- Harm none, do what you will. In all your endeavors you’ve the right to act on your will or nature so long as you do no harm to others.
- Everything is a choice, every moment, every breath. Choose carefully and be aware of the consequences.
- Abide the law of reciprocity or do unto others as you want done to you. All things will be returned three times, right or wrong.
- Be an optimist not a pessimist. There is good in everyone and everything. Sometimes it’s just hard to see, doubly so if you’re always looking in the dark.
- Don’t be afraid, live this life to it’s fullest. You’ll have many more lives to live after this one.
- Have Courage. This means doing what you believe is right (physically if required), or refusing to do what you believe is wrong, even when other people laugh at you and your friends won’t support your choices. Courage is not bravery or lack of fear. It is being afraid and still doing the right thing. Knowing when to step into the fire is just as important as the stepping itself. There’s a fine line between bravery and fool-heartedness. Courage is the virtue that gives you the “heart” to do the best you can to defend others and to do what’s right.
- Be Honest. Don’t tell lies to anyone including yourself. Don’t lie by omission or by not telling the whole story or not speaking at all. Don’t justify your untruths… the truth hurts but it is better than weaving a web of lies that spiral out of control. Recognize that there may be more than one truth. The sky is blue, the sky is black. Both are true depending what time it is. It is not important for you to prove that something is true if you know it to be so – some people just need more time to see things.
- Have Honor. Your personal sense of honor is your commitment to live by the standards you believe should earn you respect from others. Don’t make promises you can’t or won’t keep. Don’t be disloyal or dishonest. Exhibit the virtues that you believe in and others will have respect for you. If you act with courage, tell the truth, are loyal to others, behave with discipline, are hospitable and industrious, rely on yourself to accomplish things, and persevere until you finish what you set out to do, you will certainly command honor from others. More important, if you live that way, you can honor and respect yourself as well and never need to be ashamed of what you have done.
- Practice Fidelity. Be faithful to your beliefs and ethics. Be faithful and loyal to your family and friends. If you are in a monogamous relationship this means being faithful to your partner and not violating that trust by being with others. Or, if you make a promise to a friend or family member – you keep that promise. You never make promises that you cannot keep. It also means being faithful to your beliefs and not dismissing them to fit in or be accepted by a peer group, employer, or situation. It means not doing the wrong things because they are easier than the doing the right things.
- Be Disciplined. In all that you do practice makes perfect. The trick in practicing discipline is to choose to learn and practice patterns that make you or your life better so that the end result is worth any trouble the process may create. The most important discipline you practice is self-discipline. That is, you decide you want to match a pattern and then you keep working at making the pattern a part of how you live until it is part of your character.
- Be Hospitable. We survive together or not at all. Humans survive by helping each other and that, in a way, all humans are part of the same family. You practice hospitality when you treat other people like they are your family, with kindness and respect. Help your neighbors, friends and family. Be courteous, generous & kind in all that you do with everyone you come in contact with.
- Be Self-reliant. There’s an old adage that states: God helps those who help themselves. Be independent, take responsibility for your actions – good or bad, earn things on your own to learn their true value. It’s okay to ask for help when you need it but don’t be lazy – do all that you can do on your own first. When you have made yourself into a person that doesn’t need to depend on others you will truly be free since you will be the one solely responsible for your circumstances.
- Be Industrious. Do more than the minimum to get by. If you have a job, task duty, or even something fun – you should always do the very best you know how, and take pride in doing it right, whether or not other people notice that you did more than you had to. If someone asks you to something, and you accept responsibility for it, they should be able to count on you to complete it and to do it on time and to meet the standards they set. This also applies in a bigger sense to being a benefit and contributor to your community.
- Persevere. Try, try again! Never give up! If you fall, get up, brush yourself off and go at it again! The one true thing about winners is that they all tried. If you fail sometimes, that’s okay too. It’s the people who fail and get past their failure that really succeed in life.
Be Honorable and Praiseworthy:
- Be generous & gift often
- Do all things in moderation
- Remain loyal to family, country, & your faith
- Be courageous & brave
- Seek out good over evil
- Be Hospitable & Courteous
- Teach & practice Tolerance & Acceptance of all
- Pursue wisdom & knowledge
- Defend freedom
- Be Industrious (and a benefit to your community)
- Be Vigilant
- Protect, nurture and be considerate of family
- Show respect for elders
- Be Loyal to friends and family
- Keep your promises
- Honor your commitments
- Refrain from mockery
- Refrain from arrogance
- Put Family, Honor & Justice before all else
- Practice good hygiene (Cleanliness is next to godliness)
- Maintain your dignity in all situations
- Good organization is a benefit to you and a reflection on you
- Be persistent – never give up!
- Follow the rule of law
- Fight fair, win or lose with honor and humility, respect your opponent
- Respect the dead
- Do not strike without reason, avoid violence when diplomacy will do
- Do not abuse your power
Some more thoughts…
- Treat the Earth and all that dwell theron with respect, I do not believe that we [humans] have dominion over animals or plants. In other words, we need to live with the Earth and all things on it it and not just live ON the the Earth.
- Show great respect for those who earn it and respect you in kind. I don’t believe that all persons demand respect as there are some very evil people in the world.
- Work together for the benefit of all mankind and dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good. In other words, the needs of the many outwiegh the needs of the few.
- Give assistance and kindness wherever, whenever and to whomever needs it. Altruism is not dead, I believe being kind and generous is it own reward.
- Do what you know to be right even if those around you disagree. At the end of the day it is your conscience that needs to be answered not others.
- Be truthful and honest at all times. I can’t stress this enough… dishonesty is the catalyst of so many evil deeds. Or… you don’t need to lie if there’s nothing to lie about!
- Take full responsibility for your actions – even if it results in punishment. Better to face and pay for your actions then have to be dishonest (see above).
- Knowledge is your greatest ally. What we do not understand we fear and what we fear we oftimes try to destroy. Be a source of truth and creation in the world not one of ignorance, fear-mongering and destruction.
And in no particular order…
- The conclusion is always the same: Love is the most powerful and still the most unknown energy of the world. ~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin
- With a stout heart, a mouse can lift an elephant. ~ Tibetan proverb
- One should pay attention to even the smallest crawling creature for these too may have a valuable lesson to teach us. ~ Black Elk
- Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. ~ Nelson Mandela
- Give me knowledge, so I may have kindness for all. ~ Native American (Plains) Proverb
- In the end, we will conserve only what we love. We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught. ~ Baba Dioum
- No face which we can give to a matter will stead us so well at last as the truth. …Say what you have to say, not what you ought. Any truth is better than make-believe. ~ Henry David Thoreau
- You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
- Remember not only to say the right thing in the right place, but far more difficult still, to leave unsaid the wrong thing in the tempting place. ~ Benjamin Franklin
- It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope; and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance. ~ Robert F. Kennedy