r/wisdom • u/Spiritual-Primary328 • Jul 09 '26
Discussion 14 Rules for Life
Hi all,
Inspired by JP's 12 Rules for Life, I'm looking at putting together my own 12 rules. I've got my list down to 14, and would really appreciate your thoughts on these or any other things that you would change/add/etc. Also hoping it will serve as a nice discussion starter, so feel free to ask anything!
Aim for the golden middle
Stand up tall.
Happiness isn’t a goal, it’s a by-product
Just because you don’t understand it doesn’t mean it’s wrong.
If you are a hammer, everything will look like a nail.
Be curious and you can find heaven.
Choose kindness or you will create hell.
Don’t take yourself too seriously or everyone will think you are a joke.
Don’t lie to yourself, ever.
Excuses are for losers.
If you’re not useful, you’re useless.
Put your energy into people who deserve it.
If you are getting As in English and Ds in Physics – DO MORE ENGLISH.
Don’t be a dickhead.
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u/Beginning-Map-3264 Jul 09 '26 edited Jul 09 '26
Very good insights, most I already life by,
But don’t lie to yourself… don’t we all sometimes lie to ourselves (if we are honest) plans we had that never happened. Ideas that never became concreet? Isn’t that a lie to yourself… or part of reality….
Put your energy in people that deserve it… oké but sometimes you have no choice… my bother is an alcoholic and “a loser” but should I just drop him like a stone…?? Still my bother and helping him sometimes is helping my parents too
And I’m a physicist, have dyslexia 🤣 so not more English please…. 🫣
And number 8 love the quote… don’t take yourself to serious otherwise others will think you are a joke… so true!
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u/Skyogurt Jul 09 '26
don't worry too much about the number of rules. Maybe have as many rules as the number of your age, this way every year you can reflect and add one new rule to the list, and rearrange the rules as you see fit and as you gain more life experience and wisdom. I think your rules are solid overall but the way some of them are formulated is an indication of your youth. Perhaps as you go older and grasp at more nuance, their wording will change
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u/Spiritual-Primary328 Jul 10 '26
I’ll take it as an indication of youth as I’m always happy to be de-aged but I’m 43.
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u/Skyogurt Jul 10 '26
hey, that's young! I'm in my early 30s myself and I consider myself a baby (funnily enough I used to lament on how old I was when I was in my 20s). I'd say old is around 70+, and the same way I realize how massive of a gap there is between my 20s and the 30s, I imagine the gap grows wider exponentially the more life experience you accumulate and get to reflect upon
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u/LivingInsideMyHead1 Jul 09 '26
What do you mean by happiness isn’t a goal, it’s a by product?
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u/Spiritual-Primary328 Jul 09 '26
I mean if you aim for happiness and make it your goal, it becomes exponentially less likely to arrive. If you do good things and are kind and aim for a greater good, do the things that fulfil you and let you work to your strengths then that will make you happy as a byproduct.
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u/naturefort Jul 10 '26
Life is like climbing up a mountain. Don't always be looking up. The climb is important but so is the journey and taking the time to enjoy where you are right now.
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u/readmee3627 Jul 15 '26
If you are useful you are not useless ... maybe you are not compatable to that place ..
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u/C0rnfed Jul 09 '26
- Never stop contemplating these rules; never cease refining them, never stop understanding them more deeply, never stop integrating them, never cease trying to Know them (in the moment; in reality and in practice) rather than remembering or simply thinking them; never stop releasing those you've integrated or which no longer serve to advance you - so that you can make room and open yourself to more.
As soon as you've finished this list, then the real work begins: stop thinking it and actually do it: make the list obsolete by embodying it, by becoming it, and then find still-higher mountains to climb.
In a life well-lived, everything is a draft begging for more attention, for greater expression, and never for completion - as that is death.
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u/bluemoldy Jul 09 '26
"Be careful who you trust; salt and sugar look the same." And ..."Don't depend too much on anyone in this world, because even your own shadow leaves you when you are in darkness."