Rules I live By

HAPPY WINTER !! Are you having a great day? I certainly hope so, because me and Tony The Tiger got it goin' on!

I want to share with you a few of the rules that govern my life. Everyone has rules they live by. Not everyone realizes it, but we all have hard-wired internal rules that govern our every action and reaction, the way we take things, understand things, rules that govern our assumptions, rules that determine when we should be offended or elated, rules that define who we are, what we do, where we go, what we say. RULES ! They do a body good -- sometimes.

A problem occurs when we have rules that make us do things and we don't realize what our rules are :-). Violating one of our governing, internal rules -- that we don't realize exists -- can cause us a LOT of pain and stress. Not only that but many people know what their rules are, and don't know *why* they are, which tends to cause a different conflict.

Both of those conversations may be topics for another time, but today, I'm just sharing a few of my own governing rules. I'm not promoting them, justifying them or explaining them -- I'm merely stating them, in no particular order. Feel free to comment, if you like.

My Governing Rules

1. I am KELVIN.
2. Positive, Upbeat, Motivated and Uplifting (PUMU) -- always.
3. If I'm breathing and walking around on my own power... it's a good day.
4. Perspective -- use it or lose it.
5. I don't want nobody who don't want me.
6. If looks like duck, walks like a duck, and sounds like a duck... it's probably a duck.
7. Never interfere with a working relationship.
8. Seek first to understand, then be understood.
9. I help those who help themselves, first.
10. Be good to my friends (includes family members).
11. In my next relationship, neither of us will have to change to make the other one "happy" or comfortable.
12. I never ask God to do anything for me, that I can do myself.
13. Reality is relative.
14. The best way to predict your future, is to create it.
15. You can't talk your way out of something you behaved your way into.

And, that's pretty much... me. I might have missed a few, but I tried to think of the principles I use most often. If I stop to really think about them, one or more of those probably fits within another rule. But generally if I find myself quoting it to people fairly often, I know it is a rule of mine, so I listed it here. Maybe one day I'll explore the rationale behind some of them, one at a time.

Anthony Robbins (there's that name again) notes that some of the most profound wisdom of the ages, is expressed in short, concise sayings: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, Love thy neighbor as thyself, the journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step." I try to do similarly for my own wisdoms.

Incidentally, a few of those are adopted directly from other people. As Charlie Brown once said, "I quote the truth wherever I find it."

Have a grrrreat day.

Kelvin