Introduction
People’s everyday lives can be filled with sorrows, concerns, and different ethical dilemmas. When addressing them, an individual might lose their state of happiness or get lost in the solutions they may use. Personal core values serve as guides on the path of life, allowing one to be motivated, ethically determined, and make wise choices. They also make people happy and help them lead a good, worthy life, partly because they allow them to fulfill their moral obligations to others.
Defining Happiness and a Well-Lived Life
To begin with, it is essential to define the concepts of a good life and happiness, and to illustrate them. A well-lived life is characterized by personal achievements, truthfulness to oneself and others, and a positive impact one leaves. If a person fills their daily routine with an ethical meaning and ensures they achieve their goals, their life can be considered good. For example, despite his struggles, Martin Luther King Jr.’s life was well lived, as he used his opportunities and resources to protect the rights of African Americans.
Furthermore, happiness can be understood as a state of mental and emotional health, free from severe worries and concerns, and a sense of safety. A happy individual derives true pleasure from helping others and making the world a better place, while also engaging in other activities that bring them a sense of contentment. For instance, Joanne Rowling may be considered a happy woman as she successfully found her calling in writing. She gained the love and acceptance of many people and then utilized the financial resources she received to spread her happiness through charity, ultimately improving her children’s lives.
Personal Core Values and Happiness
Everyone needs to have their personal values and use them to guide them through life. Thus, honesty, faith, family, and self-respect are the core values that motivate my attitudes and actions, helping me determine what is most important in my life (Herrity, 2023). Firstly, being honest with oneself and others helps avoid a lack of trust. When one is certain that their life is filled with truth rather than lies, they experience gratitude and happiness. Secondly, family is a strong source of support and love that helps maintain an inner connection with people’s ancestors and future descendants (Riley, 2023). Family reminds one of the need to be a worthy person, and this is a key to living a good life.
Thirdly, faith is a guiding thread that leads a person through all obstacles, allowing them to follow the will of God, believe in themselves and humanity, and be moral. To lead a well-lived life, one needs to support others, promote positivity and kindness, and cultivate faith, which is an integral component of this process. Eventually, self-respect is a concept that “involves treating yourself with kindness and not allowing others to treat you poorly” (Herrity, 2023, para. 2.10). This core value allows an individual to be happy and have a good life by preventing them from spreading negativity because if one respects themselves, they avoid such immoral activities.
The Relationship Between the Core Values
The four personal core values mentioned are interconnected and become stronger when used together. Thus, faithful individuals always use honesty to guide them, because living a lie is inconsistent with God’s commandments. Such a person also respects themselves because their actions are ethical and positive. They support their family and consider it a primary value, as it is a commandment from God to be close to one’s parents and other relatives.
At the same time, it becomes difficult to maintain self-respect if one abandons their parents or children. If this person does not consider such an action shameful and continues to respect themselves, they may not be honest with themselves regarding the truthfulness of their faith. Therefore, this interconnection demonstrates that these core values can mutually strengthen one another.
Ethical Obligations to Others
Ultimately, while striving to make oneself happy, it is essential to remember one’s personal moral obligations to others. According to Akhlaghi (2020), “one may have a moral obligation to help a friend, to support a parent in old age, or to minimally respect another’s autonomy as a moral agent” (p. 625). Because “fulfilling a moral obligation is morally right and failing to fulfil one is morally wrong,” one cannot be happy if they perform ethically wrong actions (Akhlaghi, 2020, p. 625).
Additionally, God dictates some moral obligations, and faithful persons live good lives only if they follow His word. As a result, a well-lived life is defined by an individual’s willingness to support others. While ethical obligations might vary, fulfilling them becomes a reason to respect oneself and be happy.
Conclusion
To conclude, it may be challenging to experience happiness and lead a fulfilling life, but personal core values are of great help on this journey. Self-respect, family, faith, and honesty do not allow one to get lost in issues they face, reminding them about the need to help others and be ethical. Being strengthened by one another, these personal core values bring happiness and contribute to a well-lived life.
References
Akhlaghi, F. (2020). On moral obligations and our chances of fulfilling them. Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 23, 625–638.
Herrity, J. (2023). Examples of core life values and how to determine yours. Indeed.
Riley, D. (2023). What are core values? 31 core values to live by. LifeHack.