After reading the Tao of Pooh and studying Asian Philosophy in college, I started to wonder how and I others could start embracing the principles of tao in our lives. Could we come to truly enjoy life, and take the world for what it is, or must we continue to be troubled by our materialistic world around us.

Embrace Life. What could be a simpler principle then that? Yet, it seems us humans are too busy with our lives to simply enjoy the beauty around us. We get caught with the evil of the world around us, and forget about the good that is also happening in the world around us.

Keep It Simple. It's easy to make our lives complex with all the material things we can get. When it seems cheap, it seems that we must have it. Gadgets seem fun, until they make our lives unnecessarily complex. We should learn to embrace the values of simplicity.

Look Towards Harmony. It's easy to find conflict in our society. It's often much more difficult to find a agreement. We should look for ways that we can all agree on, and for the simple things that seem to work without human interference.

Flow Naturally. We should try to allow things to flow the way want, and stop trying to engineer each and every part of life. We should not be without direction, but instead should stop trying to control everything in our world, particularly things that we understand relatively poorly.

Focus on the Macro. It's easy to focus on the small things in life and miss out on the big picture. Yet, while details may be of importance right at the moment, details only exist for the bigger picture. When we stop fixating on all the small parts of life, we will be much happier.

Knowing you Limitations. It's easy to believe you know everything and can do everything. Yet, it's also important to also be realistic at what you can do and not try to do things that you can't realistically do. When you live for yourself, you will be much happier.

These principles are not easy to reach in our modern world that largely repudiates such ideas. Yet much like the taoists of another era, there is much we could learn from such advice. When we follow such ideas, we will live much better lives and be much happier.