How Does One Define a Good Life

“We are not given a good life or a bad life. We are given a life. It’s up to us to make it good or bad.”

Humankind has been asking for millennia what a good life consists of and how to achieve a good life. A good life can be defined in many ways. This post will discuss what a good life may entail, ways to measure a good life, and my thoughts about how I will know if I am living a good life. What constitutes a good life for one person may not be a good life for another. Therefore, it is up to each individual to decide what a good life is for them.

What is a Good Life

There is no set definition for what a good life is. However, if I were to define a good life, then I would say a good life is a life that has its basic needs, such as shelter, clean water, food, access to healthcare, financial independence, community, and happiness.

Additionally, values, morals, goals, and respecting others all contribute to a good life too. Without them, you can be led down a destructive path in life that takes away from your life instead of adding value to it.

For example, two of the moral codes I follow are not to judge others and to forgive, as I, too, make many mistakes in life. If I need to speak up on a situation, then I can do so without casting judgment, and I can set healthy boundaries. Sometimes, I do waver, which is why I also follow forgiving myself and others.

These two codes add a guide for me to follow and bring understanding and compassion into my life, which adds love and happiness, contributing to what I understand as a good life.

Ways to Measure a Good Life

There are many ways we can measure a good life. However, I will focus on three fundamental ethical theories that can help us determine if we are living a good life: deontological ethics, consequential ethics, and virtue ethics.

Deontological ethics are rule-based, consequential ethics are based on the outcome of one’s actions, and virtue ethics is about becoming a better person. While I do follow some of the methods in each of these, I mainly use virtue ethics and strive to become a better person by using the mistakes of my past to change my behavior to align with the highest version of myself.

The textbook, The Fundamentals of Ethics states, “According to virtue ethicists, actions aren’t right because of their results or because they follow some hard-and-fast rule. Rather, they are right because someone of true virtue would do them” (Shafer-Landau, 2020, p. 273).

I have a child, and I fully believe in setting an example and taking the lead to show him how to succeed in life so he, too, can achieve a good life. The way I measure a good life is by taking a look at my actions and seeing if they align with my beliefs. Usually, if I am not aligned with my beliefs, I feel on edge and untrue to myself, which causes unhappiness. I use how I am feeling and then find a way to bring back balance into my life.

How Will I Know I Am Living a Good Life

I will know I am living a good life by how I feel physically, mentally, and emotionally and by analyzing where I am in life. I will ask the question, “Will this outcome be for my betterment and growth?”

Additionally, I will know I am living a good life through my child’s stability, happiness, and growth in life. It will show I set an excellent example for him and led the way for him to thrive in life. When things are not going well, I can find my way back to a good life by following my own inner moral compass.

Conclusion

A good life cannot be defined by one person alone. It is up to each individual to decide what contributes to their idea of a good life. There are many different ways to measure a good life and follow certain guidelines that align with what each person believes, such as deontological ethics, consequential ethics, and virtue ethics.

What one person thinks a good life is may not mean that it is a good life for another person. A good or bad life is self-created by what we believe and follow in our daily lives.

So, how do you define what a good life is? Comment below :)

References

Shafer-Landau, R. (2020). The Fundamentals of Ethics (5th ed.). Oxford University Press Academic US. https://yuzu.vitalsource.com/books/9780190058326 