The Eight Fold Path of The Buddha
Wisdom
(1) skillful view
(2) skillful intention
Behaviors
(3) skillful speech
(4) skillful action
(5) skillful livelihood
Inner Development
(6) skillful effort
(7) skillful mindfulness
(8) skillful concentration
Skillful View
Change is possible. You can build a better life. If there is discontent or suffering in your life right now, you can get to a place where you have less of that. You can get to a place where you have more happiness; where you have a better life. What is being said here is exactly the same as what is articulated by the four noble truths. You can change. Change is possible.
Skillful Intention
To change, you have to want to change. Welcome to "Change Club." The first rule of Change Club is that you have to want to change. The second rule of Change Club is that change means change. The more you cultivate change, the more you set the intention to change, the more you facilitate and accelerate change. Set the intention to change. Set the intention to walk the path of personal growth. Set the intention to stop causing harm to yourself and others. Set the intention to stop choosing the unskillful. Set the intention to release that which is unskillful. Set the intention to cultivate that which is skillful - that which increases happiness, and decreases suffering, for yourself and others.
Skillful Speech
Be kind with your words. Be skillful with your words. Speak words which increase happiness, and decrease suffering, for yourself and others.
Skillful Action
Choose actions which increase happiness, and decrease suffering, for yourself and others.
Skillful Livelihood
Choose an occupation which increases happiness, and decreases suffering, for yourself and others.
Skillful Effort
Life takes effort. Put in the effort. Eat well. Exercise. Cultivate quality relationships. Rest well. A garden untended goes to weed. A garden well-tended grows a bountiful crop. Tend the garden which is your life. Plant and cultivate skillful seeds. Put in effort. Enjoy the effort. Work to build a wonderful life and you will realize a bountiful harvest.
Skillful Mindfulness
"The first rule," as Marcus Aurelius tells us, "is to maintain a calm spirit. The second rule is to look things in the face and know them for what they are." Ask to become conscious of that which is unconscious. Cultivate intimacy with yourself. Get to know who you are. Face your fears. "Until you make the unconscious, conscious," Carl Jung tells us, "it will direct your life and you will call it fate." Who are you really? We must ask this great question, "Who am I?" Seek an answer. What is this existence into which you have been born? There is discontent. Get to know that discontent. There is impermanence. Get to know that impermanence. Learn to rest in the impermanence. The discovery of self is a continual process. Get to know that process. Learn to rest in that process.
Skillful Concentration
Spend your time on that which is skillful, and not on that which is unskillful. Spend your time on that which increases happiness, and decreases suffering, for yourself and others. Cultivate the skill of focus. Practice the skill of focus.
Conclusion
If you do these things, they will help you build a more skillful life. Ask the forces at work which are beyond your understanding to help you, guide you, and show you what you need to see so that you can learn, grow, become more skillful, and be happier. Ask your ancestors to help you. Ask others to help you. Seek out help, welcome help, and help others.