Rules For Living Well

I was flipping through an old journal today and found this. It's a list of "Rules For Living" I created for myself a couple years ago. How bold of me! At the time, I was working through questions in a book called Finding Your Own North Star: Claiming the Life You Were Meant to Live, which is based on separating what the author, Martha Beck, calls your essential self from your social self. I highly recommend that book; if you're searching like I was, it really zeros in on all the right things.

I do believe in knowing what you value most and using that as a rudder to guide your life. So here they are, exactly as I wrote them two years ago. What are some of your rules?

Choose quality over quantity with everything - shoes, friends, food - everything.

Look into alternative forms of medicine.

Take the time to figure out who you really are, what you like and dislike, what you need and don't.

Live within your means and respect every dollar you make.

Cultivate a passion.

Eat Real Food! Stay away from processed and buy local whenever you can.

Refuse to give in to texting.

As hard as it is, acknowledge and work on whatever keeps you from living the life of your dreams.

Refuse to play small or dim your light in order to make others comfortable.

Listen to your body.

Spend part of every day in silence, even if it's ten minutes.

Create a living space that reflects who you are.

Make visual beauty a priority.

Tell people you love them often.

Be true to yourself at all costs.