite the fact that today there is a tendency to refuse marriage, especially early marriage, refusal to have children, as well as the promotion of same-sex relationships. In addition, even the fact that in our time money can be used to obtain an endless number of sexual relationships and the appearance of love cannot be compared with the fact that a real family and the need for procreation are still significant for people;
- Children - and here we can again say that, despite the propaganda of abandoning children (childfree), for the vast majority of people children continue to remain the meaning of existence, and the birth and upbringing of offspring turns into. And great importance here is given to the opportunity for a person to leave behind offspring as a trace, as well as the transfer of his life experience and the consolidation of his individual “I” in something that will continue to exist longer than himself.
Guided by all this, we can conclude that the system of people’s life values, which they are guided by throughout their lives, in most cases is represented by their desire for self-realization, and its transmission over time.
But, in addition to the listed life values, we can name a number of others, which are also very common:
- Closeness with loved ones
- Friends
- Freedom of judgment and action
- Independence
- Work that matches your life purpose
- Respect and recognition from others
- and opening new places
- Creative implementation
Differences in life values and priorities are explained by the fact that people differ in. This suggests that your system of life values is completely individual, but what matters most to you, and what you value as the most important thing in life, for someone else may mean absolutely nothing or nothing at all. absent from his value system. Although, of course, things that are significant for everyone, like moral values, have a place to be, regardless of where a person was born and at what time.
Now let's talk about how the formation of a system of life values occurs.
Features of the formation of a system of life values
The system of life values of each person begins to form from the first years of his life, but it is finally formed only upon reaching a responsible age, i.e. by about 18-20 years, although even after that it may change in some ways. The process of its formation itself takes place according to a certain algorithm.
Schematically, this algorithm can be expressed as follows:
- Aspiration > Ideal
- Aspiration > Goal > Ideal
- Aspiration > Values > Purpose > Ideal
- Aspiration > Means > Values > Goal > Ideal
However, subsequently, between all these points, another one appears - ethics, as a result of which the whole scheme takes on the following form:
- Aspiration > Ethics> Tools > Ethics> Values > Ethics> Goal > Ethics> Ideal
From this it turns out that first of all, the ideal and the very desire for this ideal arise. An ideal, which can also be called an image, if there is no desire for it, is no longer such.
At the first stage, which is most often instinctive, the ideal is neutral from an ethical point of view, i.e. it cannot be assessed in any way, and it can be formed in the form of a sensory-emotional substance, the content of which is quite difficult to determine. The meaning that is attached to the ideal is formed only at the stage of transformation into a goal. And only after this, reaching the third stage, the formation of values occurs, serving as resources, conditions and rules for, which leads to the ideal. And the entire algorithm ultimately ends with the so-called inventory of the necessary and available means to achieve the goal.
Each element of the presented algorithm is extremely important, but you need to pay attention to the fact that the ideal, goal and means are formed and selected under the influence of not only needs, but also ethical norms, which seem to “filter” all stages of the algorithm. At the same time, ethical standards may exist in the human mind, as well as in the mass consciousness, representing the results of the action of previous algorithms, and therefore be perceived as “existing objectively.” In addition, they can also be formed as new ones, being conditioned by a newly emerged ideal and the corresponding algorithm.
The life of any person, as we have already mentioned, from childhood begins to obey this algorithm, and it does not matter what it concerns: the choice of a future profession, a loved one, political or religious views and actions performed. And here “ideals” play a special role, regardless of whether they exist in a person’s consciousness or in his subconscious.
To summarize, we can say that a person’s system of life values is a fairly stable structure, despite the fact that it is subject to changes, both small and global. And a person’s awareness of his own system of life values is the first step towards understanding his own.
Last update:6/02/17
Every person has days when he is overcome by doubts whether this is how he lives, whether this is what he does. He asks himself questions: why do I live, why don’t everything work out the way I want. Such vague anxieties and feelings that you are going somewhere wrong, that you are doing something wrong, do not allow you to enjoy life.
To sort out these doubts, ask yourself a few questions: What is important to you in life? What do you value most in people? What do you value about yourself? What should be present in your life to make you feel happy? What principles do you think cannot be abandoned? Which values of life Do you think main?
If you want to understand yourself, first you will need to understand your system life values. Make a list of everything without which you think your life is meaningless. Write which ones life values already exist in your life, and which ones should be.
The most main values in life each person:
1. Health: the better your health, the happier you are. Health is the most important thing to value in life and something to constantly take care of.
2. Love: There should be love in every person's life. It's great if you have a loved one. But perhaps it is your parents’ love for you, or your love for your parents, love for your children, love for your neighbor, and finally, it is love for yourself.
3. Family: what could be more important than a happy family life?
4. Friendship: do not forget how important it is for you to understand, how important the support of friends is, how much they mean to you.
5. Success: for you this could be work, career, respect and recognition, material well-being. Answer the questions: What does success mean to you? What does it mean to you to succeed?
As you understand, this is not all values of life, and for you they may not be main. You can write on your list: stable financial situation, confidence in the future. Another person will write: personality development, spiritual values, self-realization. The third will write: youth, beauty, travel. And he will set his priorities completely differently.
Write down as much as possible everything you value in life, being careful not to leave anything out. Explore the list and choose from it main for you values of life. Write them down as their importance decreases. Those life values, which took the first 7-9 lines of the list, are yours main values in life. Now think about whether you pay most of your attention to these values, whether you spend your time and energy on them. If you realize that you are busy with completely different things, it will become clear to you why doubts come to you. It will become clear to you why you do not feel absolutely happy - you are serving not your own, but other people’s values, or those values that are not at the top of your list.
Try to change your life! That's why they are called the main ones, because they mean much more to us than others, they are our beacons in life, and allow us to make sure that we are moving in the right direction!