essay writing about values

Essays About Values: 5 Essay Examples Plus 10 Prompts

Similar to how our values guide us, let this guide with essays about values and writing prompts help you write your essay.

Values are the core principles that guide the actions we take and the choices we make. They are the cornerstones of our identity. On a community or organizational level, values are the moral code that every member must embrace to live harmoniously and work together towards shared goals. 

We acquire our values from different sources such as parents, mentors, friends, cultures, and experiences. All of these build on one another — some rejected as we see fit — for us to form our perception of our values and what will lead us to a happy and fulfilled life.

5 Essay Examples

1. what today’s classrooms can learn from ancient cultures by linda flanagan, 2. stand out to your hiring panel with a personal value statement by maggie wooll, 3. make your values mean something by patrick m. lencioni, 4. how greed outstripped need by beth azar, 5. a shift in american family values is fueling estrangement by joshua coleman, 1. my core values, 2. how my upbringing shaped my values, 3. values of today’s youth, 4. values of a good friend, 5. an experience that shaped your values, 6. remembering our values when innovating, 7. important values of school culture, 8. books that influenced your values, 9. religious faith and moral values, 10. schwartz’s theory of basic values.

“Connectedness is another core value among Maya families, and teachers seek to cultivate it… While many American teachers also value relationships with their students, that effort is undermined by the competitive environment seen in many Western classrooms.”

Ancient communities keep their traditions and values of a hands-off approach to raising their kids. They also preserve their hunter-gatherer mindsets and others that help their kids gain patience, initiative, a sense of connectedness, and other qualities that make a helpful child.

“How do you align with the company’s mission and add to its culture? Because it contains such vital information, your personal value statement should stand out on your resume or in your application package.”

Want to rise above other candidates in the jobs market? Then always highlight your value statement. A personal value statement should be short but still, capture the aspirations and values of the company. The essay provides an example of a captivating value statement and tips for crafting one.

“Values can set a company apart from the competition by clarifying its identity and serving as a rallying point for employees. But coming up with strong values—and sticking to them—requires real guts.”

Along with the mission and vision, clear values should dictate a company’s strategic goals. However, several CEOs still needed help to grasp organizational values fully. The essay offers a direction in setting these values and impresses on readers the necessity to preserve them at all costs. 

“‘He compared the values held by people in countries with more competitive forms of capitalism with the values of folks in countries that have a more cooperative style of capitalism… These countries rely more on strategic cooperation… rather than relying mostly on free-market competition as the United States does.”

The form of capitalism we have created today has shaped our high value for material happiness. In this process, psychologists said we have allowed our moral and ethical values to drift away from us for greed to take over. You can also check out these essays about utopia .

“From the adult child’s perspective, there might be much to gain from an estrangement: the liberation from those perceived as hurtful or oppressive, the claiming of authority in a relationship, and the sense of control over which people to keep in one’s life. For the mother or father, there is little benefit when their child cuts off contact.”

It is most challenging when the bonds between parent and child weaken in later years. Psychologists have been navigating this problem among modern families, which is not an easy conflict to resolve. It requires both parties to give their best in humbling themselves and understanding their loved ones, no matter how divergent their values are. 

10 Writing  Prompts On Essays About Values

For this topic prompt, contemplate your non-negotiable core values and why you strive to observe them at all costs. For example, you might value honesty and integrity above all else. Expound on why cultivating fundamental values leads to a happy and meaningful life. Finally, ponder other values you would like to gain for your future self. Write down how you have been practicing to adopt these aspired values. 

Many of our values may have been instilled in us during childhood. This essay discusses the essential values you gained from your parents or teachers while growing up. Expound on their importance in helping you flourish in your adult years. Then, offer recommendations on what households, schools, or communities can do to ensure that more young people adopt these values.

Is today’s youth lacking essential values, or is there simply a shift in what values generations uphold? Strive to answer this and write down the healthy values that are emerging and dying. Then think of ways society can preserve healthy values while doing away with bad ones. Of course, this change will always start at home, so also encourage parents, as role models, to be mindful of their words, actions and behavior.  

The greatest gift in life is friendship. In this essay, enumerate the top values a friend should have. You may use your best friend as an example. Then, cite the best traits your best friend has that have influenced you to be a better version of yourself. Finally, expound on how these values can effectively sustain a healthy friendship in the long term. 

We all have that one defining experience that has forever changed how we see life and the values we hold dear. Describe yours through storytelling with the help of our storytelling guide . This experience may involve a decision, a conversation you had with someone, or a speech you heard at an event.  

With today’s innovation, scientists can make positive changes happen. But can we truly exercise our values when we fiddle with new technologies whose full extent of positive and adverse effects we do not yet understand such as AI? Contemplate this question and look into existing regulations on how we curb the creation or use of technologies that go against our values. Finally, assess these rules’ effectiveness and other options society has. 

Highlight a school’s role in honing a person’s values. Then, look into the different aspects of your school’s culture. Identify which best practices distinct in your school are helping students develop their values. You could consider whether your teachers exhibit themselves as admirable role models or specific parts of the curriculum that help you build good character. 

In this essay, recommend your readers to pick up your favorite books, particularly those that served as pathways to enlightening insights and values. To start, provide a summary of the book’s story. It would be better if you could do so without revealing too much to avoid spoiling your readers’ experience. Then, elaborate on how you have applied the values you learned from the book.

For many, religious faith is the underlying reason for their values. For this prompt, explore further the inextricable links between religion and values. If you identify with a certain religion, share your thoughts on the values your sector subscribes to. You can also tread the more controversial path on the conflicts of religious values with socially accepted beliefs or practices, such as abortion. 

Dive deeper into the ten universal values that social psychologist Shalom Schwartz came up with: power, achievement, hedonism, stimulation, self-direction, universalism, benevolence, tradition, conformity, and security. Look into their connections and conflicts against each other. Then, pick your favorite value and explain how you relate to it the most. Also, find if value conflicts within you, as theorized by Schwartz.

Make sure to check out our round-up of the best essay checkers . If you want to use the latest grammar software, read our guide on using an AI grammar checker .

Yna Lim is a communications specialist currently focused on policy advocacy. In her eight years of writing, she has been exposed to a variety of topics, including cryptocurrency, web hosting, agriculture, marketing, intellectual property, data privacy and international trade. A former journalist in one of the top business papers in the Philippines, Yna is currently pursuing her master's degree in economics and business.

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Essay on Values for Students and Children

500+ words essay on values.

Importance of Values

For an individual, values are most important. An individual with good values is loved by everyone around as he is compassionate about others and also he behaves ethically.

Values Help in Decision Making

A person is able to judge what is right and what is wrong based on the values he imbibes. In life at various steps, it makes the decision-making process easier. A person with good values is always likely to make better decisions than others.

Values Can Give Direction to Our Life

In life, Values give us clear goals. They always tell us how we should behave and act in different situations and give the right direction to our life. In life, a person with good values can take better charge.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

Values Can Build Character

If a person wants a strong character, then he has to possesses good values such as honesty , loyalty, reliability, efficiency, consistency, compassion, determination, and courage. Values always help in building our character.

Values Can Help in Building a Society

If u want a better society then people need to bear good values. Values play an important role in society. They only need to do their hard work, with compassion, honesty, and other values. Such people will help in the growth of society and make it a much better place to live.

Characteristics of Values

Values are always based on various things. While the basic values remain the same across cultures and are intact since centuries some values may vary. Values may be specific to a society or age. In the past, it was considered that women with good moral values must stay at home and not voice their opinion on anything but however, this has changed over time. Our culture and society determine the values to a large extent. We imbibe values during our childhood years and they remain with us throughout our life.

Family always plays the most important role in rendering values to us. Decisions in life are largely based on the values we possess. Values are permanent and seldom change. A person is always known by the values he possesses. The values of a person always reflect on his attitude and overall personality.

The Decline of Values in the Modern Times

While values are of great importance and we are all aware of the same unfortunately people these days are so engrossed in making money and building a good lifestyle that they often overlook the importance of values. At the age when children must be taught good values, they are taught to fight and survive in this competitive world. Their academics and performance in other activities are given importance over their values.

Parents , as well as teachers, teach them how to take on each other and win by any means instead of inculcating good sportsman spirit in them and teaching them values such as integrity, compassion, and patience. Children always look up to their elders as their role models and it is unfortunate that elders these days have a lack of values. Therefore the children learn the same.

In order to help him grow into a responsible and wise human being, it is important for people to realize that values must be given topmost priority in a child’s life because children are the future of the society. There can be nothing better in a society where a majority of people have good values and they follow the ethical norms.

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Home Essay Samples Life

Essay Samples on Values

The essential role of human values in the 21st century.

The 21st century presents a myriad of challenges and opportunities that call for a renewed emphasis on human values as guiding principles to shape individual behaviors, societal norms, and global interactions. In an era marked by technological advancements, cultural diversification, and interconnectedness, the role of...

• 21St Century

Human Values in 21st Century: A Blueprint for a Better World

The 21st century presents a unique set of challenges and opportunities that demand a reevaluation of the values that guide human behavior. In this era of rapid technological advancements, cultural diversification, and interconnectedness, the importance of human values in the 21st century cannot be overstated....

Unpacking the Value of Community Service Hours

The concept of community service hours, often a requirement in academic and organizational settings, has sparked diverse opinions. While some see it as a mere checkbox to tick off, others view it as an avenue for genuine personal growth and societal contribution. Delving deeper into...

• Community Service

The Power of Censorship: Safeguarding Societal Values

The debate surrounding censorship persuasive is one that evokes strong emotions and diverse opinions. It raises questions about the delicate balance between protecting public morality and preserving the ideals of freedom of expression. While some argue that censorship stifles creativity and limits access to diverse...

The Ascent of Money: Is Money the Root of All Evil

In Niall Ferguson’s The Ascent of Money, Ferguson analyzes the history of money, banking, and credit. He tracks the development of currency as a form of trade, explores its growth and effects on society, and looks forward to how it may continue to develop in...

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Being Proud of Your Values and Beliefs

Hear the phrase “be yourself” all the time but what exactly does it mean. Some people can argue that “being yourself” has to do with your relationship with others, and that is by giving attention to what people think about you; while others can argue...

• Being Yourself
• Personal Beliefs

Understanding What Is The Special Value To Life

Value of life is a question is which many of us try to answer how valuable is our life, how valuable are peoples lives in general. This could be a dark subject if the outcome might be as positive as someone may think. When we...

• Meaning of Life

Defining The Meaning And Value Of Human Life

The biggest cliché of all the questions already had the most varied range of answers. The value of life could even be answered by simple a way: that each individual constructs its own meaning. That is because everyone has their impossible mission in here. Each...

Finding The True Meaning And Value Of Life In Plato's Works

The universal question, “What is the meaning of life?” has been questioned since the beginning of civilization. Answers given by most individuals in today’s society dissent greatly from the answers of Roman and Greek civilizations thousands of years back. Great philosophers such as Socrates, Plato,...

The Meaning Of Life And Value Of Life Based On Plato's Philosophy

What is the meaning of life? There are numerous cultural beliefs on how life should be lived by following certain religious or traditional practices. These “meanings of life” could differ based on racial or religious beliefs but in a way, I believe there is an...

Searching For What Is The Value Of Life

The significance of this quote is to simply educate and persuade those who are experiencing dilemmas and complications regarding their decisions, specifically what they aspire to do in life, to take into consideration that there are viable options to fulfill their lives. I agree with...

The Value Of A Single Life And Its Meaning

Close to 6 million innocent animals enter shelters each year. All across the world, people are faced with the issue of how to deal with the overpopulation of stray animals. However, the murder of these animals should not be justified just because the problem is...

The Impact Of Religion On Defining What Is Value Of Life

What might most people on this earth value? You guessed it right, it’s Life! Life brings a lot of meaning and purpose that is I feel is an ideal answer to the society and lets just face it, what could someone value other than life?...

• Religious Beliefs

Personal Dignity And Integrity As The Core Of Personal Values

'The standard of being honest and possessing powerful personal values' is the vocabulary term of integrity. In my view, terms were never useful for anything except for composing papers. Integrity is a person's way of existence. Every day we confront decisions in life that we...

Exposition Of Wicks Concept Of Human Right And Value To Life

Human right to life is the most fundamental of all human rights. In her book, The Right to Life and Conflicting Interests, Wicks (2010: 1), begins by noting that ‘the life on earth is diverse and abundant. From simple bacteria and virus through to the...

Money Is Not Everything: The Importance Of Knowledge

Money is one of the most sensitive issues when we mention it under any circumstances. It is also an indispensable thing for each people. In many people's opinion, money is very important and valuable. They think that with money, we will have everything. Besides these...

Importance Of Ethical Values In Islam: Patience, Truthfulness

The ethical values are very important in human life and play a vital role in human life. Ethics /manners are complete code of life without manners we cannot spend a better life. Quran emphasized us for better ethical values. In this paper the importance of...

Analysis Of Core Values Of The United States Airmen

Core values can be defined as someone’s central beliefs that are guiding principles and dictate their behavior. Usually, core values are used to help a person understand the difference between right and wrong. My core values were not all present when I first enlisted, but...

The Efficiency Of Common Law System

Common law is based on judges past decisions rather than written law (Department of Justice, 2017). The common law system takes past decisions made by judges and uses them in new situations that are similar to the original event; otherwise known as the term “stare...

• Judicial System

Analysis of Leadership and Motivation Theories in the Movie Coach Carter

Being a leader is one of the most responsible roles one can take. An effective leader knows what is best for the project team as well as have a complete understanding of the needs of employees, peers as well as of the superiors. Outstanding leaders...

• Coach Carter
• Effective Leadership

Moral Values I Was Taught by My Parents

Love. Caring One of them is love and caring as it is the fundamental for all the children in the family. Since young, they used to give me love and care by giving adoring environment at home. My father constantly invested his energy and time...

The Real Value of Treasurable Moments in Achebe's "Civil Peace" and Maupassant's "The Necklace"

What makes something valuable or a treasure is not determined for their actual worth but for the value you are able to give or see in them. In the storyarticle “The Necklace” we can come across two different types of values, the value that is...

• Chinua Achebe
• The Necklace

Ethics: A Guiding Light in Human Life

Ethics must be the primary source of reference when it comes to evaluate a situation through acting upon it by making a decision. What’s right and what’s wrong depends on the perception of the person that is derived from the certain values that humans hold....

• Decision Making
• Ethics in Everyday Life

Exploring the Importance of Ethics in Our Lives

 Ethics is the discipline of moral and principle involvement to gain knowledge and experience. This specific code of conduct administers our thoughts so as to walk away from certain situations, almost like fleet or flight. “Rome was not built in a day”, it relates to...

Literature Analysis of Anna Quindlen's Article Life of the Closed Mind

A person’s values assumptions are why a person chooses one side over the other in a context. Value assumptions can be changed based on different topics that are discussed and the reasoning and conclusion can also vary by the person responding to the statement based...

• Anna Quindlen

The Theme of Nonconformity in the Works of Chris McCandless

Pressure, perfection, and ideals are some of the dangers in society. Chris McCandless did not want to be a victim of the social norm, he wanted to live the life he wanted without allowing others to influence his decisions. The novel, Into the Wild, by...

• Nonconformist

A Man For All Seasons: The Destructive Power of One's Morals

Values, virtues, and morals are often implemented in individuals as they grow up. However, how they are taken into effect and are followed varies based on personal greed. In the movie A Man For All Seasons, a screenplay written by Robert Bolt and directed by...

• A Man For All Seasons

Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe: Questioning of Own Values with the Change of Era

As time passes, our morals and values change. This becomes apparent as we look back into human history throughout different cultures. This become apparent as we notice in our own lives that values that suited you as a child change as you become a young...

• Doctor Faustus

My Key Personal Values That Make Up My Individuality

How do people decide what is the right or wrong way to live and behave? They use their personal values to lead them to make the decisions that they believe are right. Personal values are the way in which individuals decided the way of thinking,...

• Thankfulness

Ideals In Dan Brown'S Da Vinci Code For Aringarosa And Collet

The Da Vinci Code is a thrilling and enticing novel that was written by Dan Brown in 2003. The main plot of the novel revolves around efforts to discover the truth about the Holy Grail as well as its location, and the story also features...

• Da Vinci Code

Issues Brought Up in John Green's Novel Looking For Alaska

Looking For Alaska, written by the young John Green, brings forward some of the most concerning ideas in a high-schoolers mind. Love and Lust, Consequences, Friendship and Home. Green introduces a set of unique characters that most highschool kids can see themselves hugging in between...

• Looking For Alaska

The Values and Codes of Behaviour in Liberal Studies

In critically analyzing and digesting the contentions of Flannery’s perspective in his article on liberal arts and education, the path is greatly elucidated to say that, liberal arts provide a monumental sense of direction for technocrats, educators and students in this advanced era. To this...

• Good and Evil
• Liberal Arts Education

How the Air Force Core Values Align with My Individual Values

From day one, every Airman is introduced to the Air Force core values of Integrity first, Service before self and Excellence in all we do. These core values are taught by peers and seniors. However, before a person decides to become an Airman, they have...

The Main Ideas and Values of Humanism

Humanism is defined as the rejection of religion in favor of the advancement of humanity by its own efforts. Key humanist beliefs are: They trust the scientific method when it comes to understanding how the universe works and rejects the idea of the supernatural (and...

• Scientific Revolution

The Renaissance Value of Humanism

As a leader living during the Renaissance, I am focused on the qualities of humanism, individualism and secularism based on Machiavelli’s book. The Prince, written by Niccolò Machiavelli, is a guide for successful monarchial rule. From its origins in 14th-century Florence, the Renaissance spread across...

• Renaissance

Personal Values In "What Should A Billionaire Give" And "Dumpster Diving"

Should everyone have the same obligations? Why or why not? Should those who have more give more? All human beings are in this world are equal. They had been created equal but their economic fame may additionally not. Not every human have an identical situation,...

• Dumpster Diving

Values and Human Conscience in Shakespeare's King Henry IV

Shakespeare's, King Henry IV Part I’s an examination of timeless human conscience and behaviour of 15th century Elizabethan England compellingly transcends time and translates to the modern audience of the 21st century through its focus of universal human values of moral choice and individualism -...

• William Shakespeare

Representation of Messages and Values in the Tom Burton's Filmography

In this essay I will be investigating how Tim Burton’s messages and values are represented through the style of his films by looking at five of his films: Edward Scissorhands (1990), Sweeney Todd (2007) Beetlejuice (1988), Alice in Wonderland (2010) and Frankenweenie (2012). Messages and...

The Euphronios Krater as a Figure of Heritage Value

James Cuno, an American art historian and the President and CEO of the J. Paul Getty Trust, in his book Who Owns Antiquity? argues that antiquities should not be returned to their countries of origin. He states that there is a distinction between encyclopedic and...

The Impact of Religious Values on One's Worldviews

Humans have struggled throughout the centuries with the complication and doubt of our humanity. I ask myself, when I think about worldview, is what we are as humans? Which I find to be difficult and does not have an easy answer. My first understanding of...

Life of Pi: Journey of Values and Self-Exploration

This story, from my viewpoint, is a fanatic one. The realness the author involves in the story makes readers believing. On the other hand, he wants to describe how hard the life of the protagonist, PI’s life was. This story starts with normal family life,...

Antigone and Creon: Discussion of Values and Justice

Occurring in the moral realm, the major conflict in Sophocles' Antigone finds its very essence in the binary opposition of two disparate minds, the upholder of divine law and the advocate of human law. This clash between two social forces is embodied by the author...

• Antigone Tragic Hero

Teacher's Recollection of Life and Values

As an early childhood educator, it is important to identify your key values and beliefs. This is to ensure the children of the future will have the confidence and be able to believe in themselves. Leading them to be great and extraordinary. Having a good...

• Childhood Development
• Values of Life

Realization Of The Value Of Sacrifice

My dad squints his eyes, so focused that he doesn’t hear me asking him a question. Nothing seems to distract him from the news and his dictionary app in his hands. After moving to the States, he only watched American news and until recently, I...

Understanding The Meaning Of Leisure

Over centuries, the meaning of leisure has changed drastically due to the always developing societies and their norms and cultures. In other words, everyone has a different understanding of what leisure means for them. One can look at it from many perspectives which makes the...

Personal Values, Morals & Biases Connected With Them

According to Mashla (2016) values is what we believe about what is right and wrong and what is most important in life, and that which controls our behaviour. My personal value system is one that is built strongly on Christian principles. I am a person...

• Personal Life

Social Values In Singapore And Their Role For Economy

In “Singapore as Model” Huat explains that social values have played a significant role in Singapore's evolution and changes in its position in the global economy. One example of this involves the social (and political) values of anti-communism, which was a defining force during the...

• Economic Development

Ethical Dilemmas: Personal Values versus Professional Ethics

The values I personally hold dearest and strive every day to realize, exemplify, and uphold for others as well as myself are fairness, social justice, tolerance, integrity, dignity, and equality. These values are deeply rooted in my personality and have, for as long as I...

• Personal Qualities

My Valiues In Community, Moral Decisions And Professional Choice

Values are treasured by a person, a group of individuals, or an organization. Each and every single person has a distinct set of values. My values are made up of my experience, surroundings, and family background. My actions in my community, my moral decisions, and...

The Process Of Becoming Superior Human Beings

In the aphorism Excelsior, meaning to go beyond an imposing height, of Book 4 of “The Gay Science” by Friedrich Nietzsche, Nietzsche encourages all human beings to transcend, to rise ever higher, ever upwards than before: to become superior human beings. Throughout the aphorism, Nietzsche...

• Friedrich Nietzsche
• Human Development

Best topics on Values

1. The Essential Role of Human Values in the 21st Century

2. Human Values in 21st Century: A Blueprint for a Better World

3. Unpacking the Value of Community Service Hours

4. The Power of Censorship: Safeguarding Societal Values

5. The Ascent of Money: Is Money the Root of All Evil

6. Being Proud of Your Values and Beliefs

7. Understanding What Is The Special Value To Life

8. Defining The Meaning And Value Of Human Life

9. Finding The True Meaning And Value Of Life In Plato’s Works

10. The Meaning Of Life And Value Of Life Based On Plato’s Philosophy

11. Searching For What Is The Value Of Life

12. The Value Of A Single Life And Its Meaning

13. The Impact Of Religion On Defining What Is Value Of Life

14. Personal Dignity And Integrity As The Core Of Personal Values

15. Exposition Of Wicks Concept Of Human Right And Value To Life

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• Perseverance
• Personality
• Clinical Experience
• Childhood Memories

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How to Focus on Your Values in Your Personal Statement

This article was written based on the information and opinions presented by CEG Essay Specialist Kaila Barber in a CollegeVine livestream. You can watch the full livestream for more info.

What’s Covered: 

Identifying your own values, demonstrate your values with examples.

• Reflecting on Your Experiences

It’s important to keep in mind what your reader is hoping to learn from your personal statement. The statement is an opportunity to reflect on your experiences and demonstrate how you think about and relate to the world around you. Specifically, what are some of your values? What’s meaningful to you? What do you find important? 

Personal values can be things like communication, patience, nature, health, personal development, courage, self-love, authenticity, healthy boundaries, or even humor. Before you start drafting your personal statement, take a moment to reflect on the things that you find important and why. 

We’re all very different people coming from different backgrounds, and we have different experiences that impact our individual values. While some of your values will overlap with those of other people, your personal reflection on the values that resonate most with you will separate your statement from someone else’s. 

The best way to include your values, skills, and traits in your essay is to pair them with specific examples and anecdotes. Each anecdote should align with at least one of the values that you find most important and should be accompanied by your personal reflection on the value and its related experience. 

Here’s an example. A student does not have a parent or guardian around to shoulder the expenses of caring for them and their younger sibling. In their outline, the student says that they value autonomy, financial stability, and family. Throughout the essay, they demonstrate these values by talking about getting a part-time job to help support the family and caring for their sibling at home. They also excel academically and even petition to have an AP Physics II course offered at their school. 

The student has shown autonomy by taking the initiative to petition for the new course and by getting a job. They have also demonstrated that both financial stability and family are important to them by pitching in to support their parent and sibling.

Your examples should show your reader your values by being specific and personal to your background and experiences.

Reflecting on Your Experiences 

Reflecting on your values is an equally important part of the personal statement. Your reflections or insight should focus on not only your experiences but also who you are and who you want to become. The insight you include in your essay shows that you’ve really found meaning from your personal experiences.

Insight can take a few forms. A common way to show insight is by writing about a growth experience. Show how you went from point A in your life to point B, and share the lessons you’ve learned along the way. For example, people often reflect on how navigating a strenuous activity or challenge changed the way that they thought about themselves and what they could handle. Reflecting on that change in confidence is one way to demonstrate insight.

One of the clearest ways to explore insight is to self-reflect and write about how something has either connected you to, influenced, or reframed how you think of your own values. Maybe you once pushed yourself too hard, and that experience showed you the value of rest and mindfulness. Or perhaps a change in circumstances shifted or redefined your values to an extent. 

For example, a person might say that while they craved stability as a child because of their home life, they now see the value of risk-taking and adventure in enriching their own knowledge and experiences. In this example, both security and risk are important to the speaker, but their experiences ultimately shifted weight from one value to another.

Regardless of how you approach your personal statement, insight is the overarching meaning that you take away from the relevant experiences and values you’ve shared.

Are you looking for more guidance as you draft your personal statement? Check out this post on how to come up with a strong topic that wows your admissions reader!

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• Essay On Values

Essay on Moral Values

500+ words essay on moral values.

Moral values are considered an essential aspect of human life. Moral values determine one’s nature, behaviour and overall attitude towards life and other people. In our lives, our decisions are primarily based on our values. The choices we make in our lives impact us and our society, organisation and nation. It is believed that a person with good values makes wise decisions that benefit everyone. On the contrary, people who have no moral values think only of themselves. They don’t care about others’ needs or society and make choices based solely on their needs. They create an unfriendly and sometimes unsafe environment around themselves.

Importance of Moral Values

The value of a person reflects their personality. Moral values help us understand the difference between right and wrong, good and evil and make the right decisions and judgements. They empower and drive a person to be a better human being and work for the betterment of society. Some moral values a person can inculcate in themselves are: dedication, honesty, optimism, commitment, patience, courtesy, forgiveness, compassion, respect, unity, self-control, cooperation, care and love. A person becomes humble and dependable with good values. Everyone looks up to a person with good values, whether personally or professionally.

If a person has good values, he spreads love, joy, and positive vibes. A person with good values works for the upliftment of society, along with taking care of their life. Such people are always considerate of the needs of others and understand the importance of unity and teamwork. They don’t lose their temper very easily and forgive others. People with good values are an asset to the organisation they work in and the society they live in.

Values Must Be Imbibed

We need to imbibe good values to function as humans and live in a society. Good values include dedication towards work, honesty, respect, commitment, love, helping others, taking responsibility for others’ deeds and acting responsibly. All these values are essential for the positive growth of an individual.

If you want to become a true leader and inspire others, you need to have good values. People always show respect and love to a person with good values. Additionally, they’ll trust and depend on a person of good values because they get proper advice and opinion from such a person.

Ethics Must Be Followed

A person with good values behaves ethically. We often hear of an ethical code of conduct. These are a set of rules or codes an individual is expected to follow. For example, talking politely with others, respecting elders/co-workers, handling difficult situations calmly, maintaining discipline and acting responsibly. Following these ethics helps create a healthy and safe work environment. So, it is essential for everyone to follow the ethical code of conduct.

The Role of Parents and Teachers

Moral values are not just born in a person but must be taught and inculcated right from childhood. When we talk about raising or nurturing children with good values, the credit goes to parents and teachers. It is their responsibility to teach children good values and should make them understand why it’s necessary to follow ethical behaviour. Schools should also take the responsibility to have a separate class dedicated to teaching ethics and moral values from the beginning. They should also train the students so that they imbibe these values.

An individual should imbibe good moral values to do well both in their professional and personal lives. A person with good values is also recognised among the crowd and is always appreciated for his behaviour and attitude towards others. On the contrary, people who lack good values often get into trouble and are not accepted in society. So, we should make sure that we teach our children good values and ethical behaviour from an early age. It is our responsibility to make our future generation learn moral values and ethics. This will help them become good human beings and upstanding citizens of the world. Additionally, it will give them the strength and courage to achieve great things in their lives.

The importance of moral values cannot be overstated. A nation with a high proportion of good values will undoubtedly progress and develop more rapidly than where people lack values. Moral values nurture us individually, build strong character and help create a better world around us.

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Cognitive Behavioral Therapy

The power of writing about your values, a simple exercise to rediscover your purpose and find meaning..

Posted February 15, 2024 | Reviewed by Michelle Quirk

• What Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy?
• Find a therapist who practices CBT
• Values work asks us to take responsibility for our own life journey.
• Writing about your values has a significant impact on your actions and mental well-being.
• Living by what you truly care about won’t always be easy, but it can bring you more fulfillment and meaning.

What do you genuinely care about? It’s a deceptively simple question, but one we often neglect answering for ourselves. As a result, we tend to focus our efforts and energies on tasks that don’t truly align with what we want out of life. We act according to our short-term needs (while maybe even sabotaging our long-term goals), or we follow other people’s expectations, not really questioning whether they are in our own best interest. We might focus on what we “should” be doing, going from chore to chore, making us feel like we’re trapped in an endlessly looping hamster wheel.

Living by our values provides an alternative. Rather than mindlessly trying to live up to other people’s standards, values work asks us to take responsibility for our own life journey. When we choose what’s important in life, we create a deeply personal metric for success.

Do we care about putting love into the world? About appreciating and protecting nature? About creating beauty? The best of our cultural, familial, and wisdom traditions can guide us, but ultimately the truly heartfelt choices are ours to make “naked and in the wind.”

By making such choices, we are more likely not only to engage life with motivation and follow through but also to bring more attention , care, and energy to the journeys that uplift us. Values help us build socially positive emotions, like gratitude and appreciation, and the feeling that we are making a meaningful difference in other people’s lives. And a simple exercise has shown to be particularly effective in distilling what those values might be.

Research has shown that writing about your values has a significant impact on your actions as well as on your mental well-being—more than just simply picking values from a list or stating them in a few words. By writing about them, you are less likely to react defensively or to let values become formulaic. You are more likely to become more receptive to information that suggests how you can make effective changes in your life.

If that sounds preachy, please remove any sense of “should” from it. You don’t need a wagging finger from me any more than you need one from anyone else, including yourself. I’m advocating values work because science, the best of our cultural traditions, and our own life experiences show that when values choices are made from the whole of us, and from a psychologically open and aware posture, our lives improve. It’s just the way we are wired.

A Simple Exercise to Discover Your Purpose and Meaning

In a moment, I will ask you to write about your values. Before I do, however, please take a sheet of paper and write down the following life areas:

• Intimate Relationships
• Environment
• Spirituality
• Physical Well-Being

Next, I want you to rate each of those life areas on a scale of 1 (= not important) to 10 (= highly important). Keep in mind, this is not about how important they might be to others, but how important they are to you personally right now. There are no right or wrong answers here; only you decide.

Did you do it? Great! Then rate each of these areas on a scale of 1 to 10 once again, but this time in terms of how consistent your actions with your values have been in each of the areas. For instance, a “3” in Physical Well-Being might indicate that you eat a lot of junk food and rarely exercise, whereas an “8” in Family might show that you put in a lot of effort for your children.

After you rated each of the areas a second time, take a look at your answers. Particularly interesting are the areas with a high importance (a score between 8 and 10) and relatively low consistency scores (6 or less). These are clear problem areas, and I suggest doing your initial values work with any one of them.

So here comes your actual task: Take another sheet of paper, choose a life domain, and then write for 10 minutes about your deepest values in this area. Really do it—10 minutes is not very long! As you do so, please consider the following questions:

• What do you care about in this area?
• What do you want to do in this area that intrinsically reflects your caring?
• When in your life has this value been important?
• Who are the heroes in your life to manifest such values, and what do they mean to you?
• What have you seen in your life when others pursue this value, or not?
• When have you violated this value, and has that been costly?
• What might you do to manifest this value more in your life?

Try to focus your writing on the qualities of your life as you want to live it—qualities you hold as being of intrinsic importance to what you do.

If it starts to feel like you are writing a wish list about what you want from life or others, redirect your writing by describing the qualities of actions you want to manifest. If you cannot think of anything else, just continue writing whatever shows up in your head (even if you write the same thing over and over again), until something new shows up.

Don’t continue reading until you’ve written for at least 10 minutes. Trust me on this. Just do it.

OK, now read what you wrote and see if you can distill a few examples of what you want to do in your chosen area. I’m talking about actual behavior. Can you name at least three actions that would bring you in closer alignment with what you care about in this life area?

Next, look for mentions of the qualities you want to manifest in your actions and see if you can note those qualities. You might want to do things lovingly, carefully, creatively, curiously, compassionately, respectfully, openly, joyously, industriously, healthfully, adventurously, thoughtfully, justly, supportively, learnedly, peacefully, humorously, simply, honestly, spiritually, fairly, charitably, traditionally, dependably, and so on and so forth.

As you read what you’ve written, write down the qualities that most stand out for you. It might just be one, or it might be several. If multiple qualities show up, see if you can capture their core in three or four words. These are verbal signposts for values choices, and you want to make a note of them.

Values only really matter when you embody them and allow them to guide your actions. How do you want to show up during an upcoming family event? At a work presentation? During your children’s school play? Or while you’re walking your dog? Humbly allow values to be your guide. Living by what you truly care about won’t always be easy, but in combination with learning how to be more open and aware, a values-based life will bring you more fulfillment, meaning, and a deeper sense that you are living a life well lived.

Lejeune, Jenna & Luoma, Jason. (2021). Values in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy . 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780197550076.013.12.

Steven C. Hayes, Ph.D. , is Nevada Foundation Professor at the Department of Psychology at the University of Nevada Reno.

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Home / Essay Samples / Life / Values / My Values and Beliefs: Shaping My Identity

My Values and Beliefs: Shaping My Identity

• Category: Philosophy , Life
• Topic: Personal Identity , Values

Pages: 1 (504 words)

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Introduction

Value of integrity, embrace of diversity, compassion and empathy.

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