A Couple of Daily Principles

My friend and tagger, Ordinary Girl, has tagged me for the following meme (it came to her from Deep Thoughts):

It’s meme time for me again, this one coming straight out of my own brain! I got to thinking recently about the idea that all of us, as humans, have principles we live by daily. These aren’t your over-arching beliefs necessarily, but rather the things that you do daily as a part of those beliefs. So, for example, it’s not that I’m an anarchist, but things I do daily in line with that. I’ve kept it to 5 on my own, but there’s no hard rules on this meme; name as few or as many as you’d like! Likewise, no limits on how few or how many (if any) people you tag… do whatever is comfortable!

She didn’t tag me at first (probably because she’s gotten the feeling that I don’t really like to play all that much). Then I went and added one to the comments, so she took that as “open season on John”. Some of mine kind of overlap with things she said, but it's the best I could do. The first one here is the one I left in her comments:

Release Bitterness -

We all go through situations that are heartbreaking, enraging, etc. It's part of life. But once it's done and handled to the best of your ability and it's no longer an on-going issue - let it go. Bitterness towards others (even those who rightly deserve your wrath) accomplishes exactly zero and only continues to torture you, not the person your anger is directed towards. Release is freedom.

Acknowledge Good Deeds –

I’m a sucker for a compliment. I’m guessing most of us are. When you see someone do “the right thing”, let them know that you appreciate it. It’s likely to have them repeat the behavior more often. And hopefully it will make you more likely to do what they did.

Live in the Moment –

I’m not sure if this is exactly a “principle”, but I suppose it qualifies based on the rules. It is age-old advice, and harder to do than to say. One trick that has helped me is to consciously think about the fact that you are attempting to enjoy whatever it is you are doing at the time, without allowing thoughts of what else needs to be done to interfere. It’s a little awkward and forced – in the beginning. But after a while it becomes more of a natural way of approaching life. I even try to trick myself on mundane tasks, like taking enjoyment out of cleaning up after my pets.

Accept Shortcomings –

Don’t force yourself to be more than you are. If it doesn’t come, don’t beat yourself up and move on. Admit your shortcomings openly, to yourself and the world - like I’m doing right now. The first few principles came easily to me. I felt like I should be able to offer more and started scratching my head and staring at the ceiling. Then I decided to accept that I’m not the greatest philosopher on life and let it be. So that’s all I have for you.