How Societal Values can assist in developing a motivating life philosophy.
- drcmorgan
- Apr 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Jun 11
To understand where you want to end up in life, you need to first investigate who you are
and what rules you want to live your life by. This is akin to learning to know what car you are
driving to get to your end destination or Nirvana. Knowing the vehicle that will drive you to
fulfilment is achievable when you become an expert on your personality type and when you
have a keen awareness of your value composition.
One way of finding out what you value, is to think about life’s truths and to consider some of
life’s core questions. Understanding the philosophies that underpin these core questions will
help you build understanding, tolerance and adaptability, not only to yourself but also to
other people. When you understand why you think what you do and why other people
possibly think what they do, you will become more understanding. Understanding will help
you to empathise with others and with yourself. When you can risk stepping into another
person’s shoes you become less entangled in your own emotions and so doing develop
emotional objectivity. Consequently, the first rung on the staircase leading to emotional
objectivity is to listen to what ancient and current philosophies share about values they found
to lead to a happy and fulfilling life.
There are many philosophies from which you can learn. One is the Roman emperor and
philosopher Marcus Aurelius who’s book, Meditations, is one of the definitive texts on the
philosophy of Stoicism and advocates the importance of logic over emotion. He gives guidance
on how to train your mind to think rationally, rather than being at the mercy of your emotions and
thus to guide you in living your life purposefully, logically and with dignity.
The centre premise of this philosophy is that rational thinking can guide you through hardship and
allow you to endure pain. Aurelius advocates that living life by being rational, respecting nature
and striving to live your life in a fair, truthful, courageous and self-controlled way will result in
experiencing meaning in your life. In Aurelius’ words: “If, at some point in your life, you
should come across anything better than justice, truth, self-control, courage – it must be an
extraordinary thing indeed”.
Have a look at the attached worksheet below to determine which of the Stoic Values you agree with
and want to include in your value set.
Understanding and choosing your values helps you understand what sparks the internal
conversations you have with yourself. Only when you become aware of our values will you
truly understand why you think the way you do and what triggers your emotions.
Understanding your values is especially important when you become angry. You will often
hear someone say “It just is not right” or “It is not fair” when they tell you why they became
angry. It is often only when someone is angry and try to explain why they had such an
intense emotional reaction that they become aware of the value that was violated by the
other person’s action.
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