1.Accept
yourself
This has to be a Rule because there can be no
choice here. We have to accept that we are the way we are. You come fully
loaded with desires, anguish, sins, pettiness at times, mistakes, ill temper,
rudeness, deviation, hesitation, and repetition. That’s what makes a human
being so wonderful:s the complexity. None of us can ever be perfect. We start
with what we’ve got and who we are and then we can only make a choice, each
day, to strive for some kind of better. And that’s all people can ask of us—to
make that choice. To be awake and aware, to be ready to do the right thing. And
accept that some days you aren’t going to make it. Some days you will, like all
of us, fall far short. That’s OK; don’t beat yourself up. Pick yourself up and
start again.
2.
What is important and what is not?
This means focusing on what is important to you in
your life and making positive changes to ensure you feel happy with what you
are dedicating your life to (see Rule 6). This doesn’t mean long-term plans
mapped out to the smallest detail. It means knowing, roughly, where you are
going and what you are doing. Be awake rather than asleep. Having time for
loved ones and friends is important; watching the latest show isn’t. Repaying a
debt is important; what brand of detergent you use isn’t.
3.
Be flexible
We all have set patterns in life. We like to label
ourselves as this or that and are quite proud of our opinions and beliefs. We
all like to read a set paper, watch the same sorts of TV shows or movies, go to
the same sort of shops every time, eat the sort of food that suits us, wear the
same type of clothes. And all this is fine. But if we cut ourselves off from
all other possibilities, we become boring, rigid, hardened—and thus likely to
get knocked about a bit. You have to see life as a series of adventures. Each
adventure is a chance to have fun, learn something, explore the world, expand
your circle of experience and friends, and broaden your horizons. Shutting down
to adventure means exactly that—you are shut down.
