She divides the book up into months of the year, with a theme for each month, and several ideas for each theme. October's theme is Pay Attention, and one of the ideas is "Examine True Rules". She writes: "Instead of walking through life on autopilot, I wanted to question the assumptions I made without noticing. ... I had my own idiosyncratic collection of principles - which I called True Rules - for making decisions and setting priorities."
And this made me wonder about what my own True Rules might be. After a little thought, I have come up with the following list (in no particular order):
- There is always enough time.
- Appreciate what you have.
- Always say 'please' and 'thank you'.
- Be open to new thoughts and ideas.
- Get some exercise every day.
- Never forget to say 'I love you' to the people you love.
- Life is too short to spend doing things you dislike, unless you absolutely *have* to.
- Do some writing every day.
- Live with integrity - be yourself.
- Always have a book on the go.
This seemingly arbitrary collection of principles actually has a huge influence on the way I live my life. I was also interested to reflect on where they had come from - a couple from my parents; one from a guided meditation session many years ago; and others from religious and spiritual books I had read, or people I had encountered. I wrote the list quite quickly, without thinking about it too much, but having slept on it overnight, and now re-reading them, I stand by them. They work for me.
Everybody's True Rules will be different. What are yours?
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