Have a clear sense of priorities. Often we don't know what is important to us, and because of this, we will go, at times, against our ethics. Sometimes the reason we do this is because we don't want conflict with others. We want to be liked, we want to be approved of, and we get caught in these eight worldly dhammas. But if we understand what is our priority in life, then we have more courage to keep to wise principles, and good morality.
We understand that, in the end, we receive the results of all our intentions. So by increasing our compassion for ourselves, having a clear sense of wise principles, and having the courage to live by them, we will be able to protect ourselves from making negative Kamma.
But if we value friends over our principles, if we value money over our principles, if we value family over our principles, it's so difficult to live up to our principles because we don't value them enough, and we don't value our good Kamma enough. Then it's so difficult to have the courage to be different.
To have a clear sense of principles, make the Dhamma the number one priority and mold your life around that. Steve and I have a saying, "Put Dhamma number one". In the Dhamma there is a very clear set of principles. So we don't have to go searching around for what is important, we understand what is important, if we've made the Dhamma the most important in our life. When we've made the Dhamma the most important in our life, and we're able to be truthful, we are able to keep to these Five Precepts.
Even if other people don't like it, we are able to refrain from joining in things that normally could cause suffering for other beings, because we have made our principles the most important, understanding that we may die tomorrow, and that we will receive the results of our own Kamma.