How I use moral precepts

Cover by John R. Neill, 1916

"Now, I think that is neatly put, and shows the author to be a deep thinker. But the advice that has impressed me the most is in the following paragraph: 'You may not find it as Pleasant to be Good as it is to be Bad, but Other People will find it more Pleasant.' Haw-hoo-ho! keek-eek! 'Other people will find it more pleasant!'—hee, hee, heek, keek!—'more pleasant.' Dear me—dear me! Therein lies a noble incentive to be good, and whenever I get time I'm surely going to try it."

- King Rinkitink, reading a parchment entitled "How to be Good," in Rinkitink of Oz, by L. Frank Baum

My moral precepts come mostly from Baha'i writings. It looks to me like the way I use them most often is by saying them to myself, and sometimes reading them. I like what I see and imagine it doing to me, and for me, when I say them to myself. For example, I see that sometimes it helps put me in the right spirit for something I want to do; sometimes it inspires, encourages and strengthens me to be the way I want to be and do what I want to do; and sometimes it gives me moral support in the face of scorn and contempt for my values. I imagine that it also helps me in other ways, in trying to be the best person I can be and do all the good I can do.

Another way I use them is for ideas about ways to improve my character and conduct, and to help improve the world.

Another way I use them is saying them to other people sometimes, when I think they might have some good use for them.