Therefore, it is very important in every relationship both personal and professional, to be aware of the values you hold and to protect those values by also observing the values in others. Not the values they claim by word, but the values they show in deed. And, if you happen to find those values are inconsistent or incompatible with your own, to disengage, the earlier the better. This is an important principle of Self-Defense because it is also a principle of Self-Protection or Self-Preservation. It is a principle that will not be followed if you do not value the principle of self. If you do not see the self as worthy of protection, you will hardly think it important to take the actions to protect the values that you hold. In this case, I do not see how any level of happiness is possible whether you believe in the state or the moment of happiness. For, that happiness will be in the unenviable, vulnerable, and precarious place of disturbance, thwarted by those closest to you for reasons that are well within your control, but that too may be completely unbeknownst to you.
