Health

Security

Family

Loyalty

Wisdom

Friendship

Personal Accomplishment

Personal Development

Power

Wealth

Independence

Leadership

Expertness

Prestige

Location

Enjoyment

Community

Service

Integrity

Creativity

This afternoon, I stayed in my apartment and did homework. I guess that would support mainly security and wisdom. I ensured my safety of remaining in doors and gaining knowledge by completing homework assignments and studying for my midterms. The number one important aspect that I value is health, which I was taught from a young age. My family instilled the importance of maintaining good health over anything. Without good health, you would be limited to your daily activities and enjoying life to it’s fullest. I am actually unsure if any of my values that held an authoritative position in me has proven to be invalid. I still take all my values into account as they allow me to govern the choices I make.

The main goal I have for myself at the moment would be to own my own physical therapy business. Other goals would be to graduate, get accepted to grad school, and hopefully attain a steady job in the direction of my goal. One of the main obstacles to achieve my goal would be the fact that I am still in undergraduate studies. Once I am finished, the next obstacle would be finishing graduate school and passing the physical therapy exam in order to receive my physical therapy license.

In the latter part of the reading, the passage discussing the idea of ranking our values based on our personal experiences drew my attention. I think it is safe to assume that most people tend to believe in certain morals and intrinsic values based on their personal experiences and feelings about the source of their beliefs. For instance, I take to heart and follow the beliefs and values of my parents, as they are the number one figures in my life that taught me the first lessons in life. As mentioned in the reading, we are also “drawing upon [our] own accumulated sense experience” (16). Although our parents were probably one of the first elderly figures to show us what their beliefs are, we are also influenced by outside sources daily. Our teachers, friends, and colleagues are few of the most influential people in our lives who constantly have us wondering about our initial beliefs and values either through justification of their own experiences and beliefs. When we grow up and become our own individuals, is it possible that we have completely different views on the world around us or do we innately act in some ways more than others based on our upbringing? This also surprised me while reading that our outside influences may also have an affect on our beliefs and values by simply ” ‘selling’ a particular approach to personal values” (16). Some individuals seek out spiritual meaning and support to better certain views on their beliefs. I feel in this sense we are losing a part of our true selfs based on the experiences of others. What if what they were telling us was completely made up to twist our views on our old beliefs when in fact what we had first believed in were to be true?

I also agreed with the analogy of individuals taking a poll about people’s ideas and beliefs on their personal values. It is unfortunate that nowadays and perhaps even back then people would not tell the truth in its entirety. People never really tell the whole truth, which brings me to question why an individual holds this kind of moral? Perhaps due to an old personal experience where they deemed appropriate that less the people know the better? Although through personal experience the whole truth always comes out regardless how much you attempt to cover it up. From that I have created a new personal value of my own to always completely 100% tell the truth even though it may be rude or inappropriate.

References: Lewis, H. (1990). A Question of Values: Six Ways We Make the Personal Choices That Shape Our Lives. Axios Press.Pg. 6-16.