Life Skill: Personal Credo

by A. Salces Cajes, PhD

A personal credo is a set of beliefs guiding your thoughts, behavior, and attitude. It may also consist of principles to live in life. The credo can be distilled from your faith, culture, tradition, upbringing, lessons gained, and experiences.

A credo is important because it serves as one's center of being. When you are exposed to different individuals, groups, experiences and ideas, you will also become susceptible to beliefs and principles that are different from your own.

"Find your center" is a healthy reminder when you are unsure about the decision to make or the action to take. This is especially true when you are confronted with options or temptations that will affect your future. 

In the end, you will have to live and deal with yourself. So, make sure that your personal credo is grounded on ideas and ideals that are consistent with the best available sources of knowledge and wisdom. As a quote, which is attributed to the Vedas, say: "At the center of our being is a truth that shines brighter than a thousand suns."

You may refer to the examples below in crafting your personal credo.

• I believe in karma -- that good and bad actions will respectively yield positive or negative consequences to me in the near or far future. -- Author
• I believe in the inherent goodness of human beings, the beauty of our planet and her creatures, the grandeur of the universe and the wisdom of the Creator. -- Author
• I believe that life has meaning and my search for that meaning challenges me to live life to the fullest. -- Author 
• I believe that someday people will "live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." -- Martin Luther King, Jr.

From time to time, you need to revise or enhance your personal credo. In my case, I do it at least every year, each time I am facing a major decision to make, or when I read something that catches my attention. This poem entitled "To Have Succeeded" by Ralph Waldo Emerson is a good source of a personal credo:

To laugh often and much; To win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; To earn the approbation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; To appreciate beauty; To find the best in others; To give of one's self; to leave the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to have played and laughed with enthusiasm and sung with exultation; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived -- this is to have succeeded."