In the words of Lao Tzu “The sage does not hoard. The more he does for others,

the more he has. The more he thereby gives to others, the ever more he gets.”

To live according to Tao, you must live in harmony with everything around you, your community,

nature, and with the universe on a larger scale. Living in harmony means to do no harm and,

moreover, to nurture, protect and contribute to the well-being of everything around you.

As we all humans are part of this universe, we have to see others as our extended family,

we have to take care of each other. In Taoism, there is a karmic principle,

which says that everything you do, will eventually come back to you in one way or another. Thus,

if we care about others, if we give our help and support, these good deeds will come back to us in

the end, we will receive back even more care, love and support. On the contrary, if we hurt other

people and the environment, we are not acting in harmony with human society, with the universe and

the harm we did to others will harm us even more in the end. The moral is that everything you do

to others or to the environment is a seed of everything that will be done to you later.

No person is an island and being happy has much to do with the relationship between you

and what surrounds you. There are many scientific studies proving the importance of having a healthy

social life for example – a Harvard study on adult development found that good relationships are the

key factors that matter the most for long-lasting happiness. Good relationships keep us happier and

healthier. One of the most important ways to achieve a life long happiness is to focus on

meaningful relationships and on trying to improve or eliminate the bad relationships in our lives.

To really start to implement this Taoist way of living, as an exercise, make three lists: a list

with your family members and close friends, then another list with people you have hurt and finally

a third list with people who have hurt you. The first list is the list of people you should take

care of on a daily basis, give them comfort and support them always, in both the good and bad

times. The second list is the list of people you should apologize to and try to repair the harm

you caused them. The last list is the list of people you must forgive, because resentment is

a poison and it can cause more harm to you than to the person who harmed you. All human beings are

part of this cosmic force, Tao, and the way we treat each other is basically the way we treat

ourselves. Live in harmony with others, take care of others as you take care of yourself or of a

family member, take care of your environment and your life will become harmonious and peaceful.