The “Golden Rule Rules” Rules

You know me by now, right? I like rules. I like to make rules and I like holding myself accountable to rules. So obviously, when Lily Fields makes a New Year’s Resolution, it comes with rules. I find that this helps break down a resolution into smaller chunks, making it hard to fail entirely, which, as you may imagine, I am loathe to do.

Fairy godmothers do not fail.

So when it comes to my resolution to live out the Golden Rule, or, as I am calling my little attempt at loving others as I love myself and doing for others what I would them to do for me, “The Golden Rule Rules”, I need a few rules. Thus the strange title of this article.

• When my first reaction is “no” because I want to stay comfortably doing whatever I was doing, I need to change it to a “yes” and do what I would want done for me.
• When my response is a “no” for a health or safety reason, I need to explain it.
• When I have said “yes” after an I initial “no”, I need to make sure to connect with the scalawag as I do whatever it is…not just “do it for them”.
• If anything takes less than a minute, I must do it now.
• Pray for the people I love.
• Let the people I love know I am thinking about them when it pops up.
• Small, insignificant but ultimately meaningful gestures of love are de rigueur. (Sending the elevator back to the garage for a neighbor, putting toothpaste on toothbrushes, putting away everyone’s laundry even though they are perfectly capable of doing it themselves.)
• Refrain from grumbling about the insignificant gestures.
• Hug liberally.
• Explain things patiently.
• Ask for help when I need it.
• Give undivided attention.
• Speak kindly to and of others.

That’s it. Them’s the rules. It sounds so easy, but I assure you that for a short-fused, self-centered creature of comfort such as myself, it is anything but.

So there we have it. The building blocks of this year’s resolution.

PS: I am currently staring down a pile of folded laundry that belongs to someone in my house that has been sitting here for four days, and yes, I have been grumbling about it. I have been resisting putting it away for this person, because I want to make sure I am doing it for the right reason: because it is what I would want someone to do for me, and not just because I am sick and tired of looking at this tower of laundry.

Episode 63: Foresight – Sing With Your Feet

This week, we look at how we can love ourselves better by planning ahead.

1. Episode 63: Foresight 31:32
2. Episode 62: Memory 30:13
3. Episode 61: Novelty 32:34
4. Episode 60: How to Have Great Sex 34:24
5. Episode 59: I Have A Theory 28:50