I think I have always hated them. As a child I remember being told not to do something and being filled with the overwhelming urge to do just that. Oh yes. I was an obstinate child. Guess what? I have a daughter equally this way, payback!
Rules confine, restrict and stop us. So often rules exist beyond reason. Remember when your parents told you not to 'rush the season' when it was 25 C in April and you wanted to wear shorts? I caught myself thinking this parental thought as my kids begged to wear shorts in April. I thought "what the hell!". I did however draw the line at getting the sprinkler out!
So back to rules. How often do we question them? Why do we need them? Are they black and white or able to encompass grey? Every day I get older the more and more I realize nothing seems to be black or white. What is bad in my life might be good in yours! Societal rules exist to keep us all in check and promote harmony. Honestly though, those that break them would probably break them whether they are there or not!
I wonder if our desire for rules and regulations and government policies and programs and and and.... doesn't stem from how disconnected we are becoming from one another. How we can go to the grocery store and not talk to another person beyond the cashier. Years ago you conversed with the butcher, borrowed from a neighbour, chatted at the mailbox. I live in a smallish town so I can have connectedness but as people get busier and busier even in small towns this is tough.
Obviously I think too much. I guess we do need rules, just not stupid ones! Not ones that are ambiguous or unfair. In my own life I have rules but think of them more as guiding principles. A few of them are:
1. Be polite. That means to everyone. It is a civility thing. (man, hate people who are rude to cashier, waitress etc.)
2. Be good to the earth as much as possible. So purchase less, recycle more. (can't buy yourself out of ecological crisis!)
3. Think of others, try to be empathetic and less judgemental. What works for one, might not for another. (what was black and white years ago is increasingly grey)
4. Do things with good intent and heart. (what you do might not turn out right, but if at least if you do it with good intent you will know this and be able to take away a lesson in the failure)
5. Be yourself. Even when others struggle with it, at least you are YOU! (you cannot change someone else, just yourself and hope you influence others positively)
6. Strive for authenticity, seek a true existence where you see yourself honestly. (hard hard hard. Don't be distracted from the shiny, the status, the lures. Find what is right for YOU).
7. Don't expect from others what they are not able to give. And when they disappoint you, recognize it is your own expectations that let you down. (this has been a really hard, but valuable, lesson for me)
8. Recognize that happiness is all around us at all times. It is just our own perceptions of reality that make it hard to let it in. (Can you ignore the ick and focus on the bright?)
9. Be kind. (to kids, animals, people, nature. Society is judged on how the most vulnerable are treated).
10. Instead of complaining, try changing it. (If you didnt vote, you don't get the right to complain. If you want a change, ask for it. Volunteer. Change yourself and help others follow)