The 7th Key to MOGO: Strive for Balance with Your Relationships

When we choose to learn about the effects of our choices (on ourselves, other people, animals, and the environment), and when, as a result of our commitment to learning, we adopt the MOGO principle to do the most good and the least harm in relation to everyone, we inevitably make changes in our lives. We might change our shopping habits, our diet, our recreation and entertainment choices, our work, our parenting, our activism, and more. And our new choices – positive though they may be – may be imposed (to greater and lesser degrees) on our family members, associates, and friends. Or, if not imposed, our choices may certainly impact our loved ones.

It’s one thing to choose to change; it’s another to have unasked for change suddenly thrust upon you. And so, an individual in the process of using the 3 Is (Inquiry, Introspection, and Integrity) to make MOGO choices faces a quandary: How can we live with integrity and respect the different path our loved ones may be on?

In my upcoming book, Most Good, Least Harm: A Simple Principle for a Better World and a Meaningful Life, I describe 7 Keys to MOGO. The last key, and perhaps the one that knits the others together, is “Strive for Balance.” We will face both internal and external challenges in choosing a MOGO life -- one of which is respecting the different perspectives of our friends and family. By compromising, accepting limitations, and striving to find a balance that preserves and strengthens our relationships while making new choices in our lives, we allow ourselves to embody MOGO more fully.

~ Zoe

Image courtesy of Brent and MariLynn.