What are your defining beliefs?

The Task

Answer the question: What are your defining beliefs?
Come up with a list of beliefs that help define who you are. Try to find the reason behind how you act and what shapes your thoughts and opinions. Ideally, these beliefs should be able to stand the test of time. If a big part of your life deals with something you don’t like about the modern world (or do like), it’s better to explain why rather than say what you like or dislike. Things change, and you don’t want to define yourself by an opinion that might not be valid any more (although your beliefs can and should evolve over time, which is another way to potentially invalidate defining beliefs).

Notes

I decided to come up with a list of defining beliefs years ago. It was among my favorite projects to help me understand myself. I also have made several posts on my personal blog about these beliefs. Although my mental exercise blog is two and a half years old, this exercise was one of the first ideas that I wanted to include. I honestly feel that a lot of people could benefit from developing a similar list.
 

Feel Free to Comment

Answers to the above question can be posted in the comments section. Although the question was posted to help you understand yourself, others can certainly benefit from your answers. They could discover personal characteristics that they might have previously overlooked. They could also discover new ideas regarding how and where to look to better themselves. Of course, I hope that fear of what others will think will not impair the process of answering the question. If you want to keep your answer to yourself, it won’t be held against you.

Follow-up

A follow-up to this exercise has been posted.