512.Risk

If you define risk as the likelihood of an irreversible negative outcome, perhaps the greatest risk of all is inaction. As risk is a 4 letter word ending in k, you should be as risk averse as is compatible with progress. Action may not always bring happiness but there is no happiness without it.

262. Self-Sufficiency

Devote yourself to becoming self-reliant and self-sufficient. You must never rely on the external rating of others for your happiness. Remember that Happiness is the journey, not the destination.

Hold yourself in reserve. Be quiet and unassuming without the least desire to show off.

166. Setting Boundaries

When you set boundaries, you keep other people's problems out of your life.This is being responsible and happy rather than being responsible and miserable.Taking responsibility does not automatically lead to misery. By setting your boundaries you are taking responsibility for yourself and teaching others to do the same for themselves.

In the spiritual world, your boundaries are always real but often intangible. They can increase your love and save your life. Such boundaries define your soul and help you to guard and maintain it.

Know your boundaries. Define what is me and what is not me. Know what things you take responsibility for and what things you don't. This gives you freedom and opens up more options for you, more choices.

Learn your parameters (boundaries) and keep them clear in your mind. Do not become confused. Write them down. Remember that you are not responsible for other people. You do not control THEIR behaviour and it is a waste of energy to seek to do so.

"Cast not your pearls before swine." Boundaries keep your pearls inside and the pigs outside. Boundaries guard your heart and your treasures. Your boundaries should have "gates" in them in order to let in the good and let out the bad. You should consciously control the traffic through these gates.

Basic boundary maintenance requires that you clear about your Yes and your No. No is the most powerful tool in your boundary building chest.
No is confrontational.
No sets limits.
No prevents abuse.
No is powerful.
No is used in self-defense,

When asked, do not give reluctantly or under compulsion. Give generously with an open heart or do not give at all.

Your words let people know where you stand. If you do not like the way you are being treated, look at the words you are using. People will treat you the way you teach them to treat you.

52. People are More Important than Things

People are more important than things. Things can always be replaced, people can not. No thing in this world is more important than a person and no thing is ever worth fighting about. Happiness, joy, love, bliss, these are the things that life is all about. When the emphasis shifts from people to things then people become less happy. You can refuse to let any one thing be the cause of your happiness or unhappiness by breaking any attachments you find to objects "out there".