[Rules of Life Series] : Part 2

Dedicate your life to something

To know what counts and what doesn't, 

you have to know what you're dedicating your life to.

In general, we always do something for reasons.

Maybe we're doing it to satisfy ourselves,

or to make others happy,

or because we simply have to do it for our financial assurance

(ie study to get a degree haha)

Point is, we should have a yardstick to measure things we're doing.

How you're doing?

What you're doing?

Where you're going?

Be flexible in your thinking 

You have to be ready to roll as the storm  breaks;

and, by golly, it always breaks when you least expect it.

To get the most out of your life is to keep all your options open.

Keep your thinking and life flexible.

Flexible thinking is a bit like mental martial arts;

being ready to duck, and weave and dodge and flow.

Try to see life as a friendly sparring partner,

and not as an enemy.

See life as a series of adventures

and each adventure is a chance to have fun, 

to learn something 

and to explore the world.

Expand your experience 

and circle of friends

and broaden your horizons.

Shutting down to adventures means you're shut down.

Because once you shut down to all the options and possibilities,

and once you think you have all the answers, you might as well hang up your boots.

Once you get set in your ways, you're already part of history.

Take an interest in the outside world.

The happiest, 

most well-balanced, 

most successful people in life

are those who are part of something.

Part of the world and not cut from it.

And the most interesting, stimulating people to be around

are those who take great interest in what's happening around them.

Taking an interest in the outside world is about developing you,

rather than for the world's benefit.

Be on the side of angels, and not beasts!

We always get torn between what we want and what's good for others,

between personal satisfaction and magnanimity.

So, you have to set your own parameters.

Does it hurt or hinder?

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?

Will things get better or worse if you do certain things?

Make good choices in life.

Just keep swimming!

Life is meant to be a series of struggles.

There'll be times when 

it's an uphill, upstream struggle.

We have to 

battle waterfalls, 

dams 

and raging torrents,

but we have no choice.

We have to keep swimming, 

or we will get swept away.

While struggles don't come to an end,

there'll surely be lulls in-between times;

backwaters where we can rest for a while 

and enjoy the moment

before the next obstacle gets thrown our way.