Being a good person

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I don't want to do bad things. I only want to do good things. Is there a difference between bad and good? How do I do only good things?

i go out of my way 2 be nice all the time but im still always getting into lots of trouble

Not that this really matters all that much, but what is your motivation? Are you afraid of consequences, are you looking to pat yourself on the back, are you concerned about the effects of your actions upon others, are you looking for some kind of benefit or blessing, or are you being drawn or driven by something else altogether?



If not, we would eat every apple in the basket. Nevertheless, it is "good" to have "bad" so we can exercise our ability to choose.



Practice constant thought of others and how we might help meet their needs.

I want to be a good person but I am always wanting to pick fights and have issues with people and piss them off when they aren't good. I know the only solution to that is, don't do it at all and move on and don't bother with those people but I feel I can't help it. I am always thinking about it even if I don't do anything. My old enemies I careless about.

I have done the effort to be nice but people don't always appreciate it. Same as when I try and do PM chat and people stop responding which is annoying unless I had no questions asked. Then I figure that person had nothing to say to what I wrote.

I feel to be a good person you need to examine your values and principles. Find out what really motivates you. Then stand behind those values and principles.

But just don't grab some blanket motivational teaching on what it means to be good. Do what they call a 'why' chain... keep asking "Why?" until you can't answer why anymore.

With knowledge and understanding comes control. If you want to be a good person, you need to be able to control how to act at what life tosses at you. If there are times you loose control, you need to examine what triggers it and work on ways to correct it.

I remember a conversation like this on "friends" where Pheobe wouldn't believe that they was no such thing as a selfless act. I be;ive that is true.

That is true.. and you may find short term pleasure in kicking the snot out of the cop that pulled you over because you were going 3 mph over the speed limit.. but it would not be in your long term self-interest.

No, that just makes you a driven, motivated person, not necessarily a good person. History is full of people who were totally bad, yet absolutely stood up for their values and principles regardless of the damage they caused.

Planet earth would be in a better state if we humans stopped inflicting our dubious 'values and principles' on all and sundry.

"Being good" is complex, because it's a relative term that can't be objectively measured and what's good for one may be bad for another.

I did not say to force ones values and principles on other people... I said one need to know what motivates them, and if they are the values and principles they believe in.. stand behind them.

We do need certain parameters for society to function, so there are some that are agreed upon. The majority of our laws protect people, yet there are some that are used to force the will of a select few on the population as a whole. Our system has flaws, but overall it works.

When it comes to the some of the 'religious' nuts out there, they stop the 'why' chain at "Because that's what the Bible says". But if one researches the whys of the time when the OT & NT was written, you would find that much of it was sound health & legal advise (that may or may not apply to modern times).

We live in a cause and effect world. The more a person understands that relationship, the better they can act to benefit society.