Many years ago I came up with a list of principles by which I wanted to live my life. They are not original as spiritual or psychological teachings. They can be found in one form or another in many traditions around the world. These are just the way I put them. The principles of "ordinary life," as I call them are eleven in number. Here they are:

1. We suffer from wanting to be one-up on life.
2. There is no life in negativity.
3. We have a moral obligation to be happy.
4. Our relationship to life's difficulties belongs to us.
5. We are what we think.
6. Life is wonderful.
7. Love is what changes the course of our world.
8. The fundamental purpose of life is emotional and spiritual growth.
9. There is only the present.
10. We get what we give.
11. We are 100% responsible for our lives.

Recently the Rev. Stephanie Warfield spoke to the weekly gathering Ordinary Life and spoke to the subject of our moral obligation to be happy. Since this is the principle I've had the most "push-back" about, I thought that I would post here the text and the audio of her talk. I'm also posting it because those who originally heard it gave it such a positive response. It will, I promise, be worth your time and energy to read it.

Here is a link to the text of the talk.

If you would like to listen to the talk.