Learning objectives for the unit: “The Nature of Human Values”
- Become familiar with the basic relationship of human values and psychological and philosophical endeavors
- Understand that values are formed from external and internal drives of an individual
- Explore one’s own value system
Artifact: Life Values Assessment
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The five most important values to me according to the survey were
- Family
- Friendship
- Health
- Enjoyment
- Loyalty
It is really easy to say that you live your life around the values you value the most, but looking at your actions on a day-to-day basis makes it easy to see what values you actually utilize. Yesterday I woke up and went to work for 9 hours. This action took care of a lot of values in the middle of my list, such as personal development, prestige, and wealth. After work, I went to workout, which I do both for my health and enjoyment, two values high up on my list. After that I called my Dad and emailed my mom, showing my strong belief that family is the most important thing of all. To end the day, I had frozen yogurt with some friends, showing how I dedicate time to nurture friendships. Loyalty is something that I try to show by not lying and letting the people close to me that I have their backs no matter what
I think practically all of my values come from my family. They are the ones who taught me everything when I was young and I think that through them I became who I am. I differ from my parents in some aspects, but in general, they engraved the values that they found important into me. One value that I used to value much more than I do now is prestige. I used to worry so much about what others think of me, but now as long as I am happy with myself, I don’t worry. One goal that I have yet to pursue is travel the world. The main thing that has stopped me from this is school and work. Next year I have a slot of time where I plan on going to Asia in Europe for a couple months. Hopefully it happens.
Reflection
This assignment required that I sit down and really analyze what values I hold closest to me. Then it took it one step further and made me reflect on whether or not I was actually pursuing these values on a daily basis. After analyzing all of this, I was very pleased to see that I did in fact live my life according to the values that I stated are important to me. The assignment made me formally explore my values and put them on paper for the first time and I felt that was extremely beneficial.
The next part of the assignment was even more interesting because it asked an open ended question about what factors influenced and shaped our values. The conclusion that I came to after looking at this was that external factors play a large role in deciding your values. I think that if every member of my family did the same thing their lists would be very similar. It was a very strange realization that if I was the exact same person but grew up with a different family, my values and the way that I pursued life would be extremely different than it is now.
Values are extremely important and are what shape us and our surroundings. Generally speaking we surround ourselves with people who have the same values as us, be it intentionally or not. I try to find the best values for not only myself, but for those around me so that I can potentially influence them positively. I think that through this artifact, I have learned my values and what has influenced them
Going into the future
In the future I am sure that my values will be tested. If I can reflect on this assignment and understand my values going forward, I should be in good shape. The values that I have make up my actions and they may change over time. However, they should change for internal reasons and not outside pressure ideally.
Sources
Artifact #1: Values
Artifact #2: What is art for?
Artifact #3: Food as art
Artifact #4: Adornment
Artifact #5: Horror
Artifact #6: Creative Spirituality
Artifact #7: Technology
Artifact #8: Remix