REBT advocates many values for successful living. Here are some of the main ones. The first two are survival and happiness. The others are recognized because we believe they serve to enhance and promote the first two.
Survival.
We teach people to work for their survival. This includes taking action to preserve and promote good health. It’s wise to challenge any of your thoughts, motives and behaviors that may lead you to care little for your own existence.
Happiness.
Enjoying yourself is second in importance to survival. We do not prescribe specific activities that lead to happiness because we recognize people are very different in how they enjoy themselves. Rationally seeking happiness usually includes discovering activities you like with a focus on long-term happiness.
Self-acceptance.
Self-acceptance is when you acknowledge your existence and that you want to continue to survive and live happily. People usually rate themselves by putting themselves up or down. We recommend you simply acknowledge your existence, rate your behavior – how you are doing – without giving yourself any rating as a human what-so-ever.
Tolerance of others.
Accept that other people are fallible. Merely acknowledging their mistakes without damning them will allow you to deal better with their bad behavior and will give you less misery.
Hard work.
Work is necessary for the accomplishment of nearly all lasting change. We may want to act differently, but wanting is not enough for us to have what we want. Hard work is usually required.
Scientific thinking.
Science entails sound logic and the seeking of evidence to support beliefs. In REBT, we recognize that humans often use poor logic and hold to beliefs that can be shown to have no support in reality, and that these beliefs often hinder us. By learning to think more sensibly, we believe that people can do better at achieving their goals.