In a recent article by Meghan Casserly titled, "Why Your Principles Might Be Holding You Back" she uplifts author Danielle LaPorte's (currently the top-seller in three Amazon categories: Success, Motivational and Entrepreneurship) attitude that principles should not be important enough to hold on to. She tells the story of buying her friend, who is out of work at the time, a beer and over the conversation, ridicules him for sticking to his principles. I would like to not be thought of as an idealist if I stuck to my principles, for our principles are what give our lives direction. By not being true to our principles, we can sometimes feel alone, lost and depressed. Researchers have found genes linked to depression. While there is much to be learned from depression research, there is work being done to diagnose depression with a simple blood test.

Our minds function on the principle of moral standards or spirituality. "We have found a neuropsychological basis for spirituality, but it's not isolated to one specific area of the brain," said Brick Johnstone, professor of health psychology in the School of Health Professions "Neuropsychology researchers consistently have shown that impairment on the right side of the brain decreases one's focus on the self," Johnstone said. "Since our research shows that people with this impairment are more spiritual, this suggests spiritual experiences are associated with a decreased focus on the self. This is consistent with many religious texts that suggest people should concentrate on the well-being of others rather than on themselves." Consider the Sermon on the Mount, in which Jesus talks about being freed from the moral corruption that have plagued history. What would our history be like if instead of saying, "Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth", He said, "Blessed is thy paycheck, for it will pay your rent." This seems to shout very loudly that our society is getting way to caught up in the me-first mentally and leaving principles by the wayside.

However, recent studies have shown that we can change our brain to enhance our principles, leading to happiness. Practices like physical exercise, certain forms of psychological counseling and meditation can all change brains for the better. We can also learn to focus on helping others which will help us focus on our principles. By learning to love others as we love ourselves, we align our principles with the greater picture and find our place in this world.