Never act under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings.by Parker on TwosNever act under compulsion, out of selfishness, without forethought, with misgivings.Never regard something as doing you good if it makes you betray a trust, or makes you show hatred, suspicion, or ill will, or a desire for things best done behind closed doors.Your ability to control your thoughts protects your mind from false perceptions and makes thoughtfulness possible.Each of us lives only now, this brief instant.Nothing is so conducive to spiritual growth as this capacity for logical and accurate analysis of everything that happens to us.So in each case you need to say: “This is due to God.” Or: “This is due to the interweaving of fate, to coincidence or chance.” Or: “This is due to a human being. Someone of the same race, the same birth, the same society, but who doesn’t know what nature requires of him. But I do. And so I’ll treat them as the law that binds us—the law of nature—requires. With kindness and with justice. And in inconsequential things? I’ll do my best to treat them as they deserve.”If you do the job in a principled way, with diligence, energy and patience, if you keep yourself free of distractions, and keep the spirit inside you undamaged, as if you might have to give it back at any moment— If you can embrace this without fear or expectation—can find fulfillment in what you’re doing now, as Nature intended, and in superhuman truthfulness—then your life will be happy.In everything you do, even the smallest thing, remember the chain that links them.Stop drifting. Sprint for the finish. Write off your hopes, and if your well-being matters to you, be your own savior while you can.Turn obstacles into fuel.No random actions, none not based on underlying principles.Nowhere you can go is more peaceful—more free of interruptions—than your own soul.Rational beings exist for one another.Doing what’s right sometimes requires patience.No one does the wrong thing deliberately.Keep your mouth shut.Is it your reputation that’s bothering you? Look at how soon we’re all forgotten.Above all, no strain and no stress. Be straightforward. Look at things like a man, like a human being, like a citizen, like a mortal.Things have no hold on the soul. They stand there unmoving, outside it. Disturbance comes only from within—from our own perceptions.“The world is nothing but change. Our life is only perception.”Choose not to be harmed—and you won’t feel harmed. Don’t feel harmed—and you haven’t been.Every event is the right one. Look closely and you’ll see.Keep goodness in everything you do. It defines a good person.Use your mind.