simple instructions for life
'1. Take into account that great love and great achievements involve great risk.
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.'
-Dali Lama
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE
2. When you lose, don't lose the lesson.
3. Follow the three R’s:
Respect for self
Respect for others and
Responsibility for all your actions.
4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.
5. Learn the rules so you know how to break them properly.
6. Don't let a little dispute injure a great friendship.
7. When you realize you've made a mistake, take immediate steps to correct it.
8. Spend some time alone every day.
9. Open your arms to change, but don't let go of your values.
10. Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer.
11. Live a good, honorable life. Then when you get older and think back, you'll be able to enjoy it a second time.
12. A loving atmosphere in your home is the foundation for your life.
13. In disagreements with loved ones deal only with the current situation. Don't bring up the past.
14. Share your knowledge. It's a way to achieve immortality.
15. Be gentle with the earth.
16. Once a year, go someplace you've never been before.
17. Remember that the best relationship is one in which your love for each other exceeds your need for each other.
18. Judge your success by what you had to give up in order to get it.
19. Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon.'
-Dali Lama
INSTRUCTIONS FOR LIFE
Comments
I think, mainly, that what comes to mind is that this list would make a good part 2 to the Sermon on the Mount. A bit of an articulation, perhaps, of the philosophies set forth.
Even in my short existence, I've seen almost every one of these instructions proved to be beneficial.
Thanks for reminding.
freda.
glad u finally updated.
I don't quite know why...I think I love the idea that we humans share some similarities regardless of religious views.
I think this also gives an insight into the wonderful complexity that is God...that even though some people may not love and follow him the way he would like, he can still use their influence for good in this world!
Sometimes I think that there are certain things that Christians just don't get...and God must sit back and think "You are supposed to be my children...yet others who are not understand this better than you!" I feel we sometimes overcomplicate and get hung up on things that are in fact quite simple!
They're my thoughts from reading this anyway! Thanks for sharing as always Stephen...I bet you got a kick out of seeing him speak in Melbourne last weekend! (Thanks for taking the time to chat after the show on Monday too!!!)
Blessings,
Kates
PS - I couldn't help but laugh at the mental image of the Dalai Lama 'approaching cooking with reckless abandon'!!!
i love number nineteen. although for some reason i can't see the Dalai Lama cooking...
I have so much more work to do, but I'm still young so I have plenty of time.
This has been a blessing. Thank you so much for sharing this!
God bless.
i think we get so caught up in this american culture of excess and speed that it's difficult to develop a wholesome attitude, but i think so many of these principles are biblical. and i really like the idea of going somewhere new once a year. i YEARN to take a road trip NOT destination oriented, but rather focused on what kind of photographs of creation i could take. and see all the battlefields in the south. it's close so that's my current goal. australia's next.
Thought you might enjoy a couple quotes I found on-line from a former Buddist:
"In Buddhism, one's path to nirvana relies on the effort and discipline of the individual. By contrast, Jesus taught our goal is not a state of non-conscious being, but an eternal relationship with God. There is nothing one can do to earn a right relationship with God. Instead, we must receive His gift of grace, the sacrifical death of His son, Jesus and this restores our relationship with our Creator"
"...I came to realize Buddha was a great teacher who lived a noble life, but Christ is the unique revelation of God who is to be worshipped as our eternal Lord and Savior."
Ephesians 5:15 says: “Be very careful how you live. Live not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity.”
Keep blogging...I enjoy reading them.
Have a safe trip back to the States!
i'm gonna print this out and read it all the time to remind myself.
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/hoaxes/dalai.asp
:D
I do most of the things on this list.
you're point of view and taste in quotes are just beautiful whether they are yours or not.
beautiful mind.
love you lots.
I know that personally I'd love to incorporate this into my life a little more and see what it does for me as a human being.
I loved reading it.
~ELLE~
Danielle
'4. Remember that not getting what you want is sometimes a wonderful stroke of luck.'
I can vouch for this. I recently became attached to a male who I later discovered was a liar, thief (according to his ex-friends), user and big drug user. I tried to get him to change but he was in denial and wouldn't admit to anything (even though many people around him - who later distanced themselves from him - knew). An ex-friend even called him a sociopath. I told him I wanted to help him, cared for him, and drugs were losing him friends as well as money, and that I'd be there for him if he wanted to get help. I told him I knew the truth and he didn't need to lie. He didn't want help... He just kept up the pretence, lie after lie after lie. I decided to walk away. I hoped it might make him realise he needed to change. I hoped that he would realise that the one person who really cared about him was walking away because she cared. Kind of like the rock bottom a drug addict needs to reach before they decide they want to get help. Unfortunately I don't think it worked. Now he's found 'new people' to use, and the cycle continues.
So no. 4 I can vouch for. Maybe me walking away from the lying drug user that I cared about and 'wanted' as a friend, was my 'stroke of luck'. I got out, instead of getting pulled into his downward spiral.
It bums me out I didn't save him though. I still hope that one day he'll realise he needs to change - and will remember the words I wrote to him, and how I tried to help... because I cared.