Life Rule #1: If you are simple, the world is simple for you!
A simple life can lead to a happy life. People must be self-sufficient and happy, tolerant, and magnanimous. You can’t think about anything complicated. If your soul is overloaded, you will complain and worry about others. It is necessary to delete the memory on a regular basis and discard the unpleasant people and things from the memory. Life is short, and wealth and status are added. Life does not bring death and does not take away. The simple life is happy and being happy is a simple life.
Life Rule #2: There is no rehearsal in life; every day is a live broadcast!
Occasionally I think, if life is really like a video game, you can choose to start again if you play it badly, what will your life be like? It is precise because the passage of time is gone, and every day cannot be recovered, so we must cherish every inch of time, respect our parents, love children, be considerate of lovers, and be kind to friends.
Life Rule #3: Money isn’t everything; but it can affect everything.
When people say money isn’t everything, they’re right. A good life is not just made up of sound financial health. You also need to pay attention to several other domains of health — physical, mental, social, intellectual, spiritual, and emotional.
But money is still ridiculously important. Wealth, especially liquid wealth, offers security and peace of mind that affects all other domains of health.
Life Rule #4: If life goes in the wrong direction, stopping is progress!
It is always difficult for people to correct their shortcomings, and it is always difficult for people to find their own mistakes. There are many temptations. There will never be a pie in the sky. Don’t pay the painful price for the momentary happiness. If you find something wrong, you must stop.
Life Rule #5: The two tragedies in life: one is to lose all thoughts, the other is to be complacent!
Modern people seem to be particularly vulnerable. Newspapers report that many celebrities are suffering from depression. These people must go from one extreme to another. It is because of my complacency that I firmly believe that I am perfect and omnipotent. If I suffer a little setback, I will become extremely inferior and even lose the courage to continue living. Find an accurate position for yourself and enjoy the joy of life.
Life Rule #6: Life is the same as love. If you miss love, you miss life!
What is love? It makes people confused and confused. When facing love, be brave, and boldly express your love. If you have flowers, you must pick them. People will always be born, old, sick, and die. If you miss love, you miss the splendor of life.
Life Rule #7: Time wasted is lost forever!
You will never get back the time you have wasted. Time goes by and it will never stop or come back. Every second of your life counts and once you grow old you will only have regrets for the things you didn’t do. Manage your time better to avoid feeling regret when you are at your death bed.
Life Rule #8: Nothing is permanent except change!
Take this however you like. Nothing in life is truly forever. Nor the love, nor the struggles. So you need to appreciate every heartwarming moment, every person that makes your life a little brighter, and every accomplishment you achieve on your own. On the other hand, whenever you’re stuck in a loop of painful hard times, have hope that this will not last forever.
Life Rule #9: What you have is exactly what you need!
If you dig a little deeper and take a look at the law of attraction, you will realize that you attract exactly what you deserve. There are no coincidences. Every single person in your life is there for a reason. Besides, everything you’re going through comes with a valuable lesson. All you need to do is to see those lessons and learn from them.
Life Rule #10: Feeling sorry for yourself is not okay, having a compassion is!
A lot of people often think of the two as the one and the same. However, truth it, they are distinctly different.
Feeling sorry for oneself does nothing but makes a person feel weak, pathethic and helpless. While having self-compassion means to accept oneself the way they are, with all the flaws and imperfections included.
In other words, first one will drag you down while the second one will give you strength to keep going. But essentially, the choice is yours to make so which one do you prefer?
Life Rule #11: Others’ perceptions of you is not your responsibility!
Some people will have a distorted, unfavorable image of you. While others will respect, admire and love you for who you are.
But there is only one person who truly knows you – you. You are the only one who is in control of your actions and words. So make sure they are harmoniously aligned with your core moral values and principles.
So do what you believe is the right thing to do without feeling anxious about whether or not others will approve your choices in life.
Life Rule #12: You are not the sum of your experiences and mistakes!
While your experiences and mistakes definitely play a certain role in molding you into who you are, most often than not, it is you who has a say in it whether or not they will define your personhood.
You can always change yourself for the better, even if you faced many hardships and made lots of mistakes throughout your life. Remember that as long as you do your best, you can find the power within you to rise above them and mold yourself into the shape you designed for yourself.
Life Rule #13: Life never gives you vacations!
We should always keep this in mind that there is no vacation from life. We usually spend our days all tighten up and think that someday we’ll relax and unwind ourself, but the truth is, the day is never going to come.
Life Rule #14: Life is short, don’t take it too seriously!
We should learn to keep up with play and work simultaneously. This will help to never burn out and keep us from being too stressed to enjoy the day.
Life Rule #15: Be patient in everything you do!
Never rush. A person can solve his problems better by sitting back and waiting rather than being panicky and hurrying. Nothing is too urgent; patience pays, simply put.
Life Rule #16: You only control your response!
Most of what we see in the world is outside of your control. There is very little that we can control. I can’t control what politicians say or do, but I can control how I respond. I can choose to be outraged or I can channel my concern in a more meaningful manner. Your quality of life will be much better once you adopt this philosophy.
Life Rule #17: Happiness is a journey, not a destination!
I used to think that I’d end up happy one day as a result of my actions. It was only after doing multiple road trips that I realised I enjoyed the journey more than the destination. The same applies to happiness, it’s the journey that makes you happy. If you develop hobbies and endeavours that you enjoy, you’ll find yourself happier than you would arriving at one fixed point.
Life Rule #18: Most people don’t know you exist!
This is a humbling thought. Unless you’re super famous, the majority of people alive today and those in the future don’t you exist or existed. It puts our egos into perspective when you think of this. Check yourself before you get high and mighty and remind yourself of this.
Life Rule #19: There’s no one definition of success!
For some success, some people is a big house, a fancy car and a beautiful wife. For others, it’s a lifetime of work on an issue that is close to their heart. We may hold up the likes of Bill Gates and Elon Musk as successes, and they are. But, there are many unheralded people who have been just as successful in their own right. The accumulation of wealth and material goods is not the only definition of success.
Life Rule #20: You are unique in your Thoughts, show it in your Actions!
We are unique beings in our thinking, but somehow we chose to act in similarity like sheep. As you think, so should you act. Embrace your uniqueness and act so, and don’t follow the set normality.
Great topic Kaushik!
Here’s where I am currently at in this journey of figuring out “Life Rules”.
Framework/Foundation for thinking about Rules:
First and foremost, it’s undeniable THERE ARE RULES that govern every aspect of the cosmos of which we are all a part of from planetary motions to how people think and act.
Rules are what keep the cosmos together.
“Dharma” literally means what keeps things together and generally refers to the rules that we are all subject to as an intrinsic part of our existence. It is therefore important for us to abide by these rules for a happy life. This concept is summarized in the vedic statement “Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah”…which means those who abide by the rules will be protected by those rules.
The most important of all rules is to “not cause any harm” as stated in the vedic statement “Ahimsa Paramo Dharmah”.
There are two types of Dharmas:
Sanatan Dharma (Eternal rules)
Yuga Dharma (Applicable to a place and time)
It’s important to understand the distinction between the two and apply them appropriately
Full set of life rules:
Life is way too complex a phenomenon to be able to contained in a finite set of rules. Also language in its current state is too primitive to capture all the nuances of life’s rules. Having said that, humanity has attempted to capture life rules for a long, long time. Some of my go-to books that have stood the test of time
The Stoic texts (Enchiridion by Epictetus, Mediations of Marcus Aurelius and Epistulae Morales by Seneca)
Upanishads
Thirukkural – Covers life rules across a rich variety of topics spanning the environment to politics and arts
Ramayana and Mahabharat (these are called Dharma Shastras as they throw up a ton of complex life problems and provide an opportunity to study and understand how life works and what rules you can infer). “Yaksha Prashna” segment from Mahabharat is a very explicit meditation on this topic
Panchatantra and Aesop’s fables
I like the Stoic practice of documenting your “learnings” on how life works and what rules you can infer on a daily basis by reflecting on the day’s events. This is important as the scope and understanding of life’s rules keeps changing on a daily basis as a natural part of one’s evolution.
Hey Deepu, thank you for your comment. Wise words and great advice!