Simple, Yet Effective Life Advice

"Primum non nocere" (First, do no harm).
 

1. Give unconditional love and respect to everyone you interact with. This will be reciprocated to you.

2. Remember to respect yourself.
 

3. Be kind and compassionate.
 

4. Listen with your complete attention to what someone is saying and seek to understand them from their point of view. Let go of the filter of your opinions or judgments.
 

5. If you make promises, keep them. Don’t make any you can’t keep.
 

6. Clarify your expectations and stay on the same page as the other person.
 

7. Develop a mentality of abundance: there is plenty for everyone.
 

8. Be kind, be generous; do no harm to any living being. Be true to yourself! Make time and space for creative expression. Your actions are like seeds, of which you will reap the crop.

-Michael Mackintosh, Co-founder of Success Ultra Now

Karma: The Good, The Bad, and What You Can Do About It

So far in my life, one of the things that I’ve learned I can be certain about is the existance of karma. There’s been so many instances that I’ve experienced by now, both big and small, that even the most hardpressed skeptics would be forced to stand down and agree that it’s most likely real. It’s just way beyond coincidence by this point. I’ve found that even having to kill a bug or insect (one of the thing’s I’ve vowed to never do again) resulted in several small bad things happening to me over the rest of the day. And oppositely, doing good and positive things for people, animals, the world, etc. results in good things and experiences. I’m not saying that doing good things and being a good person will help you to win the lottery and become a millionaire, but you can certaintly expect peace and things that will make your life atleast a little bit easier and better. And over time, perhaps some big good things as well.

So if karma is in fact a universal law that no one is exempt from, what would you choose to do with that newly found information? Hopefully you’d let it inspire you to live your life in a more positive and caring way. If you live a life that consists of a lot of bad things and experiences happening to you, that might mean that you’re stuck in the negative wheel of karma. Focus on the things you say and the actions you take. If you can recall getting caught up in negative behaviors, that could explain a lot. All you have to do is shift your behaviors and intentions to more positive and helpful ways. Find the strength and willpower to never say or do bad things to anyone. That can be tough at first for some, especially if negativity has become a habit in your life, but you’ll be surprised to see how quick that actions of good and kindness can become habit as well.

I understand that there’s tons of influences in the world that condone and inspire negative behavior, especially the mainstream media promoting all of their corruption. As well as lots of other people caught up in negative behaviors and actions, and sometimes, people can be inspired by their peers in those circumstances unfortunately. So the most important thing becomes rising above all of that, commiting yourself to goodness and grace, and not caring if others have any kind of a problem with that.

In conclusion, if you live your life based on negative intentions, behaviors, and actions, you can expect negative things to happen to you and your life as a result. Little by little (or quickly and big in some instances), things will happen that will make your life harder, add hassles to deal with, and cause unpleasantness in general. I wouldn't call karma a punishment, I think it's just a way for the universe to help you learn and grow. Oppositely, if you shift your attitudes and intentions and base them on positivity, kindness, and being helpful, you’ll see a lot of improvements in your life situations. Good things will come easier, and it’s just much more rewarding in general. Plus, there seems to be a lot of evidence to suggest the possibility of reincarnation, in which your karma gets carried over to any further lives you live. So if you were to devote your present life to negativity, ill treatment of others and the world, etc. then you might be in for a rude awakening in your next life. Something to atleast consider.

Practice Compassion and Kindness

One of the more unfortunate aspects of our society has to deal with the large amounts of disrespect and poor treatment of others that takes place so often. It doesn’t seem to be immune to any age groups, either. It seems like bullying exists even amongst little children that are just barely learning to speak. It also seems like bullying in general is getting more common and intense, especially now that we have things like social media and smart phones. Even people that are more aligned with being good can fall in the trap of judging and hating on others. Even some of the nicest people I’ve known have judged and hated on people behind their backs at one point or another.

 

So what is causing all of this hate and disrespect in not only just our society, but the world as a whole? I’m afraid there aren’t any simple answers. And I’m not going to pretend that I know all of the science and sociological reasoning’s behind it. But I do have some very simple and easy to follow advice on how to stop experiencing those attitudes and actions, if you have them, and how to hopefully inspire others to stop them, if you don’t.

 

I think that the most important step is to gain at least a little bit of spirituality as you walk through this life. Most people are already affiliated with some type of religion and that’s a start, because I’d say that the majority of religions contain parts of their holy scripts that teach people to be kind and loving towards one another. And any church or temple that you attend will most likely have religious officials and leaders promoting those concepts as well. So if you align yourself with any religion and take it seriously, you should feel motivated to follow those parts of the teachings.

 

When you develop a strong sense of spirituality, you’ll learn that the best advice is to love everyone and to respect everything. Try to never judge anyone, no matter how different they are from you. I know there‘s millions of things that make people different from each other and separate us into different groups, but instead of focusing on differences, try to see everyone else as eternal spiritual beings who are also connected to God. Everyone deserves love and respect.

 

There will always be mean people out there unfortunately, and when confronted by them, the best bet is to ignore them and avoid them in the future. Once you are brought down to their level and become mean as well, it only leads to bad karma. So always try to take the high road.

For all the atheists out there, well, just try to find it in your hearts to do the right thing and treat people right at all times. You can use science to look at this issue as well. For example; the brain is such a complex and intricate thing with billions of cells, synapses and all kinds of things doing a trillion things every second. When you say or do bad things to a person, you’re causing a great deal of disharmony to that whole system and it results in pain that can degrade the brain, at least temporarily, but could do long-lasting permanent harm if done enough times. And the resulting hurt feelings could greatly degrade a person’s life if intense enough.

So the question becomes; do you really want to do that kind of harm to someone else? I hope that the answer is no. Otherwise, just try to remember the golden rule. Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Would you want anyone yelling at you, insulting you, spreading rumors about you or doing any other kinds of mean and disrespectful actions towards you? I’d be willing to bet that the answer is no. It would probably cause you hurt and pain. So keep that in mind before ever doing anything bad to anyone and let it motivate you to treat people with kindness and compassion.