7 Rules To Make You Think

I had a friend recently post The Seven Rules for Life on her Facebook page.  And while I laid in bed tonight I couldn’t get them out of my head.  There are some I struggle with a lot, and a couple that I think I do alright at, and maybe one that I can honestly say I have conquered.

The first rule:  Make peace with your past so it won’t disturb your present.  I have had a lot of good things happen in my past, and a number of bad things.  Things I’ve had no control over, and things I wish I did have control over.  I’ve made mistakes and said things I wish I could take back.  I didn’t have the kind of childhood that makes you all warm and fuzzy inside.  I don’t have many good memories of being a kid.  However, I think it is just in my nature to remember the bad.  I have a tendency to be a glass is half empty kinda girl sometimes.  Now as an adult, I think I’ve made peace with my past, and it is just that…my past.  We all make mistakes no sense dwelling on it.  I learned a lot of lessons from my past that make me who I am now.  I am sure I have many more lessons to learn, but dwelling on the mistakes doesn’t make them go away.

Rule #2: What other people think of you is none of your business.  Ok here is one I struggle with, sometimes.  I mean, come on, who doesn’t.  We all want to be liked, and it kind of bugs us to think there is somebody out there that doesn’t like us.  We want to know why, and fix it. Make them see us like we want to be seen.  Then there are times, when I honestly don’t care.  I am who I am and I make no bones about it.  You either like me or you don’t.  I suppose it all depends on who is doing the thinking or what it is they are thinking.  I honestly try not to care, but we all want to be liked for who we really are.

Rule #3: Time heals almost everything. Give it time.  The definition of healing is “the process of making or becoming sound or healthy again.”  Healing is a process, and sometimes that process is a long one, and sometimes it just doesn’t happen. It really just depends on how deep the wound is.   I do believe though in order to follow rule #1, sometimes rule #3 needs to be finished. 

Rule#4: No one is in charge of your happiness, except you.  This one I struggle with.  I have so much to be happy for and about.  I have a wonderful family.  I love my husband and my children, and wouldn’t trade having them in my life, but every once and a while I throw myself a great big old pity party.  I know I don’t have any reason at all to feel like I do.  I should count my many blessings, but once I get started it’s like a giant runaway train.  The more I think about it, the worse it gets, and then the more miserable I feel.  Which leads me to rule #6, but we will get to that in a minute.

Rule #5:  Don’t compare your life to others and don’t judge them, you have no idea what their journey is all about.  Now here is where it gets tough.  We, and I mean everybody, myself included would like to believe that we don’t judge people.  But I will be the first to admit, I have.  What is the old saying when you assume you make an ass out of U and Me?  I have made an ass out of myself a number of times.  We should never judge a book by its cover, we never know what other people may be struggling with, but hey we are only human.  I can only hope that when given the opportunity, I do better next time.

Rule #6:  Stop thinking too much.  It’s alright not to know the answers.  They will come to you when you least expect it.  And here is probably my biggest downfall!  I am a thinker, I over think everything!  I think things to death.  It doesn’t matter what it is, it could be as simple as the shirt on the clearance rack all the way to something as important as taxes.  It doesn’t matter what it is I will over think it.  I have a tendency to really over think things people say or do.  In fact this has been my problem for the past four days (combined with the fact that I haven’t had chocolate for the past 4 days).  I have been in a rather foul mood because of a phone call I had, which got me thinking, which led to me thinking about 400 other things that made me grumpy.  Which has gotten me nowhere but being grumpy, which has led to headaches and insomnia.  You’ve heard the expression “like water of a ducks back.”  Well this duck tries to let it roll off her back, but eventually I’m standing in a puddle and it’s either sink or swim, but first I’ll have to over think it.

Rule#7: Smile, you don’t own all the problems in the world.  Well isn’t that the truth.  It’s amazing how contagious a smile can be.  Think about babies, and how no matter how bad your day is, if a baby smiles at you it warms you right up from the inside out.  It’s amazing how a little smile, some laughter or compliment can not only make our day a little brighter, it can make somebody else’s day a little brighter too.  We might not own all the world’s problems but maybe we could make them better if we smiled more often.

Just thought I would share my thoughts, I was lying in bed thinking, and just getting grumpier and I was reminded of these rules I read.  They hit home for me, just a little something to think about.  Just what I need…more to think about!  ;)