If you have been watching the twitter stream on this site the human mind introduces an almost infinite number of rules constantly. Given 10 commandments the Israelites churned out hundreds more to prevent those 10 from being broken. The art of a politician is to introduce new laws! There is something ‘wrong’ with you if you haven’t introduced a couple dozen pieces of legislation…new laws. What would happen if they decided to get rid of two for every new one put in for the next ten thousand years… there would still be far too many ‘rules to live by’ in my view.
My first rule will be if the rule doesn’t empower me I will either rewrite it or remove it. There is a possibility I will find a rule that the benefit isn’t clear but it offers something, I don’t know, that calls me, whispers my name. I will let you know when one occurs.
These are my rules, not the rules I will use against everyone else. You can find your own. You may want to use mine for yourself but then they are yours. The distinction integrity is how well you live by your set of rules. Another way to say it is how well you keep your word and your promises. Once I accepted and understood that I am, that I am my word, integrity became my most valuable asset. Lose it and it’s much harder to earn it back than it was to maintain it.
One of the guiding principles I acquired as a child was leave it exactly the way you found it. Being the oldest of six and having great grandparents and grandparents alive and still in charge the order of the day was remain in their good graces and avoid doing anything that brought any negative attention your way. I noticed early that everything had a place and everything belonged exactly and only in its place. I had many chances to observe the outcome of breaking that universal alignment being the oldest of a dozen cousins and siblings. Perhaps it was a natural next step but the next level is to leave it better than you found it. Returning it to how it is supposed to be may be sufficient or all that is possible for many opportunities but looking for a better way is fun and challenge.
The most difficult part is NOT evaluating anyone else by how they follow the rule. It may or may not be important to them or it may not even be a consideration. Some people let the universe pick up after them where ever they go. Littering is an example. Some won’t litter if anyone is watching. Funny humans spending energy on disaster after disaster.
How Life Works 