Rules I live by by Robert Abitbol, Friday 11 November 2003, 2h 31 pm
There are not hundreds of them. Just a few I have carefully thought of, tried, practised and finally adopted.
These are the rules I live by:
Do what is right for you
You count more than others. it's your life. You know what is good for you.
Empathy
If you are born with a low empathy, or if you don't have a good judgment, you are not a good judge of characters, listen to other people who have better judgment.
Facing Reality
* There is nothing like facing reality and your problems head on. Solving them will make you a better person; you will feel your have control over your life and the experience will have heightened you.
* A person who comforts you in your ignorance and helps you bury your head in the sand and tells you what you want to hear is your worse enemy.
* Conversely a person who helps you see clear and helps you see your problem is your best friend.
War and Peace
* It's great to be able to resolve peacefully all conflicts. But sometimes this cannot be done. You sometimes have to go to war to achieve peace.
* You have to be hard with your enemy and give him a taste of his own medicine. He'll understand your point of view then.
* At the first sign that he wants to settle the issue, peacefully go fot it. He'll ask you for an apology, a sign that you went too far, Ask for his apology and the issue will be settled. You will achieve peace.
Physical fights
* Never get involved in a physical fight unless your life is in danger. You'll end up on jail.
Reason over emotions
* Have a control over your emotions at all times. Some people can break their lives in a madness that lasted two minutes.
Forgiving
* Do not forgive easily. He who forgives easily invites injury (Corneille, losely translated into English by myself).
Understanding
* The best gift you can give someone is understanding.
Chose your friends, chose the people you want to have a relationship with
If you pursue a relationship with someone who is unreasonable you have going to have all kinds of problems.
At the first sign that someone is unreasonable, dump him.
Give yourself the right to quit
Set yourself realistic goals
Now, I'd love to read other similar pages. Anybody feels like starting another page of rules they live by?