Keep your word. Do not make promises that you cannot or will not keep. Be reliable; say what you think and mean, and do what you say you will do. You do not have to say anything, but make sure what you do say is true and benefits humanity.

            Speak out against injustices; when someone’s right is violated, nobody’s right is secure. Let your silence not be interpreted as agreement with the violator. A society that does not protect the rights of its weaker sections does not augur well for humanity. Agree to disagree in an agreeable way. You have the same right as everyone else to express your views.

            Do not be opportunistic and sacrifice principles and long-term goals for immediate or short-term gains. Bad means never justifies a good end.

            Give more, expect less. Disappointment also will be less. Desiring more than what can be attained leads to unhappiness. So be realistic. Limit your unhappiness by desiring just about what can be achieved. In this regard Buddha’s eight-fold path consisting of right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concentration leading to wisdom, ethical conduct, and mental development is highly practical and extremely useful.

            Any relationship is enjoyable as well as difficult; the more intense the relationship the more intense the bi-polar emotions of immense joy and immense pain can be. So fasten your seat-belt for a thrilling roller-coaster ride of ecstatic intimacy and nearly unbearable, consuming pain. Men do not think women understand and appreciate them, and give them due credit; women do not think men understand and appreciate them, and give them due credit. Yet no relationship can substitute the complimentary bonding fusion of a man and a woman united in love and marriage. So let all relationships float in the vast ocean of boundless freedom and deep respect soothed and buffeted, attracted and repelled by the entire range of waves of human emotions.

            Have a positive outlook on life and a grateful attitude; be willing to meet the other person more than half way. Be brave enough to admit your mistakes. Be the first to mend broken relationships and initiate the process of reconciliation.

            Finally surrender yourself completely to the cosmic consciousness or the “ground of your being” or the totality of existence. You will be rudely beaten up and bruised by some, smothered by love and respect by most. Do not lose the pizzazz. But above all live your one life that you know you have to the full, being fully aware that you can live only in the here and now of your existence. Yesterday is gone forever; tomorrow never comes; and today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday. So brother, sister, get inebriated with the cosmic consciousness all ‘todays’ of your lives. We are all one. We are in the One. We are all same in the One. We are all sparks of the same consciousness.

            It is of paramount importance to acquire the knowledge, skills, and the wisdom necessary to take care of the body, mind, spirit, and the soul in the best way possible in a very difficult, complex, pluralistic, and multi-cultural, consumer society driven primarily by a diversified economic system. Kindly also refer to the 12 principles of Holistic Living in my website: eastwestawakening.org for further elaboration and explanation.