Your beliefs become your thoughts,
Your thoughts become your words,
Your words become your actions,
Your actions become your habits,
Your habits become your values,
Your values become your destiny.
― Mahatma Gandhi

ONE of the first intense feelings a baby has, is that of being hungry, and of the urgent need to communicate this hunger. Because of this need it has for food, the baby soon learns to appreciate where the food comes from. It soon values the breast or the bottle, because it quickly comes to the conclusion that this is what satisfies this feeling of hunger; this is what makes it feel satiated and contented.

Through such pattern recognition, we build up a belief system based on certain 'outside' things being paired with some specific outcome, in this case the satisfaction, reward, or benefit of being fed. Likewise, children soon learn to be externally motivated to avoid certain things, because they are accompanied by pain or punishment: either emotional or physical.

A child learns to clean up their room to avoid being reprimanded by a parent or other adult. Through reward and punishment, a child quickly learns to value some things above others. The things they may value at any particular time can vary depending on what they see as their needs at the time. They value feelings which for them are attached to experiences, and therefore wish to repeat the experiences in order to repeat the feelings. As Gandhi pointed out, it is through this process that we arrive at our values — our principles for living, and ultimately our destiny.

It’s not hard to make decisions when you know what your values are. ― Roy Disney