Core Principles
The principles outlined here are the general guidelines for putting the philosophy of YourOwnDoorStep.com into action in your life. They aren’t hard and fast rules. They’re suggestions for places to start.
- Try to live consciously. This has a lot to do with paying attention to ourselves, to our environment and to how we live. It also has to do with self honesty and accepting ourselves for who and what we are right now while still seeing and striving to reach our potential.
- Try to live a more sustainable life. Generally speaking, we are living sustainably if the resources we need are renewed faster than we consume them. The more room we create between our resource consumption and the limits of our resources, the more sustainably we are living. Sounds complicated but it’s actually pretty simple.
- Try to live genuinely and with sincerity. When we try to be something we’re not or we are insincere, we’re forced to maintain a false image of ourselves. What’s worse is that eventually we may start believing that false image is real. Life is easier and more enjoyable when we live it as ourselves.
- Try to simplify. It sounds obvious, but our lives will be less complicated we try to simplify them a bit. The goal is a happier, roomier life not more stress so try one small change at a time. You might be surprised at how easy this can be.
- Work to improve yourself constantly. As with anything else, small changes add up quickly and give the best chance of success. The intention and the process are more important than the specific results.
- Respect the environment. We don’t need to be “environmentalists”, we just need to try to be a little more conscious of our actions and to do what we can, within reason, to reduce the negative impact our lives have on our planet and its inhabitants.
- Practice something. It doesn’t matter what it is as long as you can never perfect it. Whether it’s music, painting, martial arts, computer programming or anything else you enjoy, there’s tremendous value in working towards perfecting something that can’t be perfected. It’s the process not the result that’s of value.
- Make changes a little bit at a time. We’re more likely to succeed and see a lasting effect if we make one or two small and relatively convenient changes at a time. Over time, a series of small, well-chosen changes can add up to something pretty big – something way too big to be achieved by tackling it directly.
- Moderation is important. When we go to extremes we’re less likely to stick with it. This is partly because being extreme requires a lot of energy and partly because anything extreme tends to be driven by emotions – which change. This one isn’t just about action though, it’s also about attitude. Nobody wins when we’re militant or preachy.
- Try to maintain a clear, positive vision. Life and the universe seem to give us what we focus on and what we expect without doubt. Many of us are just so scattered that we don’t have a clear and persistent vision of what we want so we don’t get consistent results. There’s nothing mystical about this. It’s just common sense.
Putting this many principles to work in our life is not an easy thing. They each take work and they each have enough breadth and depth to keep us busy for a long long time.
If they interest you it might be easiest to choose one or two of them and try to work them into your daily life in some small way that doesn’t require a lot of effort or any drastic changes.
If these particular principles don’t resonate with you, maybe try to come up with some that work for you. It’s the spirit, intention and positive action that matter, not the details.
When enough of us are trying and focusing on good things, larger changes will happen. Every little bit helps, and that’s really what it’s about.
