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12 Rules For Life: An Antidote to Chaos
Life is a chaos until we regulate it with rules. Rules give a pattern to our actions. There are less chances of distractions when rules are there. So Peterson’s claim is not logically false that his 12 rules are an antidote to chaos. Let’s have a look on these 12 rules that might help to eliminate chaos from our lives.
Rule#1: Stand Up Straight With Your Shoulders Back
“To stand up straight with your shoulders back is to accept the terrible responsibility of life, with eyes wide open. It means deciding to voluntarily transform the chaos of potential into the realities of habitable order.”
This rule is simply about posture that defines our confidence in ourselves. Jordan gives an example of a lobster, a lobster with increased level of serotonin(released when it wins some battle) will always have a straight back. A weak lobster will be seen in curled posture. In the same way a human with straight back shows that he is confident and successful. Failure has not bowed him down. A person with dropped shoulders always appears to be weak and defeated.
“So, attend carefully to your posture. Quit drooping and hunching around.”
Rule #2: Treat Yourself Like Someone You Are Responsible for Helping
This is a reality that we neglect ourselves the most. Jordan Peterson says that if our pet is sick we shall take him to veterinary doctor and follow regularly the prescription to treat our pet. But when we ourselves are sick we shall not bother to take care ourselves. He says that we should make it a rule that we must take care of ourselves in the way we take care of others for whom we are responsible. Because we are responsible to ourselves first. Jordan Peterson says,
“You are important to other people as much to yourself. You have some vital role to play in the unfolding destiny of the world. You are, therefore, morally obliged to take care of yourself.”
Rule #3: Make Friends With People Who Want the Best for You
Jordan Peterson suggests that always befriend with people who help you to boost you goodness by appreciating your good habits and criticizing your bad ones. In some cases people do the opposite. So be careful while choosing your friends. You deserve those friends who bring best out of you not those who become a reason of your downfall.
Rule #4: Compare Yourself to Who You Were Yesterday, Not to Who Someone Else Is Today
“Always place your becoming above your current being.”
Jordan believes that it has a very negative effect on your personality when you compare yourself with others. What other people are today, they are because of different reason. They live in different context. It will be more productive if you compare yourself with what you was in the past. There will definitely be some progress which will increase your confidence in yourself. Try to beware of yourself which is only possible when you focus more on yourself than others.
Rule #5: Do Not Let Your Children Do Anything That Makes You Dislike Them
Your children are your assets, what they become in life shows your worth. Jordan Peterson advises to be careful while upbringing your child. He maintains that you should never let your children do what is against society. You should never let them indulge in habits that makes you to hate them. If you will have a bad opinion about them, others will never have good opinion about them. So teach your children to respect the moral values of society.
Rule #6: Set Your House in Perfect Order Before You Criticize the World
Jorden wants here to say that one should first bring in order his own life before ‘verbally’ correcting the world. I used here the world ‘verbally’ because when a person fails to amend his own actions, he can correct the world in his talk only, he can’t practically do such a thing. Jordan Peterson emphasizes self-regulation. He says
“It is my firm belief that the best way to fix the world—a handyman’s dream, if ever there was one—is to fix yourself,”
Rule #7: Pursue What Is Meaningful (Not What Is Expedient)
Jordan Peterson gives the example of lotus flower which always bloom in a muddy lake. Our personality like lotus flower grows in hardships and trials. Writer says that we are pursuing temporary happiness. We should do the opposite. We should do something that will give meaning to our life. That will definitely be difficult, but nothing greater can be achieved without hardships.
Rule #8: Tell the Truth Or, at Least, Don’t Lie
“If your life is not what it could be, try telling the truth. If you cling desperately to an ideology, or wallow in nihilism, try telling the truth. If you feel weak and rejected, and desperate, and confused, try telling the truth. In Paradise, everyone speaks the truth. That is what makes it Paradise. Tell the truth. Or, at least, don’t lie.”
Don’t lie just for your personal gains. I think this is in fact the most chaotic habit. If you lie relentlessly just considering that it will give you benefit, makes you blind. Jordan Peterson tries to explain that the habit of speaking truth may seems to be difficult, but it ultimately makes your life paradise.
Rule #9: Assume the Person You Are Listening to Might Know Something You Don’t
When someone is talking to you he may know things more than you that may be beneficial for you. So listen carefully without interrupting. This will make him speak everything. Listening therefore is more important than speaking.
“So, listen, to yourself and to those with whom you are speaking. Your wisdom then consists not of the knowledge you already have, but the continual search for knowledge, which is the highest form of wisdom.”
Rule #10: Be Precise in Your Speech
Be Precise in your speech and in your action also. If you do so you can manage ambiguities. You should have a clear goal and your actions should be directed towards that.
Rule #11: Do Not Bother Children When They Are Skateboarding
“Beneath the production of rules stopping the skateboarders from doing highly skilled, courageous and dangerous things I see the operation of an insidious and profoundly anti-human spirit.” – Jordan Peterson
To stop people from doing things that they really want to do is to stop them from showing their skills and courage. People do their best when they do things that is true to their nature, so please never stop them from doing that.
Rule #12: Pet a Cat When You Encounter One on the Street
Jordan Peterson states that we should learn to pay attention to minor things in our life. We should learn to stop for some time to appreciate beauty of nature.
“If you pay careful attention, even on a bad day, you may be fortunate enough to be confronted with small opportunities of just that sort.”